It was my son's 8th birthday yesterday and one of his friends gave him a present wrapped in this beautiful hand printed paper - I couldn't resist sharing it!

She used unbleached grey paper and potato printed the water melon wedges and dotted the seeds on top - love it!

I've really enjoyed putting this fun July 4th post together, and it's all been photographed on my new iphone.

It really is easy to do and very quick - honest!

Here's how.....

All you need for this project, is:
1. colored tulle / netting / mesh fabric in red, white and blue
2. old plastic headbands and bangles
3. a pair of scissors

How to do it
1. cut the tulle into strips - around 25 x 10 cm
2. scrunch them, fold each one in half
3. put the tulle behind the bangle or headband, lift the 2 ends over and push them through the loop and pull tight

4. Keep looping the strips onto your headband or bangle until you feel it's finished.
Ta - dah!!
5. Have fun wearing your new accessories or use them to decorate the house - the bangles look great on a door handle.
The bangles also make great tutus for dolls and our old ted got a new neck ruffle, using one of the head bands! 
Some imaginative play should keep the kids occupied for a while.

Here's a fun July 4th creative activity for kids of all ages - and grown ups too of course!

I wanted to develop a July 4th fireworks printable activity sheet and love the idea of a night time city silhouette, where children can visualise their whizzing fireworks lighting up the dark sky above the buildings.

We found that chalk pastels work really well on a black background. The colors stay brighter than oil pastels. 

Make quick, confident, energetic strokes from a centre point outwards to make great firework shapes. Layer four or five bright colors, including white highlights.

You can also experiment with blobs of ready mix and acrylic paints, scratching them outwards with cocktail sticks - add glitter or stars before the paint dries.

If you have time - decorate the buildings too.

Click here to print out your template - you'll also find lots of other July 4th printable ideas, including flip flops, bunting and cup cake projects.

Happy 4th of July from across the pond everyone!

Best wishes
Diane

I found a lovely old unused stamp album in a local charity shop recently. The pages were quite yellowed and I thought the printed squares would be great for colouring in and doodling patterns.

I cut the pages into postcard sized rectangles and had a bit of a play. I'd better save the rest for my kids!

Hope you like them :-)