With Independence day not too far away, we’ve been trying to do some prep for the holiday. This post is all about the STAR projects we’ve done – Door décor, t-shirts & popsicles.
The star décor was my personal project, inspired by THIS PIN. I first drew some stars on a piece of paper and scanned in my favorite design on my computer. Then I printed 3 different sizes to use as a template for cutting them out of wood. The band saw was a lot of fun to use and was really fast cutting them out.
Then came the sanding and painting. I used Rustoleum double coverage spray paint – primer, apple red, navy, and white.
After a couple coats on both sides, and letting them dry, I sanded the edges for the rustic look. Then finished it off with a coat of gloss clear coat.
The complete finished look came after I drilled a hole through the top of each star and looped some rope through. I tied them (and glued them) together at the top, making sure their lengths varied, and hung it on the door. Pretty simple!
Or you could use that rope to tie them together and display on a table or shelf. Just as cute!
I found a different style of DIY star shirts by Erin at A Bird and a Bean. I adapted it since I couldn’t find colored shirts that fit the boys, just white ones. Instead of using bleach like she did, I bought some blue tie dye (I would have bought red too, but I could only find fuchsia). Both the tie dye & shirts I bought at Wal-Mart.
I cut out some stars on vinyl with my silhouette machine. Erin used freezer paper, which is a much cheaper choice, I just didn’t have any and forgot to buy some! After I applied the stars, I set up the painting area. I used some old camping chairs & garbage bags as the backdrop for the project, because, let’s face it, little boys & dye make for quite the mess!! Last, mix up the tie dye (super easy, just add water!). I made them wear “gloves”…plastic baggies…because the spray bottles leaked a little.
I then let them sit in the sun for about 5 hours, just to be sure. I don’t know if that was necessary, but I did it anyway. I rinsed, washed, dried and they wore them the next day. Personally I think it looks like fireworks & stars!! Perfect for the 4th!
This idea came from the book Wemberly’s Ice-Cream Star by Kevin Henkes.
I bought a BOX of ice-cream, which is apparently harder to come by these days. When I was growing up, I swear they were only sold in the quart boxes, but now it’s mostly the tubs. The box works A LOT better because you can peel down the sides and cut an inch or two sections. Which is what I did (no pictures!) and used a star cookie cutter & a popsicle stick. I refroze them for about an hour (should have been more) then pulled them out and topped with some magic shell. The boys LOVED them.
After a little while, they ended up melting and falling off the stick. So we did what Wemberly did in the book, we got a bowl and ate Ice-cream soup!
[We did the shirts & popsicles for a Star Preschool day.]
