INDEPENDENCE DAY PARTY DECORATIONS

happy july 4th fellow americans, 

here i am sharing with you some of the decorations i made for our family get together.

WARNING: post is pic heavy since i am trying to explain some of the "how to".

you can find more details at the digiplayground

Independence Day Decor

i made a banner, a centerpiece with pinwheels, some popcorn boxes, water bottle tags and some loose tags to make a mini album or play a game. not sure yet.

(remember, you can zoom in by clicking on pics)

here we go...

THE BANNER

 was made using a free file from the digi playground store:

patriotic stars

i used my cricut explore along with the cricut design space software to resize and cut my stars. i cut 5 stars at 7.75" tall. i also made a white backing for my stars using the contour feature on design space. 

---in case you are new to the cricut software, to use the contour feature in design space  first select, duplicate or copy and paste your image, then you select the image you want to manipulate (you can close the other image), ungroup it if necessary, click on the contour button, (your image will change in appearance) and click on the area you want to hide (in my case the center of the stars).

 ---the red circles show where the contour button is located and the areas i clicked on.

this is what it should look like after the "contour" has been applied.

stars die cuts including the white backing

stars assembled

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now onto 

THE PINWHEELS CENTERPIECE

(the medallion/rosette is from a cricut cart called "independence day")

for the vase you score, fold and glue. as simple as that, it might look hard but is not. 

for the pinwheels i recommend a pliable cardstock or designer paper. i was using a thick cardstock and you can see some creases on some of them. 

i attached brads in their centers and covered them with the white stars.

the wooden dowels are attached to the pinwheels back with hot glue but you can use any  adhesive.

below is the pic of the file i used: also from dpg (digi playground)

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THE POPCORN BAGS and WATER BOTTLE TAGS

lots of scoring on the popcorn bags but like the vase, it looks scarier than what it is.

you do have to remember to "group and attach" the score lines to the box.

i made the blue and red stripes with the explore but the popcorn word and one oval is included in the svg file along with the bag/box.

on the bottle tags i added the white semi-circle using a circle punch, attached half of it  

and then cut the extra.

-both images below are linked to the store-

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THE WANNA BE MINI ALBUM TAGS

these are the tags i am thinking to use on a mini.

-they are also a freebie from the digi playground store-

another pic of some of the ensemble

it takes time but the results are worthy.

if you have any questions, please, do not hesitate to add it to the comments.

and now i have to say until later....

have some fireworks to enjoy!

blogged by 

agnes

from

flowerdiscosscraphut

LAND OF THE FREE...using a digital stamp

welcome to another challenge.
i am so super late with this project i did not even send it yet.

time has been flying around like a "bee here and bee there" and i have been lacking craft time but however i was able to produce another sign. i love signs and this one i will be using in conjunction with other 4th of july decorations for our get together. i was planning to make a banner but a sign will do for now. i will make the banner later.

our sponsor this week is
eureka stamps.
they will be giving 5 free digi stamps of your choice to the winner. 
thanks so much eureka stamps. they were also very nice to provide the dt with another free digi stamp of our choice. i chose the below background stamp and i love it.

baroque

now, onto my sign...this will become the center of my banner. it is a big sign/pennant section measuring 8 inches tall because i want to show it off.

Land of the Free

look how gorgeous!
i love that blue color. i used my spectrum noirs markers to color in this huge image.
i went and sat on the deck, with lulu by my side and spend a bit amount of time coloring and relaxing. i think i use the entire ink in the marker, hehe.

did you noticed the design on the letters?
i did that with a hole puncher, the one you have to use a hammer to punch, lmbo....i think it was the first hole puncher i bought before the crop a dile and i still use it a lot. it is a very handy tool indeed. i think it was the perfect touch. i backed the sign with the same yellow paper i made the stars to give the illusion of lights behind...like one of those hollywood like signs you see.

the Land of the Free phrase comes from the cricut cartridge called "stand and salute". i used the craft room because my gypsy was giving me some problems and i have to say i really liked it. i am still in doubts about syncing my gypsy to the craft room...i need some advice on it.

i also punched some stars out and staggered them around the background.

i went outside in the morning and took the picture using the natural light of a beautiful morning.

and this is it for now, :P

thanks so much for stopping by!

---i appreciate your company---
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PAPER DOLLS DRESS UP SERIES---episode 11

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO ALL!!!

and WELCOME again to our PDDU series. we are already on episode 11, two more and we are done with it.

we decided to use blue, red and white in honor of today's holiday. i bet you will find lots of this around our blogs. :P

to celebrate it, i made a card

 (what i believe i do best :P) 

A Living Legacy

2.75 inches wide by 5 inches tall

i think the card's name is so very appropriate. i found it on my stash of g-studios clear stamps. 

i was assigned page #73 for this project and i found a mrs. claus, a gingerbread man, a reindeer, a christmas tree, mrs. claus outfit and its accesories. well, what was i going to do with christmas in july? hehe! and then for the 4th of july?

well, i chose mrs. claus headwear, rotfl.

yeap! i took that "bun" of hers and welded it using my gypsy (if you do not have a gypsy you can use the cricut craft room) and transformed it onto a flower (which looks to me like a poinsettia, lol) and used it for my 4th of july theme card. 

you see? gotta color outside the lines sometimes, wink-wink.

the banner is handmade, the star was punched out and so was the flower center (i popped that one up with a foam dot adhesive). the ribbon? i used that ribbon? because it reminded me of fireworks. i believe is from ek adornments (i think is discontinued). 

i hope you have a great 4th of july and take another minute of silence to honor the meaning behind the holiday and those who fought for it and gifted it to all of us proud americans.

now onto my teammates fabulous projects:

sheena's

http://lilflowerslynne1.blogspot.com/

so so cute!!!

kristie's

http://just2ducky.blogspot.com/

isn't this doll so beautiful?

(you can click here to see kristie's last week's project.

she was vacationing last week)

dawn's

http://craftycraftymom.blogspot.com/

what an awesome santa!

hoping you are getting a nice dose of ideas. :P

PLEASE, Have a great holiday!!!!

and do not drink and drive and no texting or talking on the phone either while behind the wheel. it just takes a second for a bad accident to happen.

---thanks for stopping by---

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