Fourth of July Craft Project

Khloe with her Fourth of July flag ~ it was kind of heavy!

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

Pinterest wins! This Fourth of July craft project turned out adorable.

The grands loved it as well, though they really wanted to just paint all over the old barn wood plaque. That would be a project for a different time. This time, Nana wanted some resemblance to a flag. It was on OLD barn wood after all, and that stuff is hard to come by.

That being said, use any wood you like. Or cardboard or a piece of canvas. With just a little help, you will be ready to celebrate the birth of our nation in style!

Audrey adding white stripes to her Fourth of July flag.

Fourth of July Flag Craft

Materials: wood, acrylic paints (red, white, blue), plastic containers to hold paint, paintbrushes, apron or old clothes, wire

Tools: saw, drill, wire cutter, broom

Donavyn is done with his flag and enjoying a freeze-pop on this nearly 100 degree day! UGH

1. Cut a rectangle from the wood. Drill two holes in the top for wire.

2. Use a broom to dust off the sawdust and dirt.

3. Squirt each color into a container.

4. Help do the handprint. I held each child's hand and thickly painted it with blue paint. I also helped place the hand and held it down until I had rubbed it all over. Wash!

Hayden working on his white stripes.

5. We did red stripes first, making sure to leave big spaces for the white. For older kids they can pretty much be told where to start the stripe and they will be fine. My younger guys needed a little more assistance. Normally, I would just let them paint however they wanted, but these were on barn wood...

6. Add the white stripes between the red.

7. Dry. Loop wire through the holes and twist together to form a hanging loop.

Happy 4th of July, America!

Christmas Past - Taylor's Miniature Shop

Back in the day, when my babies were in grade school, before I was in grade school (as a teacher) I had hobbies. I know. Hard to believe.

But I had actual hobbies. One hobby that challenged me and gave great pleasure was doing miniatures. Making tiny worlds (hmmm, that is a form of play for children - making small worlds - and a type of writing for fantasy and science fiction - world building; may be on to something here) is fascinating. Trying to make toys and little bits of this and that look like real life dwellings and places is a wonderful pastime. All to scale of course. I was even in a miniature club. We met each month, made miniature items, and had fun networking as we shared ideas and resources.

Welcome to Taylor's shop. (I need to make it perfectly clear that Taylor would NEVER allow his tools to lay all over the floor and look this disorganized. But in the miniature world, how will you know there are cool tools and stuff if they are not out on display? We do what we have to do in our playtime.) I worked on this shop the same way I worked on a dollhouse for his sister. With much diligence and attention to detail. No doll stuff here though. No siree Bob.

Lots of fun features adorn Taylor's shop. Take the back wallpaper. Over time, the quality has faded. But it was originally a newspaper article that featured his kindergarten teacher and her treks across Manastash Ridge. I shrank it on a copy machine and glued it to the wall. The wood side walls are tiny stained coffee stir sticks. Or look at the collie. We had Jessie Collie Quantrell, a collie dog, when our children were growing up. Taylor's coffee mug has his name. A lawn mower sits in the attic (he was very attached to lawn mowers when he was growing up. He still lives and breathes engines. Just semi truck engines.) Some things are just for fun, but some are just for my boy.

Here we have been storing the shop for years. Now our grown-up boy can take it home. To his own shop.

Note: I do have actual hobbies now, just not so much in the miniature world. I dabble on occasion to create a seasonal themed display or some tiny gift. I even have a miniature house waiting for me, still sealed in the box. Hayden is dying to help me put it together. So when he is older, and maybe Khloe and Donavyn, too, they can help Nana play with miniatures.

The eyes have a harder time seeing minute items, but the spirit is willing. Let's play!