Bend the paper clips into small hangers as shown and set aside.
Cut 4 sweater pieces from white felt and 2 from a pale red coral color like Poppy. Cut 1 tree from light green like cilantro and 2 holly leaves from dark green felt like Fresh Cut Grass
For jingley tree sweater attach bells with green thread place onto one of the white sweater pieces with a running stitch.
Place second white sweater pieces behind the first and overcast stitch around the outside, stop and slip the hanger inside before closing around the top.
It’s helpful to run thread around the “hanger” to prevent any chance of it slipping down.
For Christmas Corsage sweater stitch holly leaves onto one white felt sweater piece add iced berry beads in a cluster of three.
Stitch closed as above.
For Christmas Confetti Sweater stitch Moss, Gold Rush and Classic Red sequins down with matching thread. You could also use Beacon felt glue for this.
Card Stock (for invitations, 3 invitations to a sheet)
Woven wreath form
2 containers for table decorations (small buckets would be cute)
Sand (a small amount to fill containers)
Baggies for Popsicle favors
Ribbon, rick rack or twine for Popsicle favors
Printable labels for Popsicle favors (I used Avery 5294)
Frozen Popsicles and lots of ’em (store-bought or homemade see recipe below)
Elmer’s or school glue (optional)
Outdoor play things like hula hoops, water guns, a sprinkler,or sidewalk chalk (store-bought or homemade in Popsicle molds if you’re a theme purist, recipe below)
Let’s get started:
First I printed out this insanely cute invite designed by Maura Huston of Blackbirdie and Pink Monster Knits onto card stock.
Here’s a blank version
Download this free printable 4th of July Popsicle party invitation it by control-clicking (Mac) or right-clicking (PC) and saving to your computer.
And while I was at it I created my stickers with another version of Maura Huston’s design:
Download it by control-clicking (Mac) or right-clicking (PC) and saving to your computer
These would also make adorable cupcake toppers, simply print onto card stock and sandwich two together with a toothpick in between!
Next I constructed my decor:
Felt Popsicle and pin wheel banner:
To make the banner you will first need to make 2 blue popsicles, 2 red popsicles and 1 striped popsicle from felt. Instructions can be found HERE
From there I made my pinwheels from this template
Each pinwheel is 2 colors and for this banner I needed 6 so I cut 12 squares.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————I stacked two squares together and cut through the dotted lines (but NOT through center ring), the folded the upper right hand corner (marked with a star on template) to the center and stitched down with a small running stitch. I repeated this process with the upper left corner (also marked on the template with a star) this can be done in any order but only fold down the areas marked with stars. Finish by folding the remaining points inward tacking down with a running stitch as you go.
With my pinwheels and popsicles done I was ready to assemble my banner, I made a loop on either end of my twine for easier hanging and then sewed each of my pieces to the twine. Pinwheel, felt ball, popsicle (repeat) with the three color version in the center. Technically I guess you could glue them but the Popsicles have to be properly balanced to keep from flipping around and it’s much easier to gauge this by sewing. When sewing the Popsicles to the twine I noticed that creating a bit of a V shape helped, tacking twine to center and then to both sides nearer the top.
Felt Popsicle table decorations
For these I created 2 Popsicles in red, white and blue as described here.
But rather than fitting felt sticks into the bottom I created a little more space inside the popsicle by cutting with my scissors.
I then slipped real Popsicle sticks through the bottoms and applied a small amount of felt glue (tacky glue will also work) and sewed up the bottoms.
When I had finished all 6 I simply filled my containers with sand and arranged my Popsicles.
Door Wreath
I constructed my wreath by making 3 pinwheels and 3 felt Popsicles and attached them to the wreath with felt glue
(SUPER AWESOME TIP: double stick tape will hold this puppies in place like you wouldn’t believe, making both your wreath and felt objects easy to store and 100% re-usable.
Favors:
To keep with my theme I made these felt Popsicle magnets.
I made a few brightly colored Popsicles, glued magnets to the back with felt glue, (allowed them to dry 24 hours) placed them in bags, added my stickers and tied some rick rack to the bottom to close them up.
These look adorable on any fridge and are daily reminders of your awesome shin-dig!
If magnets aren’t you thing try attaching a key ring or for your littlest guests add a mini rattle for sweet summer baby toy.
You may also consider store-bought pinwheels Slinky brand makes an awesome American flag version.
I plan to keep my guests entertained with fun outdoor activities like:
Popsicle stick house building contest (warning men seem to find this activity irresistible and you may lose your co-host for a few hours, possibly days!) Just throw a basket full of Popsicle sticks into a basket and set out some school glue and prepare to oohh and aww.
A sprinkler run, or water gun fight (gotta get those sticky little bodies clean somehow)
Sidewalk chalk, try making it in a popsicle mold with this recipe:
Word of Warning: DO NOT let any plaster of Paris go down the sink. It will harden and ruin your pipes.
Petroleum Jelly
Plaster of Paris (available at any craft or hardware store)
Washable Tempera paint in the colors of your choice
A Popsicle mold
Directions:
Grease mold with petroleum jelly.
Mix 1/2 cup of Plaster of Paris with 1/3 cup water. Mix well and slow for about 1 minute.
Immediately add 2 TBS of paint (or more for desired color) and mix well.
Spoon into molds. Tap molds gently to settle. (This will start to set very quickly so work in small batches)
Let chalk dry overnight.
and of course lots of Popsicle eating!
If you decide to make your own try this DRIPLESS recipe from Kitchen Scrapbook:
Cut 6 wedges from Toffee colored felt (template follows)
Cut 6 Lipstick colored side pieces 1.5″ x 9″ long.
6 Toffee backs 4″ x 4.5″ long
Wedge Actual size
Lay 4 of the strips across your pie face as shown.
Weave second set of strips into the first using an over under method, to create a lattice design.
Using a small dollop of felt glue join the strips together where they meet, work slowly to avoid mistakes. Use the smallest amount of glue possible, too much glue may make your felt tough to sew through.
Please note: DO NOT GLUE LATTICE TO RED PIE FACE, PIE TOP IS ONLY THERE TO JUDGE LATTICE PLACEMENT.
Your lattice will look like this when completed.
Trace your foam wedge shapes onto red felt.
If you aren’t using American Felt and Craft’s pre-cut foam pie wedges you can cut another 8 inch circle from paper and divide it into 6 sections and cut down the sides of the triangles but not through the center so you can trace the wedge shape but still have an intact paper circle for use in an upcoming step, as shown below or you can use the wedge template above.
Mark out spots where you will place your cherries, you may want to place lattice over to assist in selecting the areas you want to place the cherries, you’ll want to use about 1/2 of your cherries.
To create your cherries carefully cut all wool felt balls into halves.
Using small amount of felt glue, glue cherries into place, wait for them to dry about 15 minutes and stitch them down securely, they may be choking hazard for small children so you want them to be extremely secure. Repeat this process with the 6 side pieces.
Trace 8 inch circle onto lattice then cut into wedges, template below. Your pie top can be used to trace the circle if needed.
Cut pie top into wedges
Sew lattice wedges to pie top wedges, you can also use glue for this but use carefully you don’t want any dried glue on pie slices.
Place lattice/cherry piece on top of foam form, place 1 toffee colored bottom below wedge and wrap side piece around as shown, pin into place.
Sew top and bottom to sides using a whip or overcast stitch, back open.
Whip stitch around back bottom and back sides. Then stitch through back and into pie top and out again using a running stitch to secure top lattice piece.
When you’re done you’re pie slice should look something like this:
Now fold raw end in towards pie and using a running stitch stich down.
Using a long whip or overcast stitch sew along top pulling tightly to form crust ridges. Use tan thread the red thread is for demo purposes only.
Wedge Actual size
es, you may want to place lattice over to assist in selecting the areas you want to place the cherries, you’ll want to use about 1/2 of your cherries.
