We’ll show you how to tap into your passion for making all kinds of fun and inventive creations in our “Get Crafty” series. In this installment, floral and lifestyle expert Julie Mulligan shows readers how to make three different Fourth of July crafts to decorate their home or party in red, white, and blue.
Nothing signals the arrival of summer quite like the Fourth of July. Whether you’re celebrating America’s birthday with friends and family on the beach or in your backyard, here are three fun DIY floral Independence Day decoration ideas to add some patriotic touches of red, white, and blue to your festivities this year.
DIY Mason Jar American Flag Vase
You can do lot of decorating with just a few mason jars. I took three small, clear mason jars and painted them in a stars-and-stripes tribute to Old Glory. Place one stem of blue hydrangea in each, and you have a beautiful, fun, inexpensive centerpiece. You could paint a couple more and use them to hold cutlery or straws, or even tea lights, to create an even more festive look.
What you need:
- Clear mason jars
- White acrylic spray paint
- Blue and red acrylic paint
- Paint brushes
- Rubber bands
- Paper
- Pencils
- Scissors
In a well-ventilated space, spray paint ONLY the OUTSIDE of your mason jars. Let them dry thoroughly.
Using a pencil, draw stars all around the outside of one of the mason jars. You can do this either free hand or by first making a template with a piece of paper.
Paint the rest of the mason jar around the stars with blue paint. Remember, this is not a fine arts project — it’s a craft project, and imperfections should be embraced!
Use rubber bands to create guidelines for painting red stripes on the other two mason jars.
As soon as the paint is dry, fill them with water and add your flowers. USA all the way!
Upcycle Glass Bottles with Red, White, and Blue Flowers
I picked up all three of these blue and red bottles for less than $5. The finishing touch is the USA hangtags I made using small blackboard hangtags and chalkboard markers. Tie these around the neck of the bottle with a thin, coordinating ribbon like the red and white striped one shown here.
What I really love about these, though, are the firework flowers. Don’t the spider mums look like fireworks exploding in the night sky? You can buy this eye-catching bouquet of red, white, and blue Firecracker Mums at 1800Flowers.com.
Place these in a simple galvanized French flower pail, and you’ve got the perfect arrangement for a July 4th celebration!
Painted flowers have been trending the past few years. There are a few different ways to paint flowers, including stem dying and surface painting. The spider mums are an example of surface painting, and these red, white, and blue roses in the below image are stem dyed.
DIY Red, White, and Blue Mini Flag Garland Table Decoration
This is an all-out, spare-no-expense WOW of a Fourth of July floral arrangement. As beautiful as the red, white, and blue roses, blue hydrangea, and firework spider mums look in this oversized red enamel container, the mini flag garland makes it even more impressive! Here’s how to make it.
What you need:
- Decorative paper (Use at least three different patterns all in the same color way; in this case, I used red, white, and blue.)
- Ribbon (I used red.)
- Scissors
- Glue (two-sided tape, adhesive tape runner, glue dots, etc.)
- Sticks or wires, to hold the garland above your arrangement
Measure a piece of ribbon to the desired size. Then, add a few extra inches to each side.
Figure out how many flags you will need based on the size you want. (My flags were 1 inch wide, and the length of the ribbon to which I attached the flags was 18 inches, so I needed 18 mini paper flags.)
Glue each flag to the ribbon. Use a ribbon that is narrow but has enough area to glue the flags to. (The ribbon I used was one-eighth inch wide.)
To raise the garland above the arrangement, glue the ribbon to heavy gauge wires or wooden skewers. Easy as that!
Making rainbow roses is a lot of fun and a great summertime activity to enjoy with your kids.
Happy Fourth of July to all!
