FLAG blocks

We made these super easy flags out of 2x4's. We found the idea at How does she? and we both fell in love with it. We mostly followed Alison's tutorial, except we omitted the vinyl letters and ribbon and did 4 little stars instead of one big one. LOVE how they turned out. We made our paper match our USA Blocks so they could go together in the same room. Super EASY fun 4th of July craft.

U*S*A Blocks Tutorial

Liberty and I are part of a craft and sewing group - actually we are the head ring leaders.  We are just crazy enough to put this all together.  This month is our craft month and we are doing these way cute block letters for the upcoming holidays.  I thought today was the perfect day to post this since tomorrow is FLAG DAY. 

I have all the pictures for the steps to make these - although you could probably find how to make them all throughout the blog craft world.  But I will attempt to put together a tutorial of sorts.

What you need:

• 5 blocks cut from 2x4 at 3 1/2 inches x 3 1/2 inches(width of board)  I cut these myself so I don't know how much or if they would cut them at the depot or lowes.
• white acrylic paint
• mod podge
• vinyl letters or paper letters - cut from a cricut machine
• red and blue scrapbooking papers
• embellishments to make them cute - bling, buttons, stickers, etc
• sandpaper, paint brushes, newspaper to protect area

Mine are a little different and are what the tutorial is made from.  So as to not confuse you - here is the picture of mine.

(Isn't my husband funny - he noticed that my blocks weren't exactly even and so he couldn't just put the stars on top normal.)

To begin after the blocks are cut and sanded real good.  You need to paint the blocks - I white washed mine to give them a more rustic look.

Next I cut the paper to just a little bit smaller then the block and mod podged them on.

The next step is to sand the edges of the paper and the blocks to the desired amount you want of distressing.  Liberty likes hers really roughed up and I am a little bit more conservative.

After that, sit back and enjoy your work.

Next add on the vinyl letters and stars.

Then you can embellish to your hearts content.  Liberty had these great rhinestone/bling red dots that we put on the stars.  We also added the buttons and stickers.  It is an easy project and we know that our friends in our craft group will enjoy making them.

Ruffly Shirt

I like wearing t-shirts, but I don't like to look like I'm in a plain old t-shirt...so I LOVE these tutorials from Made by Lex. {she has lots of other good ones!} I just used a t-shirt that already fit...so I didn't have to cut it down. I wanted to end up with 2 shirts, bought 3 pink shirts and used the extra 3rd one to cut up and add the ruffles to the other two.

I used some of the strips {about 1 1/2" wide} and made rosettes for the front of the shirt. Just ruffle up the strip a little {see below} and then start in the middle and roll up your rosette. Don't make it too tight, or it won't lay flat on the shirt. I sewed on the "hearts" first and then hand stitched the rosettes in place.

{the little circle in the middle is the trim from the other shirt, I just rolled it up and hand stitched it together}

Ruffle Camera Strap

I wanted a red, white and blue summer strap...and I saw this cute idea HERE. Then I saw that this is June's "Craft with Me" project at U-Create. So here is my super cute camera strap. I don't use the old hardware, I use these straps and just square off the ends and add ribbon. ENJOY!

And if you make one, make sure you email a picture to ucreatecrafts at gmail dot com!