Happy Birthday America!

I have been meaning to post for a week, but as summer takes over, I find myself spending more time with my two little boys instead of updating you. Although this is really the way it should be, I apologize for not updating you on what is going on in this crafty house :)

Before I left for my family reunion, I was determined to finish my banner that has been sitting unfinished on my mantle for months. Rather than this turning into my spring topiaries, (which like I figured, are unfinished) it was time to finish a project. I am so excited on the finished product! What do you think?So you're wondering, How did I do this. Well here is a little look into how this was created. First, I purchased the Flag based banner at TJ Maxx. I was SO excited when I found it, but I was a little disappointed when I hung it up on my mantle, to see that it just wasn't quite what I wanted.

I remembered a few months back that my sister-in-law made some cute flower decor using coffee filters for Valentines Day. So I went and got the coffee filters and started playing around with them. First I tried to die them colors. That was a DISASTER! The red turned pink and the blue looked really bad. So then I thought, hummm... what about tea dying the filters so they look a little antiqued like the banner? So I tried it and it was Awesome. Here are the steps:
First, fill your sink with water and dump some tea bags into it. (I got a box of 100 from the dollar store!)Then I placed them on a cookie she somewhat crumpled up from the middle outward, and broiled them for a few minutes. BE SURE TO WATCH THEM. THEY CAN COOK REALLY FAST!Next was stapling the crumpled filters together so they stay in place. Then on a fliter that is laid out flat, hot gluing the crumples in layers. Last I created the centers of the coffee filter flowers. I used two 2.75" x 12" strips of paper that are scored every 1/2" and made accordion circles. Then hot glued them in the center. Last I used my sizzix serif letter dies and cut out "USA". I embossed them with American Crafts glitter embossing powder and placed those in the middle of the accordion circles.Then I created stars to go on the outer edges of the banner. I simply cut out a star. Scored all the edges from the tips of the star down to the dips straight across. Then took all the edges and puckered them to the middle. With a little ink, they look like those oh so popular metal stars. A little hot glue into the center of the flower and WALA!

It was seriously so much fun to create and such a great addition to my very small amount of summer decor! Hope you enjoy!
M