Wind Sock for July 4th

Why not make a windsock (or two) to decorate your porch for July 4th? They're really easy to put together and made from a water bottle, duct tape and a trash bag. 

Materials:

• 1 liter plastic bottle
• Masking tape
• Duct tape (multiple colors)
• Parchment paper
• Hole punch
• Filament or string
• Trash bag
• Scissors (use pinking shears to make fancy edges)

 

Remove the packaging from the soda bottle.
Dry the bottle and add a strip of masking tape at the top and the bottom of the bottle where the curve starts and stops.
Cut the bottle along the strip and trim it so it's straight and use the hole punch to add holes every 2" along one edge.

 

Add two holes across from each other on the opposite end of the cut  "tube".
Remove the masking tape.

 

Lay strips of duct tape onto parchment paper and cut fun shapes and designs then add them the sides of the tube. 
The parchment paper is a little trick that let's you cut duct tape easily without it sticking (too much) to the scissors.
 

Thread and tie a length of filament through the top two holes then add 1" wide strips cut from a trash bag to the bottom holes as streamers.

 

Happy 4th of July!

St Patrick's Day Ties

These ties were developed for a Valentines day project but I think they're great for St. Patrick's day (or the Fourth of July). You can make them regular sized or super size them. Here are the basic instructions with great thanks to my models below.

This is just a photo opp with our sweet dog Chester. 
He would never be left alone with the tie as he might try to chew it and that might make him very sick!

 

Materials:

Duct tape

Sparkly material

Elastic cord

Bow tie/Hair tie: 

Slightly overlap two 7” lengths of duct tape onto the back side of the sparkly material.

Trim them to make a 6.5” x 3” rectangle

Trim the .5” leftover strip to 1.5” long and wrap it around the middle of the rectangle.

Gather the rectangle together in the middle then secure it in place on the back with a small piece of duct tape.

Thread an 18” length of elastic through the back loop and knot the ends.

Tie:

Slightly overlap two 14” lengths of duct tape onto the back side of the sparkly material.

Trace around the template on the duct tape and cut the tie shape out.

Cut 18” length of elastic and knot the ends together to make a loop.

With the duct tape side up, fold the tie top over the elastic loop and secure in place on the back with a small piece of duct tape.

You can also make the ties over-sized!