everymom_crafts

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Fourth Of July Crafts

Daring Diane's Sparkly Holiday Shaker

Cool Colleen's Fourth of July Party Pot

Fourth of July Party Pot
This 4" terra cotta pot can be used to hold napkins and utensils at a Fourth of July or Memorial Day barbeque.

You can also make smaller pots as name holders or fill with treats for guests to take home.

At the end of the day, you can continue enjoying this pot by using it for a plant.

The stars on the top edge are from the printable template so you won't be forced to try to paint on perfect star shapes!

Materials:
 4" terra cotta pot (these cost 89 cents Canadian at Home Depot so it isn't a big expense).  You can substitute ordinary green plastic pots, but they blow away in the wind more easily, so you'll need to make sure you put something (like a rock) in the bottom to weight them down.
   
 OPTIONAL:  terra cotta pot bottom (another 89 cents... though you don't really need it if you're just making the pot to hold utensils and such)
   
 printer, paper and scissors
   
 white glue or mod podge  white glue works just fine for affixing the stars.  But mod podge is water resistant (though not water proof), white glue isn't.  
 Having said that, it's also very smelly... I can just feel the brain cells popping when I use mod podge.  If doing this project with younger kids, just stick with white glue.   
 A parent can always go back in the evening when the kids are asleep and coat the whole project with a coat spray varnish.  My girls are convinced there's a spray varnish fairy out there covering special craft projects with magic varnish in the middle of the night.  They're always so excited to see if their latest project was special enough to warrant the spray varnish fairy's finishing touch.
   
 
 red, white and blue paint.   acrylic paint is the best choice if you want this project to last forever.  But, if you get it on your clothes, the paint lasts forever there too! 
 tempra paint works just fine, but it isn't water proof. 
 the spray varnish trick works over tempra paint!  Make sure you coat the inside of the pot as well as the outside.
   
 WHAT I DO:  I "bulk paint" terra cotta pots white or light grey.  I often do this when we're painting the house or the fence... I just use the same paint or stain I use for the house and fence.  I paint about 20 of them, stick them in the spare room and pull them out as needed.  The white/light grey are easier to cover with tempra paint than the terra cotta color.  When a project is finished, the spray varnish fairy comes along to seal in the outside. 
 
Directions:
 Paint the pot white, up to the rim.  
   
 Paint the rim of the pot blue.
   
 Paint the pot holder bottom blue if you choose to buy one.
   
 Set the pot aside to dry (it takes about an hour)
   
 Print out the template of stars.
   
 Cut out the template pieces.  It took me about 7 stars for my 4 inch pot, though you could space them closer.  There are extra stars on the template.  You can use them to decorate additional pots or just discard them.
   
 When the pot is dry, add a second coat of white/blue as necessary.  Let dry again.
   
 When the pot is dry and you're happy with the coverage of the white and blue, glue or mod podge the stars around the rim of the pot (the blue)
   
 Paint a couple of red stripes around the pot.  I tried to tape the lines with the same kind of masking tape you use for painting walls, but the pot is tapered so it doesn't work very well.  We ended up just doing it by hand.
   
 Fill the pot with utensils and napkins or with treats for your guests.
   
 OPTIONAL:  After the party, put a plant in it.

ALTERNATIVE - name tags:
 use 2 inch pots instead of 4" 
 Paint as described above, though you may want to skip the red stripes. 
 Glue a couple of stars onto the body of the pot instead of onto the rim. 
 Put some red, white or blue playdough into the pot 
 Write out a card with each person's name and glue it to the end of a popsicle stick. 
 stick it into the playdough

Close the template window after printing to return to this screen. 
    
 Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

Cool Colleen's USA Wreath

USA WREATH

MATERIALS:
 Ring of cardboard (empty cereal boxes work wonderfully) 
 construction paper (red, white and blue) 
 scissors 
 glue 
 small piece of wool 
 printer 
 
 
 Trace a small plate and a large plate onto a piece of old cardboard.  (My 6 year old enjoys tracing by herself.  My 3 year old prefers I do this part.) 
   
 Empty cereal boxes or frozen dinner boxes work well as a source of recycled cardboard.
   
 It doesn't matter if you go over the folds of the cardboard  
 
 
 Cut a small strip of cardboard and glue or tape it onto the back of the ring over any folds in the cardboard.
   
 This will reinforce the ring.
   
 
 
 Cut strips of blue construction paper (about 1 1/2 inches by 4 inches)
   
 Cut strips of red construction paper the same length, but a bit narrower (about 1 inch wide).
   
 Cut strips of white construction paper the same length, but even narrower (about 1/2 inch wide)
   
 Stack the three colors of strips one on top of the other.
   
 You can do some rolls with red, white and blue (from thickest to narrowest) and some with white, blue and red if you like.
   
 The rolls make really cute napkin rings too! 
 
 
 glue the strips into rolls (like making a paper chain)
   
 Glue the rolls of construction paper onto the wreath.  Alternate colours.  My oldest daughter is in grade 1 and they spend a lot of time on patterns.  This is great practice for that.  
   
 
 
 Print out the stars template.
   
 Glue the stars together from biggest to smallest.  Try to center things (this is good practice for younger children to sort shapes from largest to smallest).
   
 Take a piece of string and tape it to the wreath and to the star so the star hangs in the center of the wreath.
   
 Hang on the wall.
   
 You can do the wreath with one row or two rows.

USA HANDPRINT WREATH 
This handprint wreath is a good choice for memorial day, veteran's day or the 4th of July.

Materials you will need for this wreath are glue, scissors, and red, white and blue paint or construction paper.  There are two ways to do this craft.  One is to trace the child's hand onto paper and cut out the prints. 
 The second is to make paint handprints on the paper and cut those out.  
  
 
 Make nine handprints (3 of each colour). 
  
 Cut out the prints and glue to form a wreath. 
   
 Decorate as desired with flags or poppies.

Canada Day Crafts

Cool Colleen's Canada Werath

Canada Day Party Pot
This 4" terra cotta pot can be used to hold napkins and utensils at a Canada day party.

You can also make smaller pots as name holders or fill with treats for guests to take home.

At the end of the day, you can continue enjoying this pot by using it for a plant.

The maple leaves are from the printable template so you won't be forced to try to hand paint on perfect shapes!

Materials:
 4" terra cotta pot (these cost 89 cents Canadian at Home Depot so it isn't a big expense).  You can substitute ordinary green plastic pots but they blow away in the wind if you're using these at a BBQ.
   
 OPTIONAL:  terra cotta pot bottom (another 89 cents... though you don't really need it if you're just making the pot to hold utensils and such)
   
 printer, paper and scissors
   
 white glue or mod podge  white glue works just fine for affixing the maple leaves.  But mod podge is water resistant (though not water proof), white glue isn't.  
 Having said that, it's also very smelly... I can just feel the brain cells popping when I use mod podge.  If doing this project with younger kids, just stick with white glue.   
 A parent can always go back in the evening when the kids are asleep and coat the whole project with a coat spray varnish.  My girls are convinced there's a spray varnish fairy out there covering special craft projects with magic varnish in the middle of the night.  They're always so excited to see if their latest project was special enough to warrant the spray varnish fairy's finishing touch.
   
 
 red and white paint.   (if you used white only, it wouldn't be the end of the world)  acrylic paint is the best choice if you want this project to last forever.  But, if you get it on your clothes, the paint lasts forever there too! 
 tempra paint works just fine, but it isn't water proof. 
 the spray varnish trick works over tempra paint!  Make sure you coat the inside of the pot as well as the outside.
   
 WHAT I DO:  I "bulk paint" terra cotta pots white or light grey.  I often do this when we're painting the house or the fence... I just use the same paint or stain I use for the house and fence.  I paint about 20 of them, stick them in the spare room and pull them out as needed.  The white/light grey are easier to cover with tempra paint than the terra cotta color.  When a project is finished, the spray varnish fairy comes along to seal in the outside.

Directions:
 Paint the pot white.
   
 Paint the rim of the pot red  
   
 Paint the pot holder bottom red if you choose to buy one.
   
 Set the pot aside to dry (it takes about an hour)
   
 Print out the template of maple leaves.
   
 Cut out the template pieces.  You won't need them all for one pot, but I gave extras.  
   
 When the pot is dry, add a second coat of paint as necessary.  Let dry again.
   
 When the pot is dry and you're happy with the coverage of the red and white, glue or mod podge the maple leaves around the pot in whatever pattern desired.  the red ink from the maple leaf will come off if you scrub the mod podge (don't paint over and over and over with the wet mod podge).  Just dab it on with the paint brush and let it dry.
     
 
 Fill the pot with utensils and napkins or with treats for your guests.
   
 OPTIONAL:  After the party, put a plant in it.

ALTERNATIVE - name tags:
 use 2 inch pots instead of 4" 
 Paint as described above. 
 Glue a couple of maple leaves onto the pot. 
 Put some red or white playdough into the pot 
 Write out a card with each person's name and glue it to the end of a popsicle stick. 
 stick it into the playdough

Cool Colleens Candadian Handprint Flag

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