{Blast from the Past} Wooden Firecrackers

It's about that time again, where we start busting out the red, white and blue and all the craftiness those colors inspire.  Here's a flashback to these easy wooden firecrackers that I shared a few years back {in case you missed them or forgot about them.}

These cuties took me only about a half hour to whip up.  And I love them!  

If you want to make your own {and I know you do!}, you'll need:

three pieces of wood: 1 7 inches long, 1 6 inches long and 1 5 inches long and all about 2 inches wide

Red, white and blue paint

Wooden star

Hemp or twine

Hot glue and paint brushes

I started with this block of wood.  It was left over from the posts of our fence.  Pre-cutting, it was about 4 inches wide.  I divided it in half on two sides and drew some lines.  Then, my brother-in-law helped me do the cutting-I don't trust myself with power tools while being pregnant.  Once I had four pieces, I had him cut two shorter-taking one inch off of one and two inches off of the other.

So they looked like this.  Now, my pieces were pretty rough and I wanted them that way.  I liked the rustic look of them.  So I just lightly sanded the edges and tops and bottoms to smooth them out so there wouldn't be rough edges to catch on things or scratch up the furniture.

Once they were sanded and ready to go, I painted them.  Each piece got two coats of paint, which I let dry in between coats.

Like so.

Then it was time to add the "wicks."  I used three pieces of hemp for this that I just cut at random lengths.

Then glued to the top of each firecracker.

So they looked like this.

Then I wrapped a piece of hemp around the whole thing a few times and tied it in a knot at the back, then slid the star in.

Here they sit with some of my other red, white and blue decor.

I quite like the way they turned out.  And since I had almost everything on hand already, they were super-cheap.  The only thing I had to buy was the little star, which was a whopping 79 cents at Michaels!

{Hand-made Goodie of the Week} Wooden Firecrackers

Um, where did it go?

That's what I asked myself when looking over my blog this morning.  I posted this last week, but it magically disappeared.  And it's one of those things that only I would notice, since you guys never even got to see it, so how would you know that it was gone?!

So, yes, I know, it is way past the Fourth of July by now, but I really wanted to share this fun, fast project as it can be used for decor for our other patriotic holidays throughout the year.

Enough of me rambling, to the crafting!

These cuties took me only about a half hour to whip up.  And I love them!  

If you want to make your own {and I know you do!}, you'll need:

three pieces of wood: 1 7 inches long, 1 6 inches long and 1 5 inches long and all about 2 inches wide

Red, white and blue paint

Wooden star

Hemp or twine

Hot glue and paint brushes

I started with this block of wood.  It was left over from the posts of our fence.  Pre-cutting, it was about 4 inches wide.  I divided it in half on two sides and drew some lines.  Then, my brother-in-law helped me do the cutting-I don't trust myself with power tools while being pregnant.  Once I had four pieces, I had him cut two shorter-taking one inch off of one and two inches off of the other.

So they looked like this.  Now, my pieces were pretty rough and I wanted them that way.  I liked the rustic look of them.  So I just lightly sanded the edges and tops and bottoms to smooth them out so there wouldn't be rough edges to catch on things or scratch up the furniture.

Once they were sanded and ready to go, I painted them.  Each piece got two coats of paint, which I let dry in between coats.

Like so.

Then it was time to add the "wicks."  I used three pieces of hemp for this that I just cut at random lengths.

Then glued to the top of each firecracker.

So they looked like this.

Then I wrapped a piece of hemp around the whole thing a few times and tied it in a knot at the back, then slid the star in.

Here they sit with some of my other red, white and blue decor.

I quite like the way they turned out.  And since I had almost everything on hand already, they were super-cheap.  The only thing I had to buy was the little star, which was a whopping 79 cents at Michaels!

{Hand-made Goodie of the Week} Being Patriotic

The Fourth of July is in less than two weeks, and with me {FINALLY!} getting a small break from school, I got to do some crafting, patriotic-style.  I made a red, white and blue star embellishment for my interchangeable wreath.  And it only cost me $2!

To make your own, here's what you'll need:

Wreath

Felt stars-I found mine at Joann's for only $1 per package and each package comes with 2 stars of each color

Hot glue

and velcro

I laid my stars all out to get a visual because I'm kinda dumb that way 

Then messed around with the layout.  This one was a little star-heavy for me, so I took a couple out

 

Until I happened upon the perfect layout.  I then carefully glued them together, then attached my pieces of velcro to the back, using the pieces on my wreath as a guide {you can check out the original tutorial for this step-it's easy peasy!}

The little man even wanted to get in on the action {really, it's just a shameless excuse to show off my cute little boy}

And ta-da!  The whole thing only took about 10 minutes, tops.  I'm going to get some blue ribbon and make a red, white and blue bow to go on it.

But it'll more than do for now.

I have another fun and easy Fourth project coming up next week-see, I told you good things were in store!

Fourth of July Fun

Well hello.  I'm not dead.  Promise.  I know I've been MIA this last week.  Let me just say, it was one crazy week.  Full of errand-running and headaches.  BUT I did get to enjoy a nice, long holiday weekend with the hubs and little man, despite the overcast weather we've been having here.  So that made up for it.  Here's a little glimpse at this weekend's festivities:

Lakeland did fireworks a day early this year.  So we got a head start on the celebrating.  They do the fireworks at the lake downtown, so we packed up the little man and the umbrella (just in case) and headed down to find a good spot.  To kill time once we were there, we took a walk around the lake.  Luckily, the rain held out and we were able to have a nice night with fireworks.

Downtown Lakeland from Lake Mirror

Taking a break and watching the ducks

My little red-faced man.  He ran himself to sleep that night.

Family picture!

Countdown to fireworks!

Watching the show with Dad.  He wasn't too happy about all the noise at first, but he got into and really liked watching the fireworks by the end.

My favorite part-the fireworks!

Sunday morning, we made waffles and

had a red, white and blue breakfast.

Little mister digging into his waffle.  His favorite part was the whip cream : )

Sadly, the rain was back all day Sunday, so we were stuck indoors.

But we were able to play with some sparklers on our porch.

Ah!  Me with no make-up.  Sorry guys!

He loved them once he got the hang of things

Monday was also cloudy and drizzly, so we walked over to one of the little ponds in our apartment complex and fed the ducks.  Bobby loves doing this and loves to just sit and watch them.

I loved watching the babies!  Aw, soft, fluffy baby ducks!  

I did get some crafting in-I made this framed burlap art just in time.  Back near  St. Patrick's Day, Red Heads Craft More Fun had posted this and I loved it.  Then I thought, why not make it interchangeable for other holidays?!  So I got some different colored burlap and in addition to my 4th of July piece, am going to make one for the other holidays!  Thanks for the inspiration, Courtney!

So, that's my weekend in pictures, more or less.  I hope that you all had a fun and safe Fourth of July!