Fourth of July Craft Ideas
Beautiful and cherry decorations can lift the mood and add something special to your everyday living space. Making them yourself is a point of personal pride and can be a conversation starter when the guests arrive and notice the whimsical wreaths hanging on your door or the unique accessory styled on the entryway console.
These four easy projects are a fun way to quickly dress up the house with festive 4th of July themed decor. Each craft requires just a few supplies, including a ruler and a craft knife. If you don’t have either, grab our Alumikit Set that comes with both tools before getting started.
Polymer Clay Decorative Garland
You’ve probably seen many trendy interior designers use wooden garlands as decorative accents. We created a quick tutorial for a patriotic version to add to your 4th of July console arrangement.
For this project, you’ll need the following supplies:
- Polymer clay in red, white and blue
- Cutting mat to protect your table surface
- Awl or other sharp implement (like a skewer)
- Cord or yarn
- Items to bake the clay on (follow instructions on your clay packaging)
- Optional: tassels, pom-poms, etc for decorating the ends of the garland
Work your clay so that it becomes soft. If you’re new to polymer clay, read our article on the basics to get familiar with this art medium. Polymer clay does tend to get messy. Use a cutting mat to protect your surface and start with the lighter colors. Then, work into the darker colors as some colors may transfer. Use a damp cloth to clean the cutting mat.
Divide the soft clay into the same size pieces and form each one into a sphere. Add clay if too small and reshape. Set aside so they harden just a bit. Once all the spheres are made, use the awl to pierce the spheres all the way through. Make sure the hole is large enough so that your cord fits through! You’ll want to make the hole just a little larger than you need, just in case your clay shrinks a bit in the oven.
Bake at the temperature and duration specified on the packaging of the polymer clay you are using. Once baked solid and cooled down, thread the beads onto the cord, tie and style. You can add tassels or pom-poms to the end of the garland as a finishing touch, or use your leftover cord to create your own tassels!
Star Spangled Decorative Bowl
Keep that polymer clay out! We’ve got another themed project for you to try.
The supplies you’ll need:
- Polymer clay in red, white and blue
- Parchment paper for baking
- Rolling pin
- Cutting mat
- Craft knife
- Oven-safe bowl
- Items to bake the clay on (follow instructions on your clay packaging)
Work your clay so it’s soft. Then, roll out into a large sheet, not too thin. Using your craft knife, cut out star shapes. Play with asymmetry and size so that no two stars are alike. Peel away the remaining clay and set aside to use again.
Turn your oven-safe bowl upside down, overlay with oven-ready parchment paper and gently lay the stars on the bowl's surface, starting at the rim and working your way to the base (which is the top, in this case). Overlap the stars so that they cover a good percentage of the surface, but also create interest with the open space.
Bake at the recommended heat setting and time interval. Set to cool down completely. Then, remove the clay bowl from the oven-safe bowl.
NOTE: Polymer clay is not food-safe, and food should not be placed in direct contact with this bowl. Pre-packaged food items (as shown) may be placed in the bowl as long as they remain in their packaging.
Easy Paper Wreath
Decorative wreaths are any holiday staple — and that includes the 4th of July, which is probably the most festive of all the summer celebrations.
For this project, you will need the following supplies:
- Wreath base — available at most craft stores
- Craft paper in your choice of red, white and blue hues
- Craft knife- we recommend the Dual Strip Cutter to save time!
- Ruler
- Cutting mat
- Glue
On your cutting mat, using the ruler and craft knife, cut strips of paper in your choice of colors and in various widths but no wider than half an inch. The length of the strips should be the circumference of the foam base plus half an inch for overlap.
One by one, glue the strips around the wreath base, overlapping if necessary to fully cover. Once the entire base is covered, add a few pinwheels off center and you’re ready to hang it. If you’ve never made a paper pinwheel before, check out our Poppy Pinwheel project tutorial to see how it’s done. Just change the paper color and use a paper star to cover your wire instead!
Paper ‘Firework’ Centerpieces
For this quick centerpiece, you’ll need the following supplies:
- Craft paper
- Double sided tape
- Glue
- Cutting mat
- Craft knife
- Ruler
- Wooden Skewers
For the “firework” part of this centerpiece, select your papers and cut down to different height measurements that are about 1” to 1.5” in difference.
With a pencil, mark a 1.5” allowance lengthwise on each of your craft paper sheets. Then, using your craft knife and ruler, cut a narrow fringe below that line. Once finished cutting the fringe, tape the two ends together. Place the tape only on the uncut “allowance” part of the paper — no need to tape the fringe.
For the “rocket” part, cut your paper into 5”x5” squares and decorate with stars or diagonal stripes. Glue together into a cylinder shape. To make the topper, cut a 3” diameter circle. Cut out ¼ slice and glue or tape the two sides together. Then, glue the topper to the cylinder. Lastly, glue the wooden skewer to the inside of the cylinder.
Arrange in a vase, flower pot or a tray of your choice.
Did we inspire you? Tag us @excelblades on social media and show us your finished creations. Happy crafting and decorating — and Happy Fourth of July!
