Hurrah for the Red, White and Blue

One of my favorite things to do is to decorate my house for each holiday. I do it with gusto even when the holiday's traditional colors look a bit out of place with the rest of my decor (orange & black with navy & scarlet? Yikes) but I must admit that I take a special pleasure in decorating for Flag Day and the Fourth of July. The walls in my front room are a beautiful shade of red and the walls in my family room are navy with red and patriotic accents I keep out all year round, so my Fourth of July decorations look right at home! I took a few photos of the things I decorated with this year and since there are so many photos, I'm making them small (click on them to enlarge).

One new thing this summer is an idea from the book Celebrating Home by Seasons of Cannon Falls. I've been on the lookout for this book for a while since I read about it on this blog. My library does not have it and I hate to spend money on a book sight-unseen. I was thrilled when I found it used in a booth at the antique mall! This was one of my immediate favorite ideas:


So easy, but perfect! A big glass vase filled with poker chips and flags stuck in the top. How many times have I passed up poker chips while out thrifting? Not any more!

Here's my version:I already had the apothecary jar and the flags which left only the poker chips to find. Be advised, this project takes a whole lot of chips! I found a box at the thrift store, came home and dumped them in the jar and they filled up about two inches. I kept looking and shortly found another larger box of chips, and the addition of those chips made enough to anchor the flags. I did notice one thing--the first box of chips I bought were red, ivory and navy but the second (much larger) box were red, white and royal blue. I like the look of the ivory and navy much better but I didn't notice the difference until I got home with the others, and that thrift store doesn't accept returns. Oh well! It works, but just keep that in mind if ever you want to do something similar.

Next is some great old sheet music that I bought for a song :) at an estate sale a few weeks ago. The "Yankee Doodle Dandy" music was a treat from a sweet friend last year.

I was tickled to find this darling kit from Jenni Bowlin and was lucky enough to buy one before they sold out. It was very easy to put together (a series of large & small chipboard stars, embellished with patterned paper and trinkets) but I LOVE how it turned out! I have mine in an old blue glass jar that is partially filled with rock salt.
Last is my old chippy dresser and mirror. I loved using the fringed red/white/blue striped cloth that I bought in Alamosa earlier this year. The vintage arithmetic flash card in the flags from a local store called Patina (my new favorite place to shop in Denver) and the picture frame was from my neighbor's garage sale back in May. I've since replaced the bucket of lollipops with the jar of Jenni Bowlin stars, which I like better and aren't such a temptation for Maren!

Thanks for checking out my decor! :)