4th of July Crafts

I have been wanting to do a Fourth of July wreath/decoration for the front door for a few years. The above picture was my first attempt. I came up with the idea a few months ago, when I saw a ruffle contest on the rufflesandstuff blog. I never got it done for the contest, dang it! But I did get it done:-) I used a piece of rectangle shape foam, that came in a package. I saved it a while ago, thinking I'd use it sometime. I covered the foam with white fabric (it has a floral pattern in it) and then gathered strips of the red for the ruffled stripes. Then I cut a piece of navy blue and hot glued it all together. Buttons for the stars gives it just the right touch! I am really happy with how it turned out; but just could not put it on my front door like I had planned. Soooo....

I was in Hobby Lobby one day, just meandering around, and I happened to walk down the isle with all of the plastic canvas. My eyes fixated on a package of 10 plastic canvas stars for $1.49, then just below the stars I saw a package of about 4-5 inch circle plastic canvas, also for $1.49. Then my mind was taken back to a trip to JoAnn's, where I had purchased white and red fabric on clearance. My thoughts continued on, mentally going through my fabric stash, and I realized I also had navy blue and other fun fabrics that would work just fine for this idea that was whirling around in my busy little mind. This is what I did after purchasing one package of circle and star shaped plastic canvas.....
I cut out squares of fabric that would cover my plastic canvas. To give it a little "poof", I used some batting and covered the canvas with the batting and my choice of fabric. I used a hot glue gun to secure it to the canvas. Then I took a needle and some navy blue yarn , and stitched around each piece. Then, of course, I hot glued all of the pieces together in a circular shape. I ended up with an extra circle and star, so I made a bow out of yarn and hot glued the star to the circle, and attached them to the wreath part. I would like to find some star buttons to add to it, but other than that, I am happy with how it turned out.
Ahhh...and now I feel ready for July;-)

Just some updates:

The past few weeks have been so great! It all started when this lovely woman and her son came to church. They sat in front of our family, and I assumed they were also members. I learned that they were not. And a couple weeks later the Elders started teaching her in our home. What a blessing it has been in my life! I have learned so much, and gained a wonderful friend! Her baptism was this past weekend. It was, of course, beautiful. I am so happy for her and her son. I love them both dearly and feel so grateful to have had the missionaries in our home teaching her, because like I said before, I have learned so much; about our Saviour and his love for all of us, eternal families, a really cool way to remember the 10 commandments, scriptures, and witnessed a really cool object lesson involving fire!! :-) lol

These Elders are great! They have strong testimonies and I know they will be so blessed for serving the Lord for 2 years!!

Aubrey is loving summer! She loves playing in the water. Usually if they don't hit the trampoline first thing in the morning, then it is just to hot for it. Sometimes we put the sprinklers under......Aubrey likes that. Aubrey still loves to sing. I really enjoy listening to her play and hear her start singing the primary songs, songs I didn't even know she knew. She really likes to tease Wesley (and all the older boys for that matter) and can definitely stand her ground now. She is not afraid to beat the daylights out of anybody that messes with her. And then she can turn around and be so sweet playing babies and dress up.

We are constantly saving this girl from dangerous situations. She has fallen down and over and in and out of so many things! She is brave and curious and that is stressful for me. I am exhausted trying to make sure she is safe all day long! I don't hover....really. But sometimes wonder if I should. She is such a sweet heart though, and is so grown up. She loves to play with her older siblings. She loves animals, and playing Polly Pockets with Aubrey. She loves to sing and dance and laugh.

We had this dove, I think it is a dove, nest on our fence. I waited and waited to see the babies, and then went out one day and there was nothing there! The mama was gone, the babies were gone, and there was no evidence of shells.?? I just hope nothing got them, and that they just flew away!!

Something I meant to post a while back.... Wesley got to participate in the announcements at school one day. He was really excited to do it, and did a great job.

Wesley is enjoying the summer break and doing great with swim team! He improved his times at the last meet...although I am not sure where he is at. I will post after we go to practice Tuesday. He has won some ribbons and is enjoying the season. Divisional is this weekend, so we will make sure to post about that.

Wesley and Aubrey are both participating in summer gymnastics. We started last week, and Wesley liked it. Aubrey is just continuing on from the spring.

Brady and I are just tired. Someday we may get some good sleep. lol