Free Fourth of July Printable

I've been talking it up all week and it's finally here!!

I tried something different this time, so I hope you guys like it!!

I'm pretty excited that the Fourth is almost here because I love celebrating our country!

Hubby was talking about getting fireworks last night-- eeek.

Fireworks always make me nervous.

But they are beautiful.

So with no further delay- here's your free Fourth Printable!!

Enjoy!!!

(Go here to download)

As with all my free printables,

these are for personal use ONLY.

Please do not claim them as your own or alter them.

Enjoy!

Have a fabulous weekend- and hopefully I can show you a few sneak peeks from the craft room that is slowly coming back together :)

Linking to:

Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello

Creatively You @ The Creative Crate

Sundae Scoop @ I Heart Naptime

Amaze Me Monday @ Dittle Dattle

Craftomaniac Monday @ Craftomaniac

Marvelous Mess @ Marvelously Messy

Craft Catwalk @ Embellishing Life

You're So very Creative @ Me Making Do

Under 100$ @ Beyond the Picket Fence

Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints on the Fridge

Everything but the Kitchen Sink @ A Little Knick Knack

Remodoholics Anonymous @ Remodoholic

Friday Flair @ Whipperberry

Link Up @ Mom of 6

Easiest Pallet Table EVER and some 4th of July Bling

I have been dying over all the fabulous pallet projects I've seen the past few months.

I've been hoarding pallets for at least a year now...and had big plans for them.

But I just kept drooling over all the pictures and projects everyone else did instead.

I think I was rather intimidated by working with such a big and heavy thing.

Intimidated no more.

I don't have any pictures of the process because, to be honest, I didn't think it would actually turn out.

But it really was the easiest thing ever.

Are you dying to see????

Materials:

*Pallet in decent shape- our floor guy let me keep the one our wood came on- it was perfect!

*a solid 4x4 (we got one off the side of the road)

*strong wood screws

*nail gun (for a little extra support)

It was as easy as cutting the 4x4 with our miter saw into four legs the same height and then screwing them into the corners of the pallet.

After they were screwed in, we punched a couple of nails in each leg for extra security.

But this thing isn't going anywhere :)

I adore the stamping on the wood.

What is it about distressed wood that makes me feel all happy inside?

And to top it all off...

I had these stools sitting around in the garage waiting for a debut.

They were found...on the side of the road.

So pretty much this was all a free, yes, FREE project.

You could take apart two pallets to nail slats closer together...

but since this is an outdoor table and not going to be used all the time,

I liked the natural spacing.

I made a way easy cabinet door tray by painting it white and adding some handles I got off an old dresser.

The cute bucket is from Hobby Lobby with rocks and a candle inside.

The painted rocks were the results of art time with little man.

I love having a place to sit closer to the trampoline and fort while little man plays.

I just completely adore pallets.

I know the look isn't for everyone but it sure is for me!!

And you can't beat the piles of free ones you find everywhere you look.

(Seriously...now that I totally love them, they are everywhere!)

I have about four more stacked in the back yard.

And how about those cute little lanterns bringing some fourth of July bling??

They started as little orange things from the Target Dollar Bin...

The orange just wasn't cutting it...

So they got spray painted.

The glass windows pop right out

and I was completely drawn to the beautiful red, white and blue color scheme.

The candlesticks were random leftover ones I had from little man's puppy party last year.

I popped some tea lights in and they were ready to bring some patriotic sparkle to the new table!!

Need more in depth instructions?

Worry no more :)

Sound good?

Super easy for super patriotic sparkle :)

So tell me,

do pallets and lanterns do it for you?

Don't forget to check back in for a free Fourth of July printable tomorrow!!!

Linking to:

Catch a Glimpse @ A Glimpse Inside

Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints on the Fridge

Everything but the Kitchen Sink @ A Little Knick Knack

Simply Creations @ Simply Home Life
Free for All Friday @ Sassy Sites
Friday Favorites @ Inpsiring Creations
Friday Flair @ Whipperberry
Remodoholics Anonymous @ Remodholics
Tickled Pink @ 504 Main
Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello
Creatively You @ The Creative Crate
Sundae Scoop @ I heart Naptime
Amaze Me monday @ Dittle Dattle
Craftomaniac Monday @ Craftomaniac
Marvelous Mess @ Marvelously Messy
Craft Catwalk @ Embellishing Life
Your So Very Creative @ Me Making Do
Remodoholics Anonymous @ Remodoholic

Repost: Patriotic Coffee Filter Wreath

So before I go on with the post...

I have to tell you that I went to IKEA for the first time on Monday.

And I am. in. love.

It might have taken us five and a half hours to drive there.

It may have been an all day trip for us here in little ole Arkansas who can't even have IKEA stores...

and I may just be in love with moving to Dallas (or near there)...

and I'm pretty sure I dreamt about IKEA last night.

I can't wait to show you the real reason we went...but that'll happen when I decide to not hate painting anymore :)

I've been doing it all day.

Moving right along...

I decided that since I showed you my cute little vintage-y block flag the other day, I'd go ahead with more Fourth of July projects.

This is one I did last summer- when I had less than half of you fabulous readers...

so I thought you deserved to see one of my favorite wreaths ever.

Here goes:

All the way from Summer 2010...
The Patriotic Coffee Filter Wreath

I started with these:

All I used were:

*package of coffee filters (I used brown for a more vintage-y feel)

*Hot glue gun

*Wreath form from Dollar Store

*(optional) Spray paint for painting form

Before I started anything, I sprayed my wreath form red so that if any peeked through or around, it would blend in:

Then I just set about to gluing... I didn't get any pictures because I did it during movie night with hubby (woops). But it took about thirty minutes... I just dabbed some hot glue, crinkled the coffee filter a little and stuck it on. No fancy folding or anything.

Here's pretty much what it looked like after all that:

(Not my picture... source here)

At first, I was just going to leave it the pretty brown but I guess with the fourth coming up, I got inspired.

I grabbed a couple foam brushes and acrylic paint and this is what happened:

Doesn't it look so much more happy?

The brown was beautiful... but this just makes me excited about celebrating our country!!!

I figure it's neutral enough though that it can hang for a good part of the summer :)

All I did for the color was dab the brushes in paint then dab around the wreath. You can put as much or as little color on as you want. That's up to you :)

Wouldn't it be cute in other colors too??

Ah, the possibilities!

Linking to:

Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts

Lil Luna Link Party @ Lil Luna

Under 100$ @ Beyond the Picket Fence

Catch a Glimpse @ A Glimpse Inside

Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints on the Fridge

Everything but the Kitchen Sink @ A Little Knick Knack

Distressed Blocks Flag

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and a great time celebrating the amazing dads in your life!

Little man loved celebrating 'daddy's day' and had to color a picture for hubby that morning :)

Remember how I told you last week that I had a fun Americana project in the works?

Well I've been dying to show you!

It's super easy and I did it one afternoon when I just felt restless and I had to do something.

Does anyone else get into those moods?
Just needing to do something crafty?

Hubby gave me a whole pile of little scrap blocks in my stocking this year.

It was hilarious pulling them out and unwrapping each one...

little man thought it was the best stocking ever.

Mommy got wood blocks!

Hubby was quite pleased with himself.

But they came quite in handy for this project.

Supplies needed:

*Scrap blocks- Hobby Lobby sells bags of them in their unifinished wood section

*Acrylic paint in red, white and blue (black if you want to distress some)

*painting tape

*stamp or stickers for the stars.  

I got out all my wood blocks and laid them out until I liked the shape they were in.

I wanted my flag to have a vintage, distressed feel so I certianly wasn't going for perfect lines.

I then, hot glued (yes, hot glued) them together all along their edges.

It works like a charm!

I got out all my pretty Americana colors out:

And used my painter's tape to tape off the stripes and the big square for the blue.

I gave it several coats of each color with just a foam brush.

and ended up with (near) perfect, crisp lines.

But-eek!

I'm not a big fan of those perfect crisp paint lines.

So of course I got out my trusty little sander and went to town.

I also dry-brushed some black acrylic paint over it in certian areas.

This little flag was looking like it had already worked hard for the country :)

This is it before it got sanded...

Then I took a flourish stamp I had and stamped it into the corner of the blue square.

I added some stars throughout because you can't have a flag without stars :)

I'm kind of in love with how it turned out...

I added a couple more flourishes in random places and sanded them a little once they were dry.

I love the distressed look, like it's been flying for years and years already.

And the wood blocks give it a quality of dimension that I love...

I'm quite sure this little flag is proud to be American too :)

I'm so excited about the fourth-

hot dogs, fireworks, lake trips, family time...

and celebrating out country.

Do you have any favorite Fourth of July memory?

And keep checking back- I have a fun fun printable for you guys that I can't wait to share!

Linking to:

Your Whims Wednesday @ My Girlish Whims

Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts

Lil Luna Link Party @ Lil Luna

Under 100$ @ beyond the Picket Fence

Hooking up with HOH @ House of Hepworths
Catch a Glimpse @ A Glimpse Inside
Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints on the Fridge
Everything but the Kitchen Sink @ A Little Knick Knack
Simply Creations @ Simple Home Life
Free for All Friday @ Sassy Sites
Friday Favorites @ Inspiring Creations
Friday Flair @ Whipperberry
Remodholics Anonymous @ Remodoholics
Tickled Pink @ 504 Main
Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello
Creatively You @ The Creative Crate
Sundae Scoop @ I heart Naptime
Amaze Me Monday @ Dittle Dattle
Craftomaniac Monday @ Craftomaniac
You're So Very Creative @ Me Making Do
Marvelous Mess @ Marvelously Messy
Craft Catwalk @ Embellishing Life

Two two-toned Makeovers

Say that five times fast :)

I've been sweating it up in the garage for the past couple days working on some fun pieces.

And I have a fabulous Fourth project to show you... but I'm keeping that til Monday :)

Just cuz I love you so much!

A while back, a friend of mine gave me several pieces she wanted redone.

Two of them were some crazy chunky end tables that were dying for some love.

See what I mean?
They were dying for some new paint...

So I gave them a fresh new look with a creamy paint I made by mixing some white paint into Rustoleum's Almond paint.

It turned to a lovely cream.

Then they were glazed with my trusty antiquing glaze.

And here's the baby of the two:

and he got some new hardware too:

Doesn't he look a bajillion times better?

Now big guy was painted after she noticed a coffee table I had done recently that I had done two-toned.

She loved it and asked if her pieces could be done that way.

So big guy got that treatment.

Although some of the top laminate was peeling away revealing the MDF underneath.

MDF doesn't have a wood grain and hates taking the stain.

But I randomly put some stain conditioner on it and it worked like a charm.

You can hardly tell that there isn't a wood grain in some of the areas.

I adore the dark stain color.

and the drawers on these guys are too cute :)

one last look at big guy:

After she saw how great big guy looked, I stripped the little one's top too and stained it.

So now they're a happy, matching pair!

Linking to:

Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello
Free for All @ Young and Crafty
Sunday Scoop @ I Heart Naptime