Thursday, June 2, 2011

4th of July Decorations and Tutorial


With Memorial Day in my rear view, I have to admit, I've already begun thinking about the 4th of July. It probably doesn't help that my local scrap store (A Walk Down Memory Lane) just got in My Mind's Eye's American Made line. I love every sheet in this line...both sides. I'm pretty sure Tommy Hilfiger is jealous of the beautiful prints. I've stashed some American Made away to make some 4th of July layouts after all the fun this year, but first I made some patriotic decorations.



What you'll need:
~Ultra Thin or Permanent Glue Dots®
~Double sided patterned paper (you can get 2 decorations per 12 x 12 sheet)
~Scoring Tool
~Strong Scissors
~Ribbon, Twine, or String


First, cut your paper to 6" x 10".

Score the paper lengthwise, every 1/2" from 1/2" to 9 1/2".


Turn your paper and score it height wise at 3".



Accordion fold the 1/2" folds and hold tightly together.


Take a length of twine, string, or ribbon and tie it as tightly as possible around the center of your paper (there should be a score mark at the middle that you can uses as a guide).


Cut the ends of your paper at opposite angles (This is the hardest part of the project. You'll need a good, strong scissors and some elbow grease to cut through the thick layers of paper).


Add Ultra Thin Glue Dots® to the flat edge of the paper.


Fan out the paper, and press the seams firmly together.

Now all you have to do is decorate!
As you can see I've used ribbon to hang one star medallion, and attached a stick to the other one for a table decoration. If you're having a 4th of July party, you could make multiple medallions attached to sticks for table decor that guests can also use as hand fans. I also think the hanging medallions would be really lovely worked into a garland or wreath.

*I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® Design Team.

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