Make and Takes » Holidays

Celebrating for the 4th of July

Marie — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:27:33 +0000

Here’s a few fun projects we’ve crafted in the past for the 4th of July. Have fun celebrating with red, white, and blue!

Firework Pom Poms

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American Flag Fruit Jello

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Hand-Stitched American Flag Greeting Card

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4th of July Fruit Kabobs

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Bubble Wrap Fire Crackers

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Red, White, and Blue Centerpiece for the 4th of July

Marie — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:21:09 +0000

Give your 4th of July table a little splash of red, white, and blue with this colorful centerpiece. We colored rice with red and blue food coloring to give it this festive look. You can add this to any area in your house or it would be perfect for your party table!

Supplies for 4th of July Colored Rice:

white uncooked rice
rubbing alcohol
food coloring, red and blue
paper towels and a tray
clear vase

1. Divide your rice into 3 equal parts. Place 2 of the parts into 2 baggies, one for red and one for blue. The third part you’ll leave plain white.

2. Add your food coloring to each bag. Depending on your food coloring, you might need to add more than you think. I used 8-10 drops for each color. I also added 1 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol to each bag. This helps with the drying process of the rice, so it doesn’t get wet and gooey. You can make this without the alcohol, you will just need to act fast and help it dry quicker, maybe out in the sun.

3. Seal up the baggies and start to mix it around with your hands. Make sure it gets spread out evenly over each piece of rice.

4. Set out some paper towels on a tray. Open each bag and spread it out on the tray to dry. Avoid them touching, it’s not fun if they mix. It shouldn’t take too long, and you can use a spoon to help fluff them and speed up the drying process.

5. Once the rice is dry and set, add it to your clear vase. You can create all kinds of layers. In three chunks like mine, or with a lot of little red and white layers with one large blue layer at the top to make a flag!

Now add your flare for the top. In the first photo, I added an American flag in the center. Or you could place some of these fun Patriotic Paper Lollies! Or below, I added one of these Pipe Cleaner Sparklers to turn it into a giant firecracker!

This craft could be turned into a decoration for any type of celebration. Create this centerpiece with your country’s color or even with colors from a different holiday.

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Holiday Ribbon Wrapped Gift Baskets

Marie — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:37:17 +0000

These Ribbon Wrapped Gift Baskets would be great for almost any holiday, but are fun in red, white, and blue for the 4th of July! They would be perfect gifts to give to a neighbor or friend, filled with yummy holiday treats! Or carry along your family’s belongings to a 4th of July party.

Supplies for Ribbon Wrapped Gift Baskets:

plastic baskets with holes in the sides
ribbon, any color or width, 3-4 feet in length for each basket
scissors

I’ve wrapped these ribbon baskets 3 different ways. Each is unique and festive. You decide which one suits you best.

Option 1: Cut little strips of ribbon 5-6 inches long each. I used 2 different colors of ribbon to make it pop and tied each piece of ribbon around the handle into a knot. So easy!

Option 2: Simply wrap each handle around and around with ribbon. It’s best to add a glue dot or piece of tape to hold the ribbon in place at one end. Then tie the two ends together when they meet at the other end of the handle. Cute!

Option 3: Cut out 2-3 colors of ribbon to thread through the holes of the basket. On most baskets I’ve seen, the holes are uneven and odd numbered, so they may not match when you thread them through to the other side. But do your best to alternate holes and tie the two ends together when they meet again.

Which option is your favorite? I think mine is #1, as I love the alternating ribbon frills.

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Festive Serving Spoons for Your Holiday Party

Marie — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:59:06 +0000

I’m sure you have a few holiday parties coming up to celebrate the 4th of July and you’re probably bringing a potluck dish, am I right? Well, here’s a fun way to dress up your dish, making your serving spoons a little more decorative. Wrap some ribbon around your spoons to give them a fun festive look.

Supplies for Decorative Serving Spoons:

serving spoons
ribbon – any kind, at least 4-5 feet
glue dot or tape

1. Cut your ribbon to 4 times the length of your spoon. Place a glue dot, or a small piece of tape, on the back top of your spoon. This helps your ribbon stay in place, not sliding up your spoon.
2. Center your ribbon and place it on top of the glue dot or tape.

3. Wrap your ribbon, using both ends, around your spoon. You’ll want to do it this way, so you have two ends to tie it off at the bottom together.
4. Once you get to the end, tie off the ribbon. You can tuck it in to hide the strings hanging or keep them out and cut them off in a cute shape for the ends.

Here is another pair of spoons I made using a thinner ribbon and tucked the ribbon back.

Use these festive serving spoons for your next party to help celebrate the holidays!

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4th of July Pipe Cleaner Sparklers

Marie — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:24:12 +0000

We’re just a couple of weeks away for the 4th of July and I’m already seeing fireworks for sale. If you live somewhere with “no fire” laws for the 4th or if your kids are a little too small for the fire, make these fun pipe cleaners sparklers instead.

Supplies for Pipe Cleaner Sparklers:

2 red pipe cleaners (aka chenille stems)
2 blue pipe cleaners
4 white pipe cleaners – mine are the shiny sparkly white colored kind

1. Gather your pipe cleaners and group them with the white together and the blue and red together. (I also made a sparkler that was half the size by cutting my white pipe cleaners in half for a tighter look, see above.)
2. Wrap your blue and red pipe cleaners around the center of your white pipe cleaners.
3. Bend your white pipe cleaners up and then twist your blue and red pipe cleaners together.
4. Give your white pipe cleaners one little twist, then fan them out. You can bend them at the tops or leave them straight.

Now it’s time for the show. Have all the fun without the fire!

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Patriotic Paper Lollies, Perfect for July 4th

Kami — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:42:27 +0000

These fun paper crafts get the nickname “Lollies” because they look like giant lollipops. With so many darling double sided papers available these days, you can really have fun with these. They would look great as a centerpiece at your 4th of July BBQ. You can also vary the sizes of these lollies. You can make them small to go on party hats or pins, or big like you see here.

How to make Paper Lollies:

1. Cut a 12×12 piece of paper into 3- 4×12 strips.
2. Fold the strips accordion style at about 1 inch apart back and forth (1/2 inch fold are great for smaller lollies), . To assure straight lines, a scoring tool is helpful but not necessary.
3. Using glue dots or double stick tape stick all three strips together forming a circle.
4. Hold the circle to lay flat and add a big drop of hot glue to hold it together.

The weight of a heavy can is helpful as the hot glue dries.

Once your lollie is made, get creative! You can layer smaller medallions (lollies) on top (like you see above) and top with some of these different patriotic embellishments to make it look more finished.

The Quickutz nesting rick rack circles and nesting stars die cuts were helpful in giving these a finished look.

Finished off with cylinders filled with candy, it will be everyone’s favorite centerpiece.

Kami Bigler is a regular contributor at Make and Takes. She’s the thrifty maven who runs the blog: no biggie – a montage of her three favorite creative outlets: crafting, cooking, and thrifting. Her interests include portrait and tabletop photography, paper crafts, decorating and experiencing the thrill of the thrift find. You can follow Kami on Twitter at @kamibigler.

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Fun and Crafty Father’s Day Gifts

Marie — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 09:06:52 +0000

Here are a few fun Father’s Day crafts we’ve done in the past. These are sure to make dad feel glad this Father’s Day!

Give Dad a snake this year!

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Father’s Day Hand-Stitched Greeting Card

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Magazine Collage of Dad’s Favorite Things

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Giant Remote Control Gifts

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Golf Club Sock Puppets…fore!

What fun things have you been making and crafting for Father’s Day?

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What We’ve Made for Mom on Mother’s Day

Marie — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:51:54 +0000

Here are just a few of the things we’ve made for Mom in the past. There are also some fun ideas for the kids to get involved. We love Mom!

Handmade Photo Cube

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WOW card for MOM

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Picture Perfect Centerpieces

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Homemade Plantable Greeting Card

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Etch a Glass Vase for Mom

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Strawberry Rhubarb Pie for Dessert

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The Perfect Bookmark for Mom

What are you making Mom for Mother’s Day?

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Weekend Make and Takes: Earth Day

Marie — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:18:10 +0000

With Earth Day coming up on April 22nd, here’s a few fun ways to celebrate this special holiday. There are so many fun and creative ways to reduce, reuse, recycle!

Cereal Box Robins by Almost Unschoolers (via One Pretty Thing) pictured above
Yearly Reading of The Lorax by Suite Spots
Egg Carton Tulips by Make and Takes
Fun Earth Day Activities by No Time for Flash Cards
Take the Time to Recycle by Make and Takes
Red Newspaper Roses by Zakka Life
Chip Bag into Book Cover by Make and Takes
Recycle Clothes into Toys by Dollar Store Crafts

And don’t forget to enter the Make and Takes Crafty Challenge creating something with recycled materials!

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Having Fun With Easter Candy

Marie — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 17:34:29 +0000

Remember doing this with good ol’ Robin Eggs? Gotta love em’. Happy Easter!

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