It is amazing where you can find inspiration for decorating your home. If you can be open to what is around you, it might spark some creativity. An example of this for me is that I love a simple graphic design. What is better than our American Flag? I think that Betsy Ross was a genius when she came up with the design for the good ole’ Stars and Stripes Flag. Because of her inspirational piece of DIY craftiness- Flags and Patriotic decorating is a favorite of mine using American flag patterns galore! Get ready for how I craft with the Red, White, and Blue!
First up: Paint a Flag on an Old Window
I was given this old window- and you know how much I love free stuff! It just wasn’t my style. It had a wintery Snow Man scene painted on it. And the paint was peeling off and it looked old and dated. Very early 90’s craft fair dated if you know what I mean? To get this project started I scraped all of the old paint off and cleaned the glass really well. Using painter’s tape I taped off the Red stripes on the backside of the glass. And painted using a sponge brush, and plain old craft paint. I let the stripes dry and removed the tape. Then I came back and hand painted the White stripes in between. Having taped off the Red stripes gave the Flag shape while coming back in with the White stripes gave a handpainted look to the Flag.
For the Stars, I had these “lick and stick” Gold stars that a friend gave me for my birthday. ( It’s fun when friends give you just the right thing that you never knew you needed. ) I put the stars on the back of the glass so that the White glue side of the star would show, not the shiny Gold side. Unfortunately, the stars kept sliding on the clean glass, and I ended up putting 53 Stars on my Flag. I liked the way it looked- very handmade and crafted so I left the extra couple of stars. ( Between you and me- we will say they are for Perto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.) Then once the stars appeared to be dry, I painted over them with the bright Blue paint. The paint did bleed under a couple of the stars, but again I liked the way it looked. Happy accidents!
I really love how the Window Flag turned out, and have even bought a couple of thrift store picture frames to make a couple more Patriotic DIY Flag decor with.
Next- A Ribbon and Scrapbook paper Flag
For the summer holidays, I had recently bought a sweatshirt that had a Patriotic Ribbon Flag on the front of it. I thought it was such a cute and simple idea, I just had to make one of my own. Using a 2 inch wide Navy Blue with Red and White stars ribbon as my starting point I made this Ribbon Flag on a scrapbook paper background. The stripes of the flag needed to be a smaller width ribbon, and I was able to find some 1/2 inch White lace ribbon and a mix of Red patterned ribbon to use and make the Flag. For the background, I used a piece of Whitewashed wood scrapbook paper that was an extra in my craft stash.
Once I had all my supplies, I needed to figure out how big the flag should be to fit inside the picture frame and still have some of the scrapbook paper act as a mat. Simple math to the rescue! My frame was 5 x7, so I made the flag a 4 x 6 size. Easy-peasy- subtract 1″ inch all around for the mat. Then I cut a 3″ piece of the Blue ribbon for the star section of the flag and all the stripes. Time to get the glue and put all the ribbons in place. It took maybe 10 minutes to collect the craft supplies, and another 10 minutes to cut and glue the flag. A very satisfying project! Crafting with Ribbon and Scrapbook paper is so fun and they can have so many different uses.
Third Project: Scrapbook Paper Collage Flag
This is my favorite DIY Patriotic Flag I made this year! And it turned out so nice that I sold it to a friend. She loved it so much, she wanted a second Flag for her sister. Then I also made one for another friend who had just purchased her first home. And yet another crafty friend saw these flags and was inspired to make one of her own. ( See what I mean about inspiration? A simple craft project might inspire someone else. And I love that! ) These Flags were so fun and easy to make that I am in the process of making more to sell in our Etsy shop.
The process of making these Scrapbook Paper Collage Flags is pretty simple. For each, I started with a canvas, or in one case a thrift store corkboard- painted Black. This is the background color that I chose, but you could do any color that you want. Then using my paper cutter I cut strips and squares of scrapbook paper- in Red, White, and Blue. In a mix of patterns to give it that quilt look that I love so much. It was also a nice way to use up small bits of scrapbook paper in my stash. I might be a craft supply hoarder 😉
For the stars, I used a star-shaped paper punch. Such an easy solution- the right tools for the right job! You can find a similar one here.
Once I had everything cut I laid out all the pieces of the paper to make the stripes and blue section of the flag first. Then went back and glued everything all in place. By doing a dry fit first I could play around with the paper placement and make sure the patterns were mixed up nicely. For this project, I used this glue here.
To make the Blue section of the flags stand out from the stripes- I cut all of the blue scrapbook paper into squares. This also helped with the layout and gluing of the stars later. It was fun to make quilt patterns with the squares. I am in the process of making another scrapbook flag using just squares, it very Barn quilt like. Love it!
This last flag here was made on the thrift store corkboard. The frame makes this flag look a little bit more finished than the other plain edge canvas Flags. But I could always make a simple frame with wood slats like I did here with another thrift store canvas upcycle.
I hope that you have found a little inspiration here with my Patriotic DIY Flag crafts and decor. Thanks so much for checking out my little blog- please feel free to leave me a comment. I would love to know what you think!
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