I can just imagine seeing a bunch of these being waved around.  What a brightly colored display!

The instructions below are written to include using a hot glue gun so this craft is more suited towards older children and not toddlers or pre-schoolers. 

Items needed:

12” Wooden dowels from craft store, blue and white Acrylic paint, 1” rolls of Satin ribbon: 2 blue, 2 red, and 2 white, thin bristle paint brush, foam brush, and a hot glue gun.

Let’s start by taking the foam brush and painting the wood dowels with the blue paint. You can leave one end of the dowel unpainted since the ribbon will be there.  Let completely dry.

With the thin bristle brush, paint white star bursts on the dowel.

Let completely dry.

Cut the ribbon into 20″ strips keeping the three colors in separate piles. 

Fold the ribbon in half and loop it around the end of the wand where you didn’t paint. Pull the ends through and the loop and tighten.

Loop three rows of blue ribbon and then finish with alternating the red and white ribbons. Take the glue gun and secure the ribbon to the wood dowel.

Now you are ready to wave your country patriotism with your 4th of July Ribbon Wand!

We have more patriotic ideas for you!

Patriotic Paper Chain Free Printable

4th of July Firecrackers

4th of July Poke Cake

The post 4th of July Ribbon Wand appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

Hello TGIF Readers! We’ve got a fun printable for you today with this Patriotic Paper Chain.  A paper chain is one of the most easiest craft that a child can do.  At Christmas time, they are a favorite to decorate a homemade Christmas tree.  Why not for a patriotic holiday?

For the best quality, print this printable at a copy store on photo paper.  Your colors will be much more bright like in these photos.

Grab some kids scissors and a stapler.  You can also use a glue stick but that will take a little time to dry.  Cut out all of your strips.

Start making your loops and alternate between the stars and the stripes.  Staple or glue together.

Now you have a darling paper chain that you can hang up as a garland around the house.  I love the red, white and blue that makes it look so festive! 

Download Patriotic Paper Chain Down HERE

More patriotic craft ideas:

Bomb Pop Cookies

4th of July Firecrackers

The post Patriotic Paper Chain appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

The items needed for this craft are toilet paper tubes or paper towel tubes cut in half, red, white and blue tissue paper, red, white and blue pipe cleaners and some patriotic ribbon, then lots of treats as a filler.  We used small candies but you could also put in small toys or balloons. Anything goes that would fit in the tubes.

Cut your tissue paper into about 10 inch squares.  You will want 2-3 layers of whatever color you are working with.

Roll your tube around the tissue paper.  You can either glue with a glue gun (with supervision if you have little kids!) or Elmer’s glue works also but will take a little longer time to dry.

Cut some of your pipe cleaners into smaller pieces and wrap these around the bottom of the tissue paper.  Twist tightly and then put the pipe cleaner into the end of the tube to hide it.  Don’t cut all of your pipe cleaners though.  You’ll  need some longer ones later.

Now fill your tubes with all of the goodies that you have gathered.

You can decorate the outside of your 4th of July Firecrackers by gluing on some ribbon but I think that some patriotic stickers would also look cute!

To close your tube, wrap a full length pipe cleaner around the top of the tissue paper and twist tightly. Make the pipe cleaner curly by wrapping it around a pencil.  We also fashioned a star popping out of the top.

Now you are ready for any 4th of July party with these fun poppers! Kid love cracking them open to find their surprises! 

Thank you to How Does She for a great patriotic kids craft!

Need a little more patriotic spirit?  Try out these crafts!

Kids Teeshirt              Popsicle Stick Flag

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In my mind, they were the biggest popsicle and I though I was getting the most from the coins I had begged mom for.

With this Bomb Pop Cookies recipe you can relive your childhood anytime and share that memory with your grandkids while eating them.

They are such a different cookie with the stick in them and kids love making these!

Here’s the recipe.  I promise…It’s the “bomb”!

Print

Bomb Pop Cookies

Who remembers the Bomb Pop popsicle from the ice cream truck? With these cookies you don't have to wait to enjoy the Bomb Pop experience!

Course Dessert

Author TGIF - This Grandma Is Fun

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 2 & 3/4 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Red and blue paste food coloring
• 1/2 teaspoon each cherry raspberry and lemon extract. You can also substitute strawberry extract for the raspberry.
• White chocolatem melts or some white frosting of your choice.
• Popsicles sticks

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and oil. Beat well
• In a separate bowl, mix together 2 and 3/4 cups flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.
• Add this dry mixture into the creamed mixture and beat well.
• If needed, add the remaining 1/4 cup flour and beat until the dough forms into a ball.
• Divide dough into 3 equal balls of dough.
• Add red food coloring and cherry extract to the ball of dough.
• Add blue food coloring and raspberry extract to ball of dough.
• Add just the lemon extract to the last uncolored section.
• Roll each ball of dough into a 10-in.-long rectangle log.
• Place red, white and blue logs side by side.
• Very lightly, press all the logs together in red, white and blue order.
• Wrap in saran wrap and then chill until firm. I chilled mine for about 30 minutes.
• 
• Unwrap your dough and then cut it crosswise into 1/4 inch slices.
• 
• Place each slide about one inch apart on parchment paper on your baking sheets.
• At the end of a strip, lightly press cookies with a fork and then pull down the dough to the end.
• 
• 
• 
• Bake until set about 10-12 minutes.
• Let cool for 2-3 minutes then transfer to a rack.
• Using white chocolate candy melts, melt per package instructions. Spread on the inside of a cookie, insert a stick and place another cookie on the other side.
• 
• Let cool.
• Or use white vanilla frosting to do the same.
• 

Notes

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

These Bomb Pop  Cookies are also great for our patriotic holidays.  If you are looking another patriotic treat, try these Firecracker Marshmallows.

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With only four ingredients, kids can make these up super fast and that’s the kind of food craft that this Grandma is looking for.

And the end result has a cherry on top?  Can’t get any better than that.

Alrightee.  Let’s get poppin’!

Print

Firecracker Marshmallows

Course Snack

Author This Grandma Is Fun

Ingredients

• 1 bag of large marshmallows - approx 30
• 6 oz of white candy melts or white almond bark
• Blue Sprinkles
• 1 jar of maraschino cherries with the stem still attached

Instructions

• Melt the white chocolate melts per the instructions on the bag making sure not to burn the chocolate
• Dip the marshmallow into the melted chocolate and then into the blue sprinkles
• Place on parchment paper or waxed paper
• Gently dip the maraschino cherry into the melted white chocolate and place on top of the marshmallow.
• Let cool before eating.

These Firecracker Marshmallows were a super fun food craft that we got from Kid Friendly Things To Do.

If you are feeling brave, you can also try making your own homemade marshmallows.   Check this out!

The post Firecracker Marshmallows appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

Surprise inside treats seem to be all the rage these days. People get really creative with the surprises they hide in the cakes they bake! Let’s take a look at the best surprise inside treats out there!

These vanilla cupcakes contain a chocolaty surprise inside! The best of both flavors!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Surprise Cupcakes. Now these are to die for! You put frozen cookie dough in middle and it gets warm and gooey in the oven. Yum!!!!

This Pinata Cake looks delicious! I personally would prefer this to a real pinata because you can eat the entire thing! (And there’s less to clean up. Ha ha!)

Check out this awesome Patriotic Cake! Each layer is a different color, and the entire thing spells out USA. The 4th of July just passed, but that gives you plenty of time to perfect this cake.

Okay, now this is cool, and sure to be a hit with the kids on the 4th of July! Pop Rocks Firecracker Cake Pops. You can definitely say these treats have a kick to them!

Rainbow Cake! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more colorful cake in my life. Wow!

Mickey Mouse Peekaboo Cake. This is perfect for a Disney themed party! Or, it would be a great way to surprise the kids and announce a trip to Disneyland! Just imagine the looks on their faces when you cut the cake and revealed Mickey Mouse!

Strawberry Surprise Cake. I love strawberries, but I would probably want to cut off the stems first so they’re easier to eat!

Santa’s Belt Surprise Inside Cake. A perfect cake for the holiday season! You can even leave some out for Santa to eat when he stops by on Christmas Eve! I bet he would be impressed!

This Heart Cake is perfect for Valentine’s Day, or any day you want to show someone special how much you love them. So cute!

Another beautiful Disney themed cake! Check out this Disney Pixar Inside Out Cake!

I absolutely love fall and everything pumpkin flavored, so of course I had to add this Pumpkin Spice Cake with Maple Glaze! This sounds like the perfect dessert on a crisp fall day!!

Sticking with fall themed treats, check out these witch hat surprise cookies! They’re adorable, and they’re filled with candy! What more could you ask for?

Now this is impressive! This Hidden Giraffe Cake is incredible!

These Red Velvet Cupcakes contain a cream cheese surprise in the middle! Yummm!

This Rubik’s Cube cake is seriously taking it to the next level. Look at that detail! Every square a different color!

Surprise inside treats are great for special occasions such as holidays and birthdays. You can customize them and make them into whatever you want, so have fun with it!

The post 16 Surprise Inside Treats appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

I happened to be looking through a Family Fun magazine the awhile back and they had this exact cake but it was in ombre form with 4 different shades of purple pretzels.  Very beautiful indeed, but I instantly thought that I would love to do it in red, white and blue.

I love our country’s patriotic colors but I’m not a big fireworks person.  It seems like every time our family gets around fireworks, something catches on fire.  Meaning something that’s not supposed to be on fire, catches on fire.

Last summer our family was having a family reunion in St. George, Utah and we let the little kids do sparklers.  One of our grandsons got too close to a palm tree and with all that netting stuff around those trees, it caught on fire within seconds.   We were able to get it out before anything else caught on fire but we conveniently neglected to tell the owners of the home we were renting that we had a little mishap.  No harm, no foul right?  The tree looked just fine. Phew!

So this year our 4th of July holiday will be much quieter and we will be enjoying it without fireworks but celebrating with food.  I mean, what are holidays without food? And I love to do themed food so we will be enjoying this 4th of July cake.  It’s much better than sparklers!

Print

4th of July Cake

Course Dessert

Author This Grandma Is Fun

Ingredients

• 1 box white cake mix plus ingredients to make the cake per instructions on box
• 1 bag of mini pretzel twists
• 5-6 large thin pretzel twists
• 1 bag each of red white and blue candy melts. I purchased mine at Wal-Mart.
• White Pareils
• 3 6 " cake pans
• 2 cans white frosting
• Non stick cooking spray

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease and flour your 6" baking pans.
• Prepare cake mix and bake according to instructions on package.
• Let your three cakes cool on a wire rack.
• Lay some parchment paper or some foil down and place a separate wire rack on top
• Spray the rack with non stick cooking spray
• Melt the blue candy melts according to instructions on package.
• Drop the mini pretzels into the chocolate. With a fork, remove the pretzel and tap off excess chocolate.
• Lay the pretzel on the sprayed wire rack.
• On the blue mini pretzels, you can also sprinkle some white pareils on them to represent some little white stars.
• Let pretzels cool.
• Repeat with the red and white candy melts.
• For this size of cake you will need 15 blue mini pretzels, and 30-35 red and white mini pretzels.
• Also dip the large pretzels twists with the color of chocolate you desire. I did just red and blue. These will be for the garnishment on the top of the cake.
• I had some melted chocolate left over, so I spooned the chocolate into a zip loc bag, make a small cut in the corner and squeezed some chocolate lines onto some parchment paper and made some tips and backs of arrows which I added as garnishment to the top of the cake.
• Using a serrated knife, cut off the domes on two of the layers of cake.
• Place one cake layer on your serving platter and top with frosting.
• Repeat with second and third layers of cake.
• Use remaining frosting to cover the top and sides. Apply the frosting fairly thick on the sides to help the pretzels hold.
• Starting at the bottom, layer the pretzels around the sides of the cake. Gently press the pretzels into the frosting to adhere them to the cake.
• Add the large, dipped pretzels onto the top of the cake and any other garnishment you would like.
• As I said earlier, I made some arrow tips and backs and added those to the top.

Have a safe 4th of July!

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The post 4th of July Cake appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

Hey there! We’re Molly and Chelsea and we’re the baking and cooking duo behind Bests and Bites! We’ve been besties for 23 years and loving connecting over a good piece of cheesecake, a cheesy dip or sipping on our favorite refreshments. Our fave things include health and fitness, baking, and pool days!

First things first, the red white and blue in this glass makes us want to PARTY. Like really celebrate America’s birthday!

Breakfast party? Snack party? Picnic party? All of the above.

We used to think the Fourth of July food spread was limited to only festive fruit-topped desserts, and okay fine we’ll take a bomb popsicle while we’re at it, but we’ve recently discovered (by way of this parfait) you can celebrate all day long!

This recipe is perfect for this holiday because strawberries and blueberries are in season and so naturally sweet and ripe. Not to mention they won’t hurt your wallet to get a carton or two.

They give this parfait so much substance and a sweet bite that perfectly complements the yogurt.

Now, let’s get down to the star of this recipe: the vanilla almond granola.

Say helloooo to your favorite snacking, breakfasting, and crunchy-sprinkled-topping! The granola itself is mildly sweet from honey, vanilla and maple syrup, slightly nutty from the slivered almonds, and whole-wheatty from the oats and whole wheat flour.

It’s just the right combination of semi-soft and crunchy. The centers still have a softness that makes is easy to carry on a conversation over the table, but just the right crunch that adds the perfect texture to the soft and creamy yogurt.

A fun tip about these parfaits. If you’ve got big breakfast plans like banana pancakes or french toast, these also make for the best snack or recipe for a picnic! You could even set up a create your own parfait bar and set out all the yummy ingredients and let your friends and family go crazy with their toppings and layers.

We have good ideas sometimes.

Another fun tip. Make the granola a week before and have it ready. Then these parfaits only take 5 MINUTES to make.

So everybody say hello the next big thing in breakfast and Fourth of July history, because you’re about to fall in love!

Print

Red, White and Blue Patriotic Parfaits

Servings 2 large parfaits

Ingredients

• For the granola:
• 6 cups rolled oats not the quick instant oats
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts I used walnuts
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup honey
• 1 cup coconut oil melted
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• For the parfait:
• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup strawberries sliced

Instructions

• For the granola:
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
• In a very large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, pecans, whole wheat flour, cinnamon, salt, and sugar if using. Stir to combine.
• Whisk the melted coconut oil, maple syrup and the honey together. Pour over the oats mixture and stir until the mixture is well combined and is completely coated. Pour into a large baking sheet in a single layer. It will be a thick layer, which is okay, you want it to create large clusters.
• Bake for 20 minutes, stir and bake for another 10 minutes. Stiry again and bake for a final 5 minutes and remove from the oven.
• Do not stir right away. The granola will will become more clumpy as it dries.
• When granola is completely cooled, layer 1/4 cup of blueberries in the bottom of a glass. Add 1/4 cup of yogurt on top, then add 1/4 cup granola. Add 1/4 cup sliced strawberries and blueberries, another 1/4 cup of yogurt and another 1/4 cup of granola on top. Garnish with more blueberries and strawberries and serve immediately.

Some of our other favorite breakfast recipes:

Coffee Cake Crumble Muffins

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Berry Almond Smoothie Bowl

The post Red, White and Blue Patriotic Parfaits appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

As an adult, we’ve had some experiences with fire and the 4th of July (can you tell there’s a story there?) so we’ve slowed down a little with our patriotic festivities, but the 4th of July was a holiday that I always looked forward to when I was growing up. My family had a boat and if you want to hear a funny story about our family boat, check out my sister’s Sherri’s post here!

Anyway, our family would always take our boat out to Catalina Island off the Southern California coast for the 4th of July weekend. But before we left, our Dad would buy the boxes of Black Cat or Red Devil fireworks. After we got there and the sun went down, we could hardly wait for it to be dark enough for fireworks! Dad had a long plank of wood that he would nail the fireworks onto one end, then he would light it and then quickly push the plank out so that the fireworks would go off over the water but far enough away from our boat. He then would pull the plank back in, get another firework ready, light it and then push it out again. It was the best fun ever.

My love of holidays has not faded through the years and it has been so much fun to celebrate holidays now that I have grandchildren! A couple of weeks ago I got to visit my two grandsons and was excited to make these 4th of July Kids Tee Shirts with them. This would be a darling idea for the whole family to make and wear on the 4th of July!

The paint that we used for these tee shirts were Americana Acrylic Paints in Primary Red and True Blue.

Pouring the True Blue paint out on a paper plate, place your child’s hand in the paint. Make sure each and every finger gets paint on it!

Then try to spread their fingers out as much as you can and place their hand on the tee shirt, pressing down each finger firmly. Little brother is a little over one year old and it was a challenge to get him to spread his fingers out!

And now it’s Big Brothers turn!

Then with the Primary Red color, paint the flag stripes around the blue hand print. I love the the roughness of the lines that Big Brother painted!

Now they are both ready for the 4th of July!

Oh, and do you see the little star on Little Brother’s shirt?

Yeah, Big Brother decided that Little Brother needed a little help and helped him out in the form of a blue fingerprint on his tee shirt! So we just made a star out of it and think it looks just fine! Besides what’s more American than a star?

No matter where or how you do your fireworks, your family will be ready in these super easy and fun 4th of July Tee Shirts!

I did pin this from Pinterest but it didn’t have a link to follow through to the original post.

***UPDATE 6/30/14***

A dear friend of mine made these tee shirts with all of her grandkids. Look how cute these turned out! I love how different each one is and the bright colors just really stand out!

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This post is sponsored by Heidi Swapp.  All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you love red, white and blue?  I absolutely love decorating my house for a patriotic holiday.  We aren’t big fireworks people, (that’s a story for another day!) but I love seeing all the red, white and blue decorations for a patriotic holiday.

And with my Minc Foil Applicator from Heidi Swapp, it is easy to get big bold red, white and blue color for projects like this!   Look how stunning and rich these foil colors are.  I’m in love!

In order for the Foil Applicator to work, you just need to print anything you want (is that cool or what?) from a laser printer.  I don’t have one of those at home so I purchased these papers from Creative Market and took them to my local print shop to have them copied off on to some card stock.  Voila!  Super easy.  I then put them through the applicator to bond the foil to the paper.  (To learn how to use this machine, see directions HERE.)

Heidi’s Minc Foil Applicator can be found at Michael’s, JoAnn’s and also online.  Seriously.  Do you have a birthday coming up?  Then go and treat yourself to one of these machines.  You are even going to want to foil your toilet paper.   Ok maybe not.  But you are going to want to foil everything else!

To make this paper wreath you will need:

1. 12″ floral foam wreath.  I could only find a green one and I didn’t want any green showing through my red, white and blue papers, so I quickly spray-painted mine white.

2.  Elmer’s Craft Bond Spray Adhesive

3.  Card stock paper either printed and foiled or you can also use pre-printed papers.

4.  Scissors or a paper cutter

INSTRUCTIONS:  After foiling your paper, cut them into strips.  I cut mine about 1 1/2″ by 10 inches, but if you’d like longer strips, you can definitely cut them a little longer.

After cutting, spray both ends with the bonding spray and then wrap it around your wreath, lining up the edges together.

If one end is slightly wider than the other, make sure the wider end is on top so you don’t have any white from the back of the paper showing through.  Press to seal.

Continue on around your wreath until you are satisified with the coverage of the wreath.  Then you will want to cut a “v” shape into the ends:

That’s it!  Now you’re ready to hang this stunning wreath for the holidays.   (Prepare to receive compliments.)  Everyone ALWAYS wants to know how I foil my projects.  There are other ways, but this Minc machine is by far the easiest.

A big thanks to Ain’t She Crafty for the inspiration for this project.

Please have a safe 4th of July holiday with your family and friends as we celebrate our freedoms that our country blesses us with.   God Bless America.

Are you looking for some MORE red, white and blue for the holiday? Check these out!

4th of July Ice Cream Cones

4th of July Mason Jar Candles

Popsicle Stick Flag Craft

This awesome post has been shared with Home Stories A to Z

The post Patriotic Paper Wreath appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

* We’re sharing our favorite links from last week’s party at the beginning of today’s party.  Check them out and then keep scrolling down for the link party.  Oh, and Happy Father’s Day this weekend!

Thanks for participating in the Best Recipes and DIY Projects Party last week!  We’re thrilled to share some of our favorite links from last week’s link party with you.

Before you know it we’re going to be celebrating America’s independence on the Fourth of July!  Here are some quick crafts to get you in the spirit of the red, white, and blue!

Easy DIY Bandana Tablecloth from The Gracious Wife

Easy Peasy Patriotic Centerpiece from Lou Lou Girls

Patriotic Pallet Sign from Blooming Homestead

Patriotic Rag Wreath from Olives-n-Okra

Patriotic Banner from The Happy Scraps

Now, let’s get this party started!

 Happy Weekend, everyone! We’re delighted that you came to our party. The link-up is live and ready for you to share your recipes, DIY projects and crafts, just make sure you follow these guidelines:

1. When you link up, you are giving us permission to feature your project and pictures on our blogs and social media with a link back to you.
2. We’ll feature our favorite projects from this weekend’s party at the beginning of next week’s link party.
3. Weekly favorites will also be pinned to our Link Party Favorites Board on Pinterest!
4. Add a text link back to the host blog.
5. You can link up any post you’ve created during this past week.
6. We’re excited about your handmade items, but this link party is limited to blog posts only. Please don’t linkup your Etsy shop.
7. Share the love and comment on two or more of the other projects that are linked up. We all love comments!

This party starts every Friday at 5 P.M. MST, and keeps going until the following Tuesday evening. Feel free to invite others to join in the fun!

Thanks for participating! Your Hosts,

Ruthie from Cooking With Ruthie, Jeni from Bakerette, Mandy from Mandy’s Recipe Box, Dan and Chris from Live Dan 330, and Deb, Tracy, and Sherri from Made From Pinterest

The post Best Recipes & DIY Projects Link Party #101 appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

2. Kids Firework Craft Using a Fork from Crafty Morning

3. 4th of July Strawberries

4. DIY Painted Flower Pot from Happy Healthy Hip Parenting

5. Patriotic Glitter Candles and Printable Tags from A Pumpkin and A Princess

6. Fourth of July Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting from Made From Pinterest

7. Blueberry Strawberry Jicama Salsa from Two Peas and Their Pod

8. Fourth of July Cake Pops from Passion for Savings

9. 4th of July Kids Tee Shirts from Made From Pinterest

10. M & M Red, White, and Blondies from Your Homebased Mom

11. Nautical 4th of July S’mores Bag Toppers Printables from Anders Ruff

12. DIY Patriotic Wreath from Made From Pinterest

13. DIY Patriotic Shoes from Pretty Providence

14. Snow Cone Cupcakes from Bakerella

15. Patriotic Ice Cream Sandwiches from Made From Pinterest

16. Fourth of July Fun and Games Station from Uncommon Designs

17. Berry Raspberry Icebox Cookies from The Cooking Photographer

18. Chocolate Dipped Oreos from Made From Pinterest

19. 4th of July Muffins from Barbara Bakes

20. 4th of July Snack Mix from Glorious Treats

21. Popsicle Stick Flag Craft from Made From Pinterest

22. Confetti Launchers from Piikea Street

23. No Bake Patriotic Marshmallow Cheesecake from Sweet as a Cookie

24. 4th of July Ice Cream Cones from Made From Pinterest

25. Patriotic Popcorn Lollipops from Simply Kierste

26. 13 FREE Patriotic Printables from Sugar Bee Crafts

27. 4th of July Firecracker Bananas from Made From Pinterest

28. Red, White & Blue Mason Jars from It all Started with Paint

29. Brownie and Berry Parfaits from Mandy’s Recipe Box

30. 4th of July Sparkler Cupcakes from Made From Pinterest

31. USA Fourth of July Decor from Mabey She Made It

32. 4th of July Free Printables from Kensie Kate

33. 4th of July Bandanna Tablecloth from Made from Pinterest

34. White Chocolate Bowls from Restless Chipotle

35. Firecracker Sugar Cookies from Mom Dot

36. Patriotic Jello Stars from Made from Pinterest

37. 4th of July Firecracker Dogs from Handmade in the Heartland

38. Red, White and Blue Cookie Bark from Your Homebased Mom

39. 4th of July Mason Jar Candles from Made from Pinterest

40. Funfetti Cheesecake Cookies from Something Swanky

41. Patriotic Kids S’mores from Passion for Savings

42. Layered Patriotic Drink from Made from Pinterest

43. Patriotic Popcorn from Crazy Little Projects

44. Star Spangled Desserts from Giggles Galore

45. Revolution Cookies from Made from Pinterest

46. Patriotic Breakfast from Holiday Helpings

47. Oreo Cheesecake Pops and Free Party Printables from Living Locurto

48. American Flag Cake from Made from Pinterest

49. Patriotic Cake Mix Jello Cookies from Tastes of Lizzy T’s

50. 4th of July Sparkler Holder Free Printable from Over the Big Moon

The post 50 Patriotic Red, White and Blue Food and Craft Projects appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

I remember my Dad would always pull me aside on the first day and tell me I didn’t have to ski, knee board, jet ski and go inner tubing all on the first day of our vacation. I never listened to him. I always did everything the first day. I played the minute we got on the lake right up to the minute we got off the lake. I usually had to spend half of the next day recovering on the shore. Oh to be young again. If I did that now I would be wiped out for the rest of my vacation! Who am I kidding? I couldn’t do that many water sports all day even if I wanted too!

 Supplies

• Store bought cupcakes
• Colored chocolate candy melts
• Ziploc bag
• White Sugar Crystals
• Scissors

Lay a piece of wax paper on a flat cookie sheet. Melt some colored chocolate candy melts in a bowl, pour melted chocolate into a zip lock bag. Snip off enough of the tip of ziplock bag to make a medium size hole.  First draw a straight line that will go into the cupcake, then make the line into a squiggle. Sprinkle sugar crystals over the chocolate and allow to harden. Once the sparklers have hardened, carefully remove them from the wax paper and insert into store bought or homemade cupcakes.

If you don’t snip off a big enough tip of the ziplock bag, your sprinklers will be to thin and fragile. They will break when you try to lift them off the wax paper or when you try to push them into your cupcakes. Make them on the thicker side and you will be fine!

When we were done playing on the Lake, we spent the evening playing one of our favorite games called sardines. It’s basically hide and go seek backwards. One person hides, while the rest of the group counts to 100. Then everyone in the group goes and looks for the person who was hiding. The person who was hiding had to choose a place large enough to fit all the other people in. The goal of the game was to find the person hiding and join them. You didn’t want to end up the last person wandering around not knowing where everyone else is hiding. My Dad wasn’t a big camper so we stayed at a hotel called Wahweep Lodge. We usually had at least 10 kids when we played this game, so finding the perfect hiding spot was tricky.

One year I found THE perfect hiding place, a janitor’s closet. Several people wandered around for a good 30 minutes before finding the rest of us! The only thing that would have made that night better is if we had some of these Sparkler Cupcakes from Better Homes and Gardens to eat while we were waiting to be found! I love using chocolate cupcake toppers like these on store bought cupcakes, it’s a huge times saver with a great WOW factor! Look how cute my Valentine’s day chocolate cupcake toppers turned out. Oh yes……

This Pin Rocks!

Here are more fun 4th of July Ideas, just click on the picture and you will be taken to the post!

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Living Well Spending Less

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You are also in for a treat today with these Chocolate Dipped Oreos!

Super easy to make, just get yourself some colored dipping chocolate or some candy melts, some sprinkles and obviously…..some OREO cookies!  I used both regular Oreos and the Golden Oreos.

Melt your chocolate or candy melts in a shallow bowl.  That makes dipping the Oreos a little easier and  then dip just the tops of the Oreos into your chocolate.

Sprinkle with  your desired sprinkles but do it quickly while the chocolate is still melty so that they will stick well.  Then, let cool!  It doesn’t take long.

How cute to bag a few of these cookies up to give as gifts to your neighbors.  I promise that they will go over with a big “bang!”  They almost look like little miniature fireworks!

I have seen these cookies made in pastel colors for Easter and green and white for St. Patrick’s Day.  I love these red, white and blue ones and I’m thinking that Halloween ones would be darling!

I hope you make some of these soon, because This Pin Rocks!

Check out these other Oreo goodies!!

Oreo Peanut Butter Brownies

Cake Batter and Oreo Bark

Oreo Turkey Cupcakes

We’re sharing this post with:

Living Well Spending Less

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With the 4th of July fast approaching (can you believe THAT?!) we have a fun and easy craft to bring some American color into your home and your kids can even help too!

Just take a look at these darling 4th of July Mason Jar Candles!

Here’s what you will need to get started:

Pint or quart sized mason jars

White long grain rice

Food coloring (I used Wilton True Blue and Red Gel Coloring)

Ziploc baggies

Votive or tealight candles

Instructions:

Pour your rice into a Ziploc baggie.  Then add your food coloring, zip real tight and shake away!  Or you could also put the rice and food coloring into a separate mason jar, screw the lid on and let your kids shake away!  It’s that easy to color rice.  Add more food coloring if you want your rice to be a darker color.

If you let your kids “shake away” with the Ziploc baggies, be prepared to have rice shaken all over your kitchen.

This did not happen to me when I made these.

No it did not.

Okay yes it did.

And I’m an adult.

Sometimes.

I think I had a little too much fun shaking.

Once your rice is ready, starting with the red rice, scoop the rice into your mason jars.  I put about 1/2 to 2/3 cups of rice for each layer into the pint jars and about 1 to 1 1/2 cups into the quart jars.  It’s all up to you!

Top with a tealight or votive candle and you are ready to go.

This literally took minutes to create but look at the results!

A big thanks to Today’s Creative Blog for the inspiration for these 4th of July Mason Jar Candles.  We hope that you enjoy making them as much as I did!

This Pin Rocks!

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Looking for more 4th of July ideas?  Check these out!

4th of July Tee Shirts

4th of July Strawberries

Popsicle Stick Flag Craft

We’re sharing this post with:

Living Well Spending Less

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I love the flag in these pictures, this is the flag my 24 year old son was awarded when he earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts Of America. His 11 year old brother is currently working towards earning his Eagle Scout award.

Over the years I have had the privilege of being my son’s scout leader. One thing I have come to appreciate is how the BSA teaches my boys about our country’s history and to understand our governmental system.

I’m most appreciative that my sons have learned to love their country and what it means truly be patriotic. As soon as my oldest son turned 18 he signed up for the Selective Service System. He was excited and proud when his SSS ID card came in the mail.

I love to see the respect my youngest son shows for the flag when he “Posts the Colors” at Pack meeting. At the age of 11 years old he understands why “Posting the Colors” is an honor and a privilege. At the age of 11 years old he also enjoys fireworks, sparklers and fun treats like these 4th of July Ice Cream Cones from Amy at Designer of all Things Cute!

Supplies

• Colored chocolate candy melts
• Ice cream cones
• 4th of July sprinkles
• Ice Cream
• Chocolate Magic Shell
• Cherries
• Whip Cream

Making these ice cream cones is quick and easy.

Simply melt some colored chocolate candy melts in a bowl, dip the ice cream cones in the melted chocolate. Shake off the excess chocolate, shake on some 4th of July sprinkles and the ice cream cones are done! Scoop your ice cream ahead of time and place the scoops on a cookie sheet and return to the freezer. When you are ready to serve them, remove the scoops from your freezer, place the ice cream scoops on the ice cream cones. Pour some magic shell over them, place a dollop of whip cream and cherry on top. Serve and enjoy! A treat this easy……….

Totally Rocks!

Look at some of the other great 4th of July ideas we have for you! Click on the picture and you will be taken to the post

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Living Well Spending Less

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4th of July Rustic Mason Jars

Hi to all the Made From Pinterest fans! I’m Melanie Artz from Artzy Creations and I’m so excited to be here with you today. I blog about DIY, crafts, kids crafts along with a few recipes and beauty posts. Overall, if it’s “Artzy” you will find me making it! If you have a chance, I would love for you to stop by and check out Artzy Creations. Well, I had the pleasure of meeting the awesome Made From Pinterest sisters at the SNAP conference this past April and I’m so excited because they have asked me to be a regular contributor. Today, I want to share with you a great way to jazz up an every day Mason Jar for the up and coming 4th of July Holiday. With Mason Jars being so popular, I thought it would be super cute to have some that had ruffles on them making a great centerpiece. So, here is my tutorial for the 4th of July Rustic Mason Jar.

Here’s What You Need:

• Mason Jar (Quart Size with ring)
• White Spray Paint (Flat Protective Enamel)
• 3 Bandannas (Red, White & Blue) I found these at Walmart.
• Hot Glue
• Needle & Thread (But, a sewing machine is preferred)
• Button Cover Kit

Begin by spray painting the mason jar with the white spray paint and let the it dry thoroughly.

Step 1: Cut your three strips of fabric. Cut your Blue bandanna 4″ in width, Red to 3″, and White 2″. Make sure you have no finished edges remaining, so go ahead and cut them off of the ends.

Step 2: Fray the edges of your bandannas by pulling a few of the the top & bottom horizontal threads of the bandanna. You can also use a sewing pin to help fray the edges. Just pick at the individual strings and then pull on them to help the edges fray.

Step 3: Lay your (3) fabrics on top of one another and sew a loose single stitch down the middle.

Step 4: To create your ruffle, take one of the two threads and gently pull it, causing the sewn fabric to pucker.

Step 5: To create the fabric flower, cut a 1″ strip of fabric 6″ in length. Next, base stitch along the bottom of the fabric. Once you get to the end, pull it tight and sew/tie it off. Create a button using an easy button cover kit. I finished the flower by sewing the fabric covered button to the center.

There you have it. I think these would make great centerpieces for any 4th of July Celebration.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial.

You can follow me at Artzy Creations Instagram Google+ Facebook Pinterest Twitter

Thanks so much Melanie! What a darling craft that we can make in plenty of time for the 4th of July.  We’ll see you next month!

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Living Well Spending Less

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The 4th of July was a holiday that I always looked forward to when I was growing up.  My family had a boat and if you want to hear a funny story about our family boat, check out my sister’s Sherri’s post here!

Anyway, our family would always  take our  boat out to Catalina Island off the Southern California coast for the 4th of July weekend.  But before we left, our Dad would buy the boxes of Black Cat or Red Devil fireworks.   After we got there and the sun went down, we could hardly wait for it to be dark enough for fireworks!   Dad had a long plank of wood that he would nail the fireworks onto one end, then he would light it and then quickly push the plank out so that the fireworks would go off over the water but far enough away from our boat.  He then would pull the plank back in, get another firework ready, light it and then push it out again.  It was the best fun ever.

My love of holidays has not faded through the years and it has been so much fun to celebrate holidays now that I have grandchildren!  A couple of weeks ago I got to visit my two grandsons and was excited to make these 4th of July Kids Tee Shirts with them.  This would be a darling idea for the whole family to make and wear on the 4th of July!

The paint that we used for these tee shirts were Americana Acrylic Paints in Primary Red and True Blue.

Pouring the True Blue paint out on  a paper plate, place your child’s hand in the paint.  Make sure each and every finger gets paint on it!

Then try to spread their fingers out as much as you can and place their hand on the tee shirt, pressing down each finger firmly.  Little brother is a little over one year old and it was a challenge to get him to spread his fingers out!

And now it’s Big Brothers turn!

Then with the Primary Red color, paint the flag stripes around the blue hand print.  I love the the roughness of the lines that Big Brother painted!

Now they are both ready for the 4th of July!

Oh, and do you see the little star on Little Brother’s shirt?

Yeah, Big Brother decided that Little Brother  needed a little help and helped him out in the form of a blue fingerprint on his tee shirt!  So we just made a star out of it and think it looks just fine!  Besides what’s more American than a star?

No matter where or how you do your fireworks, your family will be ready in these super easy and fun 4th of July Tee Shirts!

I did pin this from Pinterest but it didn’t have a link to follow through to the original post, but that’s okay because This Pin Still Rocks!

***UPDATE 6/30/14***

A dear friend of mine made these tee shirts with all of her grandkids.  Look how cute these turned out!  I love how different each one is and the bright colors just really stand out!

We’re sharing this post with:

Home Stories A to Z, Inside BruCrew Life, The NY Melrose Family,
Living Well Spending Less

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“The ice cream sandwich man, who sells quarter-inch layers of alleged ice cream between tiny slabs of water wafers, did a big business during the hot spell and his field of operation was within the district inhabited by the Nordic enclaves, and his pushcart was elaborately decorated with signs in runic characters. He made the sandwiches quickly in a tin mold, and was kept so busy that he could not make change, but insisted on receiving the actual price for each ice cream sandwich — 1 cent.” In the beginning, the sandwich seller was known as a “hokey-pokey vendor,” which refers to the no longer peddled treat of a cut slab of ice cream. The men that peddled these once popular English treats through the streets of London, according to The New York Times, announced their presence by yelling, “Okey-pokey!” The New York ice cream man may have started these but Thimbleleanna gets credit for updating the old classic!

You have to work fast to make a patriotic “Okey-pokey!” Put a cookie sheet lined with wax paper in your freezer for 30 minutes. Now that your cookie sheet is chilled put your sprinkles on a large plate. Grab your ice cream sandwich, take the wrapper off and let it sit for a minute or two so the ice cream will soften. Dip the edges of the ice cream sandwich in your sprinkles, place on your chilled cookie sheet and return to the freezer. Place your ice cream sandwiches on a chilled plate just before serving. Living Locurto  gives you the option of cutting your ice cream sandwiches in half and adding candy stick to them.

Doesn’t matter how you make em……This Pin Rocks!

Here’s a few more great patriotic ideas! Patriotic Sand Candles, Patriotic Wreath, Patriotic Jello Stars.

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