Red, White and Blue and other things

Here comes summer. And with summer comes my favorite color combination for decorating. Red, White, and Blue.I use that color combination inside and outside each summer.   Summer has two patriotic holidays so why not use the color combination to show your " American Pride".

One of the easiest things to work with when making a wreath seems to be tulle wreaths or  rag wreaths. For my summer wreath this year I decided to do tulle.  This is the results of my wreath. The ladies at our Senior Center had seen my Spring Wreath and liked it so well they wanted to learn to do one so that was the May craft we did for "Krafts with Karan Day". What fun it was to do.

I bought 1 1/2 yard of each color red, white, and blue . Leaving it folded in half at the normal fold line I than cut it into 4 inch strips cutting from the fold across to the open edge. I stacked each strip neatly with all folds together.

After cutting and stacking I than cut  into six inch sections  by starting at the folds. I cut the first cut at 3 inches. After  unfolding each I had my first 6 inch strips. Then continue cuting the strips in 6 inch lengths on across. It should end up pretty true to 6 inches when cutting your last strip. Tulle is very forgiving  when cutting so you will not need to be right on exactly with your cuts. As you can see from my last strip the cut is very jagged. This creates no problem as it will not show the uneven cuts at all when tied onto you wreath.

Stack each color into piles when cutting. the end results will be 3 stacks one of each color. I used an old embroidery hoop part for my wreath but when teaching crafts  we did recycle wire hangers for our wreath form. Just shape it into a wreath shape and  you will be ready to start.

I started by tying on a red a white and blue and you will continie this right around the wreath, pushing each strip tightly together. You can tie in 6 of one color, 6 of the next and finally 6 of the 3rd color to make it a bit more striping. Just do you own thing is my motto. As you continue to tie on strips your wreath will begin taking shape.

The last inch or so is the hardest to tie on as the tulle is so full at this point  but just pack it tight as can be and it will tie on. After I had  completed   tying on eash strip  I took a couple long strips of 10-12 inches of tulle. I used white as I had a lot of extra white from another project. I ties it into a bow and left the tails dangle. I hot glues this bow to the bottom of my wreath. I then maqde a small version of the tulle bow in blue and hot glued that right to the center of the white bow. Fluff the tulle into a full bow. Then I added some shiney star shaped glitter in red, white and blue and I had some flags and God Bless America  cupcake decorations. I just pulled them off the picks and hot glued on  my wreath and added  a strip of tulle at the top to use as a hanger. If you use a wire hanger just bend the wire hanger into a circle and fluff your tulle to cover the hanger potion from sight. Hang and enjoy  your wreath throughout the summer months.

And here is my summer Christmas tree decorated to show my " American Pride"  Do you do anything to show your "American Pride?

May God Bless America.