Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop - Patriotic

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for the month of June. This month's theme is Patriotic (our next Blog Hop is on July 7 which will be too late to highlight a Fourth of July theme).

I chose to decorate for a patriotic, Fourth of July, outdoor party. Many of the items used in these projects have been thrifted.

I created several projects for this table setting. The first project is a variation of the old fashioned bunting (banners that were hung from buildings). I created a small version using the Sizzix Paper Rosette die. Instead of gluing the ends together to create a circle, I glued each end to a thin strip of paper and created the half-circle bunting shape. I attached these to the edge of a tiered display. (Sorry, cupcakes are store-bought. I didn't have time to actually bake anything.)

On some of the rosettes I glued a strip of contrasting blue along the edge. The tutorial on how to do this is here. As a final detail, I glued a vintage button in the center of each rosette.

I created party favors to look like firecrackers using the Candy-Shaped Box die. I tied red tinsel on the ends to give it a firecracker sparkle.

And any outdoor summer party needs pinwheels. I used the pinwheel die and attached them to dowels using flat thumb tacks.

The last project is for drink coasters made out of recycled magazine pages. Here's how the final project looked followed by a short tutorial.

To begin, tear out 8 pages from the same magazine so that they are all the same size. Since this is a red, white and blue theme, I chose pages with those prominent colors.

Step 1. Fold each page in half lengthwise.
Step 2. Unfold and fold each long edge towards the center using the first fold as a center guide.
Step 3. Fold each long edge towards the center again so that you have a long, narrow strip (approximately 1" wide)

After you have 8 of these strips you can begin to weave them together starting from the center. Use four strips as the horizontal and four strips as the vertical. You should end up with something that looks like the image below (without the numbers). Keep tightening the weave as you work. 

Select which surface will be the top and fold back the ends as you weave them into the back side of your coaster. The image below shows the order to follow. In this case you would begin by folding edge #1 back and weave the end behind piece #12. Remember to tighten the weave as you work your way around the edges.

Hope you enjoyed these decorating ideas for a Patriotic Party. Please be sure and continue through the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop clicking Forward or Back in the DCC Blog Hop button on the right. And be sure and check out the Blog Hop Giveaway here.

I am honored to be featured at:

The DIY Home Sweet Home Project

Passionately Artist

This is linked to:
A Little Knick Knack, All Thingz Related, Between Naps on the Porch, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blue Cricket Designs, Brambleberry Cottage, Bugaboo Mini Mr & Me, Cherished Treasures, Chic on a Shoestring, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Craft Envy, Creative Everyday, Designer Garden, FaveCrafts, Homemaker on a Dime, I {heart} Naptime, Inspiring Creations, It's a Very Cherry World, Itsy Bitsy Paper, Just a Girl, Keeping it Simple, Lovely Crafty Home, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, My Romantic Home, Paisley Passions, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Savvy Southern Style, Sew Can Do, Sew Much Ado, Simply Designing, Singing Three Little Birds, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Southern Institute for Domestic Arts and Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Sunburnt Cow, Tater Tots and Jello, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Trendy Treehouse, Thirty Sixth Avenue, Thrifty Decorating, Truly Lovely, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Type A, Under the Table and Dreaming, Very Merry Vintage Style and What Allie's Making Now