When the weather starts to heat up, and the smell of BBQ is in the air, I know that summertime is approaching. It’s my favorite time of the year. School’s out (so traffic is light) and the sun seems to never set. The pools finally reopen, and your long awaited vacation is just around the corner.
But better than almost anything else, is the tiny little break we get during summer to celebrate the birth of this country – the 4th of July. In fact, did you ever realize that our entire summer is built around patriotic holidays? It officially kicks off with Memorial Day, centers around the 4th of July, and culminates with Labor Day. Yep, summer is the most patriotic season we have.
And if you love summer like I love summer, there is nothing better than to fill it with fun, patriotic, 4th of July crafts. Not only will they give your kids great memories of summertime for years to come, but they give you the same feeling! And, not to mention, keep you house looking oh so festive throughout the summer season.
Because, let’s face it, it’s nice to have one holiday to celebrate ALL summer. After changing decor from Halloween, to Thanksgiving, to Christmas, to Valentine’s, to St. Patrick’s, to Easter… keeping your decor up for 3 months is HEAVEN! But, you better make it look good 🙂
My favorite 4th of July crafts growing up were creating red, white, and blue spin art:
As an adult, I use these banners, and add letters with these stencils and blue cardstock to make custom flag banners to go across the mantle. And hang against the fence outside.
And you can also use my rustic wine bottle tutorial to learn how to wrap wine bottles in this burlap and patriotic lace for cute centerpieces or vases to put around the house!
But my absolute FAVORITE 4th of July craft is my felt stars and stripes wreath. It’s beautiful, plush, and gives a crazy WOW factor when people see it on my door.
It looks like something I’d find in Pottery Barn for triple or quadruple what I paid for the supplies to DIY – a total of $25! And, it’s actually a super simple project. Even the most uncrafty of people could putt this beauty off.
Below, I give you the step by step instructions, and all the supplies you’ll need, to pull this 4th of July craft off yourself!
Steps to Create a Patriotic Stars and Stripes Wreath
The Necessary Supplies:
- Red, white, and blue felt (1/2 yard of each)
- 14″ Styrofoam wreath
- Simple dressmaker pins (I use about 1/2-3/4 of my box of 400)
- Ribbon for hanging
- Wood Stars
- White Paint
- Glue Gun and Glue
Step 1:
- Take one color of your fabric, and mark a 3×3″ square.
- Cut out the square, and repeat across the entire 1/2 yard, and with the other 2 color fabrics.
Step 2:
- Take your styrofoam wreath, and make a PEACE sign on it with your marker – essentially splitting the ring into equal thirds.
- Make sure you mark the front, and both sides of the ring so the marking goes all the way around the sides of the wreath.
- The left hand side of the ring will become your BLUE section (feel free to write a B in that section to remember it’s going to be BLUE).
- Then, take your ruler and start measuring from the end of the BLUE section – in 5″ increments – marking as you go (and ignoring the first mark you made on the right for your PEACE sign).Every 5″ section, you will alternate between RED and WHITE. Feel free to write and R and W in each section to remember which color goes where.
- Feel free to make these sections shorter, if you want more red and white stripes.
Step 3:
- Before beginning with your felt, take your ribbon and tie it around the top center of your styrofoam wreath – making sure you tie it together in the BACK end of the wreath.
- This will become the way you hang your wreath on your door.
Step 4:
- Now, begin attaching your felt.
- I started with BLUE, and then worked my way around clockwise.
- Take one of your pins, and poke it through the middle of one of your felt squares.
- Then, push that pin into the styrofoam wreath, in the section where that color goes.
Step 5:
- Repeat over and over putting pins in the middle of the felt squares, and placing them close together onto the styrofoam.
- Make sure to place them close enough so that no styrofoam can be seen, and that the edges of the nearby felt squares are held straight up by the nearest piece of felt (basically, place them back to back as you see in the picture above).
- Continue around the wreath this way, alternating color felt squares as you get to each section.
Step 6:
- Once you’ve finished with the front felt, take whatever extra felt you have left over and cover the back of the styrofoam wreath (laying the felt flat across the exposed styrofoam so that the back is “finished”, but still flat to lay on your door).
Step 7:
- Finally, take your wood stars and paint them with a coat of white paint.
- Once dry, take your glue gun and glue them to the blue section of your felt.
And it’s that simple! Once the stars are adhered, you have yourself the perfect 4th of July wreath to hang all summer!
You could also use this styrofoam/felt/pin wreath technique for SO many other holidays. Black and orange for Halloween, brown and mustard yellow for Thanksgiving, Green for Christmas (never buy another Christmas wreath again!), pink and red for Valentine’s day, Green for St. Paddy’s Day, Yellow and Pink and Blue for Easter…. ok I’ll stop now.
But you can see how this is so versatile. However, maybe it’s because this one turned out so well, but of all the 4th of July crafts I mentioned above, this one is my favorite. It’s really the perfect way to hone in on your crafting skills, all while turning your house into a summer Pottery Barn catalog!
And while you’re turning the house into the perfect Americana home, you can still keep you kid’s busy with the red, white , and blue spin art and slip ‘n slide in the backyard. Sounds like the ideal summer to me!
As always, if you JUST can’t find the time, you can pick this wreath up in my shop. But if you’re ready for your 4th of July crafts, here’s a recap of everything you’ll need:
Stars and Stripes Wreath:
- Red, white, and blue felt (1/2 yard of each)
- 14″ Styrofoam wreath
- Simple dressmaker pins (I use about 1/2-3/4 of my box of 400)
- Ribbon for hanging
- Wood Stars
- White Paint
- Glue Gun and Glue
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