Hooray for the Red,White, and Blue!

One of the things I love about summer (along with ice cream cones) is the 4th of July. I love to ooooh and aaaaaah at the fireworks, have bar-b-ques with family and friends, light sparklers, and ride on my brother's pontoon boat in the boat parade :) So many memories are made on the 4th of July. When I visited Gretchen Barron's blog about a week ago, I saw the cutest little project she had made and decided to alter it to fit the 4th. I started by cutting out red, white, and blue stars with my Big Shot and then attached them to straws:






Then I made the main part of the project using Night of Navy, Real Red, and Confetti White cardstock:






I KNOW!!!! Isn't it just the cutest little basket??!! Thank you, Gretchen for another great idea! She is so creative!!! I stamped the Confetti White Cardstock with images from the "July Fourth" stamp set in the Summer Mini Catalog. After I cut the basket pieces using the Basket and Blooms die with my Big Shot, I ran them through using the Square Lattice Impressions Folder. It makes the basket look like a straw purse!!! Toooo cute! And so easy to do. I filled mine with crepe paper which I cut into 5-inch lengths, ran them through my crimper, cut them into thin slices, and then wadded them up in a ball and then fluffed them out. I would have used that shredded paper filler but my local dollar store is pretty limited on supplies like that :) But, hey, it worked fine! So, then I made a little tag and tied it on one side using the Natural Hemp Twine and added a layered star with a dimensional to end up with this:






The complete list of supplies:

Stamp Set: July Fourth

Cardstock: Real Red, Confetti White, Night of Navy, Whisper White

Ink: Night of Navy, Real Red

Accessories: Big Shot (now I really know you want one!), Baskets and Blooms die, Square Lattice Impressions Folder, Natural Hemp Twine, Crop-a-Dile, Small and Large Tag Punches, Stampin' Dimensionals, Bone Folder (for scoring), Sticky Strip

I think it will be cute decoration for the picnic table at the bar-b-que!! I'll be sure to take pictures - it will be my last big bash here in Michigan before I head west. I would come back to visit next year but I will be much closer to Salt Lake City and hopefully headed to Convention instead :)'Til next time......

Happy Stamping,

Laurie

Remember to get your mammogram!