Now is the time to celebrate the birth of our nation with a collection of homemade 4^th of July decorating ideas. My favorite 4^th of July decorating ideas involve stars, which are reminiscent of the American flag and very easy to make, and of course, the colors of the American flag, red, white and blue. You can use materials from around your house, like cereal boxes, to make these stars and not spend a penny on your 4^th of July preparations. Use the 4^th of July decorating ideas listed below to prepare for a patriotic party or BBQ this weekend. I know I will.

4th of July Star Wreath from Sizzix

Red, White and Blue Cereal Box Stars

Use the sturdy cardboard from an empty box of cereal or other cardboard packaging as your base material to make stars.  Without or without a coat of acrylic paint, these stars can be used for various 4^th of July decorating ideas. Cut at the edges of the cereal box to create flat pieces of cardboard.

Use a star cookie cutter as a template or freehand draw your first star. Cut out and use the first star as a template to make a whole set of matching stars. I like to make my stars slightly bigger than the size of my palm for my 4^th of July decorating ideas. To use as placemats or other table settings, cut out bigger stars from the cardboard.

Paint your stars with red, white and blue acrylic paint. If you don’t have paint, look for scrap paper in red, white and blue to cover your stars. Junk mail works too! The red Netflix slips (after you open the envelope) are perfect for a scrap piece of red paper. For the best results, brush glue or decoupage median on the cardboard and smooth out paper when applying. If you the cereal box colors are right, you can also leave your cut-out stars as if for a variety of 4^th of July decorating ideas.

For another idea, tear up pieces of red, white and blue tissue paper and decoupage to your cardboard stars. Use all three colors on each star or only one color for each for a different look. To create “stained-glass” stars for fun 4^th of July decorating ideas, cut out two matching stars or circles from the centers of two cardboard stars. A craft punch will make this quick and easy. Glue a piece of tissue paper to cover the opening on one star and glue the other star on top (sandwiching the tissue paper). Hang your stained-glass star in the window and let the light shine through.

Once you have your 4^th of July stars, here are some 4^th of July decorating ideas to use them:

• Garland- Punch small holes at the ends of the East-West points of your stars. Thread yarn or twine through the holes to create a garland of 4^th of July stars.
• Wreaths- Wreaths are my favorite of all 4^th of July decorating ideas. To make a wreath base, cut out a cardboard circle, using a large bowl as a template. Use a slightly smaller bowl to create and cut out the inner circle. Decorate your cardboard wreath base with the stars. Use a ribbon to hang.
• Ornaments- Hang your stars with loops of ribbon or string from chair backs, door handles and in the windows. You can also decorate indoor or outdoor plants with your patriotic ornaments.

For full craft projects and more ideas, see 24 4th of July Decorating Ideas.

This is a post from: FaveCraftsBlog

4th of July Decorating Ideas

Related posts:

1. How to make a wind chime: a 4th of July craft for kids
2. Great 4th of July Craft Ideas and Recipes
3. July 4th Crafts to Help You Feel the Holiday Spirit

If you surf the web looking for new and exciting craft ideas, you have likely come across a collection of tutorials on how to refashion a men’s shirt. Oversize men’s shirts especially provide a great deal of fabric for new projects. You can learn how to refashion a men’s shirt from your man’s closet or pick up some used shirts from your local thrifty store. To spark your creativity, here is a collection of ideas on how to refashion a men’s shirt.

Men's Shirt to Cute Dress by Stefi Luca

1. Quilt- A men’s shirt quilt is my favorite idea for how to refashion a men’s shirt. This refashion project is perfect for a Father’s Day gift or a quilted decoration that your man will love too. You will need between 7-12 men’s shirts for this project, depending on the size of the shirts and the size of your desired quilt. If you don’t have that many in the home, pick up a few more at your local thrift store. Pick a collection of different check and stripe shirts for an interesting look. You can do simple squares for your quilt or more intricate quilt blocks.
2. Collars and Capes- Turn a men’s dress shirt into a cute little collar or a warm cape for the cooler months.  The collar of a men’s shirt can become a really fun embellished necklace. You can also use the collar and/or cuffs of a men’s shirt to add contrast to a woman’s shirt.
3. Ruffles- You can use a men’s shirt to add ruffles to a plain dress or a dress refashioned from another men’s shirt (see Dress below).
4. Apron- An oversize men’s shirt can easily become an apron when the edges start to wear. Use another shirt to create an apron with contrast edging.
5. Cuffs- If you have minimal sewing expertise, you can likely still make something with the cuffs off a men’s shirt. Turn them into fashionable cuff bracelets, coffee jackets
6. Pajamas- Use the comfortable fabric of worn-in men’s shirts to create comfortable pajamas. Make a fitted camisole and shorts set or a sleep sack for a young girl.
7. Fitted Shirt for Woman- You can find many free sewing tutorials to refashion a men’s shirt into a fitted shirt for a woman. You can make a ruffle tube top, a peasant blouse or a fitted short-sleeve shirt.
8. Dress- An oversize men’s shirt can be refashioned into a cute dress with colorful binding. You can cut-off the sleeves and use for flower embellishments on your girly dress. A smaller men’s shirt can be refashioned into a toddler dress too.
9. Skirt- Turn the button down front of a men’s shirt into a bubble skirt or a fashionable pencil skirt.
10. Shorts and Pants- Make striped shorts for a 4T toddler with one XL men’s dress shirt. Elastic at the waist is an essential addition for kids’ clothing. For a little one, use the sleeves of a large shirt to create a pair of pants, with cuffs at the ankles!

This is a post from: FaveCraftsBlog

How to Refashion a Men’s Shirt

Related posts:

1. DIY T-Shirt Crafts for Everyone
2. Guest Project: T-Shirt Scarf Tutorial
3. Guest Post: Recycle Your Husband’s Old T-shirts

For a dinner party, your dining room is the focal point of the whole evening.  The desire to have everything looking great may cause you to go running for the nearest fashionable store with your credit card in hand, but why spend all that money when you can craft some amazing things to spruce up your dining room?  Home decor crafts are a great way to show your creative time to friends while at the same time-saving money and making your dining room more unique than anyone else’s!

Beaded Tablecloth Weights – These attractive weights hang from your tablecloth in a perfect balance of function and decoration.  Use them during the holiday season when all of your friends and family are over.  They won’t believe that you made these attractive tablecloth weights yourself!

Beautiful Hydrangea Spheres – These amazing balls of flowers seem too amazing to be crafted at all!  But now we have a fantastic step by step guide on how to make these magnificent hydrangea spheres to be used as a centerpiece in your dining room, or anywhere in your house as a delightful decoration.

Bronzed Leaf Table Linen Set – Follow this simple craft and soon you’ll have wonderful placemats and napkins that are decorated with bronzed leafs.  Perfect for the Fall if you’re having a dinner party or just love to have a well decorated dining room!  This craft is fun, easy, and leaves you with a great new set of linens!

Artichoke Stamp Placemat – Planning an all organic party?  They are all the rage!  This fantastic all-natural style placemat design uses a real artichoke to stamp cool, organic shapes into your homemade placemats.  Express your creativity and love for nature with this fun and interesting craft!

Chandelier Silhouette Wall Art – This attractive wall art can really pull a dining room together.  Hang it over your dining room table to create an ironic statement about the presence of chandeliers in fine dining.  People will love how unique and creative your dining room is when you personalize it like this!

If you’re looking for more great craft projects to try for your dining room or anywhere in your house, check out Fave Crafts!  You’re sure to find something you love in our large selection of dining room crafts!

This is a post from: FaveCraftsBlog

Home Decor Tuesday: How to Spruce Up Your Dining Room

Related posts:

1. Home Decor Tuesday: Baby’s Room
2. Home Decor Tuesday: Decorating with Styrofoam
3. Home Decor: Living room redo inspiration and projects

Many of our readers were interested in learning how to make a silverware wind chime. If you have some old silverware lying around, recycle the metal into a whimsical wind chime. This project is especially fun with tarnished, antique silverware. You can create a hanger with a wood block, embroidery hoop, or use a fork as your hanger. Here’s how to make a silverware wind chime with just a few materials.

Materials:

• Old Silverware (at least 6 pieces)
• Heavy-Weight Fishing Line
• Power Drill and Drill Bit (1/8 inch)
• Drilling Oil (optional)
• C-Clamp
• Block of Wood
• Protective Eye Wear
• Metal File
• Pliers
• Scissors

Instructions:

1. Gather your materials. Find the thinnest, most malleable silverware you can to make this project easier. You will need at least one fork for the centerpiece hanger of your wind chime and 5 utensils for the chimes. You can use assorted silverware for the “chimes” or all spoons for your chimes. Knives have thicker handles than other silverware generally and will be harder to drill.
2. To make drilling easier, secure silverware to wood block with a c-clamp. You may want to flatten the silverware slightly to make this easier.
3. Drill a hole into the handle end of each piece of silverware, including the central fork. Be careful as the metal will be hot after drilling. You can use drilling oil to assist.
4. Drill a hole into the center of your fork hanger, in the rectangle of metal right underneath the fork prongs. This will be the second hole in your fork hanger (the top hole will allow you to hang the wind chime).
5. Use your metal file to remove any sharp edges around the drilled holes. You don’t want to snag your fishing line or your fingers!
6. Take your pliers and your fork hanger, and bend the four prongs of the fork up so that they point out in all four directions. For example, the two inner prongs can point east-west and the two outer prongs can point north-south. When bent out, the fork prongs should look like a compass and be parallel to the ground for hanging (90 degree angle from the handle of the fork.)
7. Use the pliers to bend the end of each fork prong up into a small loop.
8. Tie a 5-6 inch piece of fishing line through the center hole of your hanging fork (above the prongs). Tie one of your chimes to the end of the fishing line, through the hole in the handle.
   1. If you use a fork as your middle chime, you can turn into another hanger and create a 2-layer wind chime.
   2. Tie four other silverware chimes to the fork hanger, through the bent loops at the end of the prongs. Use slightly longer lengths of fishing wire to secure these outer chimes. You want the broadest part of the outer silverware (the round base on spoons) to hit the end of your inner hanger.
   3. Tie a piece of fishing line to the top of your fork hanger to hang your wind chime from a tree branch or porch.

Enjoy your handmade silverware wind chime.

This is a post from: FaveCraftsBlog

How to Make a Silverware Wind Chime

Related posts:

1. How to make a wind chime: a 4th of July craft for kids
2. How to Make a Beaded Doorway Curtain
3. 2 Help a Reader: Daffodil Doily and CD Wind Chime

Question

Do you know of any recycling ideas for toilet or paper towel rolls?

Candy W, FaveCrafts.com

Dear Candy,

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of toilet paper rolls is a project called, Party Poppers! I paint the toilet paper rolls, but that is optional. Next you fill the roll with confetti, small candies, and little prizes like toy rings. Wrap the roll with tissue or decorative gift wrap paper. You want at least 1 ½”-2” lapping over each end of the wrapped tube. Tie off with ribbon. To “pop” your party popper, you hold each end and pull! The surprises come tumbling out. I make these for parties and other fun gatherings.

Other ideas for toilet and paper towel rolls: Make a doll using the roll as the body, arms, and legs.  For all the gardener’s you can use these rolls to make seedling pots. Make an egg holder for a weekend breakfast or Easter. Halloween fans can make bats and mummies out of the rolls. Training a puppy? Fill roll with coins, tape off ends and you have a shaker! Cover the roll and add some dangling ribbon for a cute kite or wind chime. You can use the rolls to organize your ribbonsThink tubular and think fun!

More ideas

DLTK’s Crafts for Kids

Easy Child Crafts

Cute Snowflake

Recycling Ideas

Got a craft question you’d like to ask Maria? Just send it to Maria@FaveCrafts.com

This is a post from: FaveCraftsBlog

Ask Maria “What to do with Toilet Paper Rolls?”

Related posts:

1. How to: Make a Valentine Rose Bouquet with Recycled Paper
2. How to: Make your Own Paper from Leftover Wrapping Paper
3. Ask Maria “What To Do With All Those Bottles!”

Question

Recently on the FaveCrafts.com Fan Page on Facebook, a fan left a post saying that craft supplies were getting so high she was having a difficult time being able to purchase and enjoy the crafts she loved. During the FaveCrafts Radio show a few weeks ago, I threw this question out to the show’s audience and guests, including Mark Montano, a featured craft designer on FaveCrafts.com. Let’s see what we came up with!

Answer

Mark Montano said that he too has a tight budget and makes that budget stretch by shopping at dollar stores. You can pick up all kinds of craft supplies and home decor items that just need your imagination and talent to become something fabulous. Check out some of Mark’s great projects on FaveCrafts.com.

The audience members had lots of ideas too! Many mentioned they shop at thrift stores, flea markets, swaps, and garage sales picking up craft supplies for pennies. You can find everything from yarns to paints to even tools like scissors and knitting needles. One chatter said that community centers are a great place to go as many have craft programs where supplies are given plus instruction at very low fees. Everyone agreed that you need to shop sales and stock up on items when they are on sale.

One of my favorite ways to save some bucks is to gather all the supplies I know I’m not going to use and ask my friends to do the same. We have a Saturday morning swapping party where we trade what we aren’t using for supplies we can use. Also, I love to rubberstamp, but stamps can get expensive so my stamping friends and I have a loaner policy. I have tons of sea and ocean, my friend Nancee has words for every celebration, and Lori has flowers and bugs. We just loan out our stamps for a few weeks to each other and save money by not buying stamps we might only use once or twice.

I’d love to hear your ideas for saving money on craft supplies! Maria Nerius is the Resident Craft Expert at FaveCrafts.com.

This is a post from: FaveCraftsBlog

Ask Maria: Craft Supplies Are Out Of Sight!

Related posts:

1. How to: 5 Ways to Save Money on Craft Supplies
2. How To Create Your Own Craft Selling Event!
3. Ask Maria “What To Do With All Those Bottles!”

We crafters may lust after that fine alpaca yarn or cool new craft punch, but few of us have unlimited budgets for crafting. We have to pick and choose what we purchase. Luckily, there are always ways to cut costs here and there, so you can indulge the occasional craft splurge. Here are 5 ideas for how to save money on craft supplies:

1. Make your own craft tools. You might have seen this recent post on how to make a simple loom with a hammer, nails and a picture frame. Have you thought about making a flower press? I pick wildflowers on nature walks and press in my homemade press. These flowers make beautiful embellishments for cards, scrapbook pages and picture frames. You will need two pieces of plywood, cardboard, blotting paper (plain paper sandwich between newspaper also works for blotting), and 4 nuts and bolts with flat washers. Basically, you are creating a wood-cardboard-blotting paper-flower sandwich which can be tightened to press all the water our of the flowers. Here is a great tutorial for making your own flower press.
   1. TIP- In my experience, purple wildflowers hold their colors very well when pressed. Yellow flowers can sometimes take on a brownish tint when pressed. Try pressing flatter blooms such as daisies before thick blooms, like those of roses.
2. Reuse and Recycle- So many materials you might consider trash can be reused for crafting. Cardboard can become a reusable template for a variety of shapes. Pliable aluminum found in empty soda cans, tea-lights and used kitchen foil can be used in a wide range of home decorating, wearable or paper crafts.
3. Thrift Stores- Local thrift stores will often have valuable craft supplies, including print materials such as sewing patterns or craft books. You can also pick up cheap wool sweaters for felting and fabric.
4. Check out online resources for free or discounted craft supplies.
   1. FreeCycle- Join the community in your area to get free stuff that someone else does not want! You have to give something away to start.
   2. CraigsList- People often clear out creative supplies via craigslist, especially in the bad economy.
   3. Etsy-In addition to finished handmade goods, you can buy many materials on Etsy and find good bargains. You are sure to find the absolute perfect buttons for your project on Etsy.
   4. eBay- Consider buying craft materials such as yarn or thread in bulk on eBay.
   5. Amazon- Check out the resell section of Amazon for bargain craft supplies.
5. Share craft tools and materials with friends. Trade fabrics, yarns, embellishments and more.
   1. Have a creativity party once per week where crafters bring craft tools to share. For example, everyone could bring their stamps to a super-fun paper craft party.
   2. If you are interested in an expensive tool such as an electronic cutting machine, but not ready to make the investment, why not share the cost with a group of friends? The machine can spend 2 weeks with each member of the group and/or you can throw cutting parties during which everyone can use the machine. Creating together is always more fun anyway!

This is a post from: FaveCraftsBlog

How to: 5 Ways to Save Money on Craft Supplies

Related posts:

1. Ask Maria: Craft Supplies Are Out Of Sight!
2. Save money on your Mother’s Day gift
3. How to: Free Easter Cards

A few brown bags are easy to come by for free; just make a trip to your local supermarket. Sturdy brown bags can be used as the base material for a variety of crafts. Items can also be spray-painted inside a brown grocery bag to control splatter. Here are some great craft ideas for brown paper bags:

Brown Bag Valentines- Small brown lunch bags can be turned into cute Valentine gift bags with a touch of flourish.

Brown Bag Ivy- Use a special technique to give burnt brown bags the look of metal. This faux-metal ivy would look great on a mantel.

Brown Bag Wreath- Cut out leaves using a template and paint to create a wreath for just about any season or holiday occasion.

Brown Bag Garland- Plain brown bags can be turned into garland or even stuffed ornaments with a touch of paint.

This is a post from: FaveCraftsBlog

Thrifty Crafts: Brown Bags

Related posts:

1. How To: Make Christmas Wreaths
2. How to: Make Festive Christmas House Crafts
3. Sunday Preview: Christmas, Bags & Purses, 2 Hour Crafts, & Girls Night In

Still have scraps of paper leftover from the holidays? If you didn’t follow my guide for recycling wrapping paper scraps into homemade paper, I have another idea for you. Valentine’s Day is coming up and you might want to give a bouquet of roses to someone special or decorate your home with a nice red bouquet. Unfortunately, fresh cut flower bouquets are very expensive, especially on Valentine’s Day, and often have unfortunate consequences for the environment. Instead of spending the money on fresh cut flowers, use leftover paper from around your house, even holiday wrapping paper, to create a bouquet of paper roses. Here’s how to create paper roses:

Paper Flower/Paper Roses Tutorial

Materials:

• Paper- Use leftover red wrapping paper to create roses. Solid reds or red metallic papers look best, but you can have fun making a bouquet of multicolored flowers too.
• Pencil
• Glue
• Scissors
• Wire (optional but recommended)
• Green Floral Table (optional but recommended)

Instructions:

If you don’t want to purchase wire and floral tape, or have none around your home, you can create flower stems by rolling up lengths of paper very tightly. Though, wire and green floral tape are more convenient and will look better for a bouquet. The floral tape will also help secure the bottom of the paper petals so your flowers are a little sturdier. There are two techniques to creating the paper flowers:

Technique 1

To create the petals, trace rose petal shapes from the edge of the paper (like a bell shape with a narrower bottom) and cut out with your scissors. The petals do not have to be perfect or matching. Crumble the petals to make the paper more pliable. Select one petal for the center of your flower and roll up the petal from the bottom to create a bloom shape. Add a dot of glue to hold the petal in this shape. Once you have the center bloom, the rest is easy. Continue to wrap petals around the center bloom, layering the petals as you get bigger. You can position the petals so that the bud is more closed or more open, depending on how you arrange the petals. To create a curved petal that opens out, simply pinch the bottom of the petal to create a small fold. Experiment with what looks best. When you are happy with the size of your rose, dab glue onto the end of your wire and insert into the bottom of the flower. Wrap the bottom of the flower and the wire with the floral tape. You can also use green scrapbook paper or card stock to add leaves to your paper flowers.

Technique 2

This is an even easier way to create paper roses. Cut out a square of paper and draw a spiral from the center all the way around to the outside. Do not make the lines of the spiral too close together. Cut out spiral of paper. Make small dots of glue at each end of the spiral and along the length. Roll up the paper spiral tightly from the outside. Attach to wire as normal.

This is a post from: FaveCraftsBlog

How to: Make a Valentine Rose Bouquet with Recycled Paper

Related posts:

1. How to make Valentine’s Day Rose Bouquet
2. How to: Easy Valentine Crafts to Make
3. How to Make Mother’s Day Decorations

Wool sweaters should be dry-cleaned before storing to keep them from developing moth holes. In addition, you can use inexpensive paper napkins and a sewing machine to create your own herbal sachets to repel months in drawers and closets. Fill the sachets with moth-repellent dried herbs such as lavender, cloves, rosemary and thyme. Unfortunately, moth holes do still happen on occasion and damage can occur to sweaters in lots of others ways: stains, tears and boyfriends who do not know that you cannot put wool in the washing machine. If you have a damaged sweater, you can felt the sweater in your washing machine, like my boyfriend recently did on accident. You will end up with a soft and sturdy material for a variety of craft projects.  You can also pick up old or damaged sweaters at thrift stores for cheap if you need more materials. Here are some ideas for what to do with felted sweaters:

1. Coffee-Cup Sleeves- Keep your fingers protected from a hot coffee cup. Cut up the sleeves of the felted sweater or stitch a strip together into a band.
2. Felt Pouches- Use the felt to create little pouches for change, make-up or even gift packaging
3. Ornaments- Use cookie cutters to help you cut out holiday shapes. Here is a Cross Ornament appropriate all year.
4. Mittens- Turn a felted sweater into the easiest mittens ever!
5. Brooches- Cut out a flower shape and embellish, or layer with other colors of felt.

This is a post from: FaveCraftsBlog

Thrifty Crafts Friday: Felted Sweaters

Related posts:

1. 10 Ways to Craft with Old Sweaters
2. 4 Felt Projects for Spring
3. Recycle Crafts for Kids and Adults: How to Make Magnets