Fourth of July Decorating Ideas

Add a festive touch on the Fourth of July with patriotic decorations.fourth of july still life image by LadyInBlack from Fotolia.com

Whether you're decking your house out for an Independence Day party or simply decorating to celebrate the Fourth of July, red, white and blue adornments add a patriotic touch. Use basic craft supplies--like cardstock and glitter--along with decorative items you may already have on hand to design festive embellishments for your couch, walls, ceiling or dining room table.

Candle Holders

Create festive mood lighting for your room by turning inexpensive glass cylinder candle holders into patriotic decorations. Measure and cut a piece of red, white or blue cardstock, patterned paper or parchment-like vellum--sold at craft and scrapbooking stores--so it's long enough to wrap all the way around the cylinder. Affix the paper to the candle holder with spray adhesive, centered top to bottom. Decorate the sides with designs drawn with glitter glue or use star-shaped foam shapes, buttons or stickers.

Adorn plain white wicker baskets to suit your Fourth of July decorating scheme. Create star embellishments by pressing star-shaped cookie cutters in a variety of sizes into pieces of red, white and blue craft foam sold at craft or scrapbooking stores. Use scissors or a craft knife to cut along the lines created by the cookie cutters. Buy unfinished wood stars at a craft store and coat them with two layers of red, white or blue acrylic paint.

Leave the stars "as is" or add accents such as stickers, self-adhesive rhinestones or designs created with paint pens and markers. Affix the stars around the rim of the basket or along the handle with dabs of hot glue.

Give existing square throw pillows on your couch a festive Fourth of July touch with red, white and blue bandannas. Buy two bandannas that measure at least 3 inches taller and wider than your pillow. Spread one bandanna flat on the floor. Place the pillow in the center of the fabric so the corners of the pillow point toward the sides of the bandanna. Place the second bandanna atop the pillow, positioning the fabric in the same direction as the other bandanna. Gather the "matching" corners of each bandanna and tie them together in a single knot. Repeat the process with the remaining three corners to create a decorative covering for the pillow that you can remove easily once the holiday is over.

Design star decorations to hang from the ceiling, windows and bulletin boards or affix to walls or doors with temporary adhesive. Trace star-shaped stencils or cookie cutters onto pieces of red, white and blue poster board. Use glitter glue to outline the star shapes. To hang the adornments, use a hand-held hole punch to make a hole in the top point. Cut a piece of ribbon, string or clear fishing line and push one end through the hole. Tie the ends of the string together to form a loop to hang the star.