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Polka Dot and Plaid 4th of July Printables, for Celebrations/Cookouts

June 18, 2012 By Laura 6 Comments

Free printables for you!

2_pennants-4th-ofjuly-free-printable1

2021 NOTE – WE’RE SORRY, BUT THE FILES TO THESE PRINTABLES ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE.  ๐Ÿ™

I have been having fun designing some 4th of July printables to share with you, to add a fun red, white and blue themed touch to any cookout or celebration you may have planned, with family and/or friends. (Or, you can even print the cute Bitty Pennants out and string up in your home!) These are the little details that make hosting a gathering so fun to plan, and also the details that impress your guests, and make them smile. So I hope you like them! I tried to design them with simple direction right on them, to show you how easy they can be to prepare.  But I will give you some printing tips, at the end here as well, after you look at the previews of the printables in this post.  But first . . . . . .

*IMPORTANT NOTE:  *Do NOT save the images of the printables you see below,but rather use the download links after the images at the end, for the full size printables.  What you see here are just low resolution previews, and not suitable for printing.

1_pennants-4th-of-july-free-printable

2_pennants-4th-of-july-free-printable

I must say, I think these Bitty Pennants are adorable!  I gave them some tabs, so they can be folded right over some thin ribbon or string, and then just secured with a little piece of tape.  If you choose to download the pennants, please note that you will need both Part 1 and 2.

cupcake-wrappers-free-printable These wrappers, designed for cupcakes, could possibly also be used around the bottom of those short clear acrylic cups, filled with fruit treat ideas like these.

red-white-blue-dish-name-cards-free-printable How cute would these little cards be, sitting tent-like on your food table in front of each dish, letting guests know what’s on the menu?

4th-july-free-printable Lastly, these cards I actually designed last year, but decided to offer them all to you again. They are a bit bigger cards, and print as a full 8.5 x 11 sheet. All you need to do is cut on the solid line, and fold on the dotted. You can hang them to spin on strings, put them tent like on the tables, or slide them under a glass table top. They are like birthday cards for America, and really remind everyone the reason for celebrating, and the gift that our freedom is.

Printing suggestions:  I recommend printing any or all printables at least on some good cardstock, as opposed to regular printer paper.  Be sure for each download you choose of the links below, that you choose the correct orientation for printing, as well as your highest quality printing setting!  Also, if you’d really like to get vibrant colors closer to what you see on your computers, try printing on matte photo paper.

With that, here are the download links, for the actual full-size printables. Just click on the link, and when the image comes up, right click, and ‘Save Image As’, to where you will be able to a location where you will find them on your computer. (Again, do not save and print the images above, or they will look terrible, and waste your ink and paper.)

Bitty Pennants-Part 1

Bitty Pennants-Part 2

 Cupcake Wrappers

Dish-Name Table Card Tents

America’s Birthday Cards

I hope you enjoy these, as well as your celebrations of fun, food, family and friends!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!

4th-fourth-of-july-free-printables *******End of Post*****
This long single image below for Pinterest pinning!  : )


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Filed Under: Celebrations, Crafts & Creations, Free Printable/Downloadable, Free Printables, Home Decor, Seasonal Home decor, SUMMER Crafts and Creations, The Big Picture Tagged With: 4th of July, 4th of july free printables, 4th of july party decor, 4th-of-July-celebrations-decorations, 4th-of-july-cookout-decorations, american party decor, free-printables, red-white-blue-decor

Last Minute May Day (Baskets & Delivery) Tips & Ideas!

April 26, 2012 By Laura 9 Comments

tips-ideas-may-day-baskets


May Day is less than a week away.  But if you really want to touch some hearts and make some older folks in your life feel so unforgotten, this is a wonderful thing to do with your children!  It not only has the potential to teach them a bit of History, but it teaches them about kindness and compassion, as well.  What’s more, it couldn’t be more fun and exciting!  

 

PLANNING YOUR MAY DAY CONTAINERS

    Planning, putting together, and secretly delivering  May Day Baskets, is something we have done with our kids for the past 4 consecutive years, from 2008 – 2011.  Every year, the number of our recipients has grown. It can be done as simply or as involved as you choose, depending on the time or expense you’d like to put into it. While the traditional May baskets years ago were simply filled with wild flowers, picked special just for the recipient, we have really tended to get into the ideas for our basket contents! (Cheap affordable baskets can be found at any low budget department stores, such as Wal*Mart, as well as places like the Christmas Tree Shoppes.)  But you don’t need to.  The thought and fun behind it is not more or less, no matter what you give in the basket. It’s what you give from your heart, to their’s, that matters most.  

    So if just delivering a beautiful bunch of flowers is more the way you’d like to go, here are a couple of other simple container ideas I found on Pinterest:

7eaf7d53e132e11af4a20b3596c1188c

Most everyone has some cans in the house!  Wash them out, get rid of any sharp edges, punch some holes in the side and thread with some lovely ribbon or rope for a handle, and fill with flowers!  If you really want to dress it up, create a label of your own.  Consider having your kids make some drawings, and glue them on!

 

finishedtussiemussie_225x312-ashx_

Another idea is the traditional way…..making a simply paper cone.  There are beautiful scrap booking papers in any craft store that you can use.  Add some pretty trim, a handle, and the flowers, and you have a beautiful May Day surprise!

   Today, as we share photos from our baskets over the years throughout this post, we’d also like to share some other tips and ideas, in the hopes that you will be inspired to really make some older folks day!  You must know how much the little things mean to them, and this big surprise they find on their doorstep or door handle will be something that talk about for a long time to come.

 

tips-ideas-may-day-baskets-1
WHO WILL RECEIVE YOUR MAY DAY BASKETS?

May Day baskets were typically delivered to older folks years ago (on May Day of course), so this is a tradition they will well remember and appreciate.  Think of what older folks are in your life, who your children might want to deliver to.   Once you determine how many recipients you’ll have, you’ll know how many baskets (or other forms of containers) you’ll need. Some people to consider:

  • Grandparents
  • Older Neighbors
  • Older Folks you know from Church
  • Other Friendly Acquaintances
  • Anyone you suspect could be lonely or need a smile.

Naturally, for doorstep delivery, you’ll need to know where these folks live! Normally, the idea is for the children to sneak up to the door, hang the basket on the doorknob (or place on the porch where the recipient will see it when they open the door), ring the doorbell, and run like the dickens!! With any luck, they’ll get away without being seen, and the recipient will only find a lovely basket of flowers and/or goodies.

     BUT, another very thoughtful idea is to deliver them in person, to random folks in a nursing home.  Many older folks feel quite forgotten at such homes, with few visitors.  Just seeing your children’s faces will feel like such a blessing to them.  Getting flowers and/or other goodies will do their hearts so good. (And yours too!).  This is a great alternative if May Day turns out to be rainy too.   Consider calling a home to let them know you are coming ahead of time, and ask them to put together (your number) of recipients who do not have loved ones to visit them.

tips-ideas-may-day-baskets-2


MAY DAY BASKET CONTENTS

If you’ve decided to fill your baskets with goodies beyond wild flowers, here are some content ideas we have used over the years:

  • A Tea Bag Variety
  • Hard Candy (Consider sugar-free for possible diabetics)
  • Baked Goods from your own kitchen (Mini loves, muffins, cookies, cupcakes)
  • Pocket Tissue Packets
  • Prayer Cards
  • Small Short & Uplifting Story Books
  • Cross Word Puzzle Books
  • Tea Biscuits
  • Flowers
  • A scroll explaining the tradition of May Day Basket Delivery (A great time to educate the kids about this tradition)

Basically, anything that fits in the basket!  What creative ideas can you and your kids come up with?

Lining your baskets before filling, is another option.  You can use tissue paper, an open napkin, a cloth napkin, or even a new kitchen dish towel, which is a gift in itself!

 

BASKET TAGS

It’s nice to have a tag attached, that wishes them HAPPY MAY DAY!  That tends to remove any confusion of why the basket was left. They will realize it is May 1st soon enough, and put it all together. (And them SMILE, no doubt!)   Whether you sign your tag or not is up to you. Sometimes there is concern that the recipients will be frightened, or be afraid to eat the contents.  So if that is a real concern, you can sign them.  But the real fun is to let it be a mystery!  It’s also a wonderful lesson for your children, that we can do kind things for others, and not need to get credit.

    Here is a free printable tag I made one year, that I am happy to share with you:   MAY DAY BASKET TAGS

PLANNING DELIVERIES

This year (2012), May Day falls on a (this) Tuesday.  Since we homeschool, we have always rearranged our school work for the day, and made our deliveries in the morning, usually between 9:00-11:00 a.m.  But if your kids are in school, evening delivery is just as acceptable!

    Before leaving home, plan out your delivery route, according to where your recipients live.  Knowing the order of stops ahead of time makes for smoother deliveries. 

   Also important is to plan ahead WHO will be running up to which doors, and running.  We have 4 kids.  So rather than they all go up to each door, risking injury and getting caught, by tripping over each other, they decided among themselves who would do which homes.  This saved any arguing about the matter in the vehicle too, which could really suck the fun out of it all!

 

tips-ideas-may-day-baskets-4
I especially loved one idea we had last year:  Making little flowering window sill tea cup plants.  Along with some perfect size Chicken Soup for the Soul books!  The above photo is all of the basket contents, pre-assembly.  The photo below is them all together.

 

tips-ideas-may-day-baskets-5

Naturally, every year around May Day, I have taken lots of photos, from basket assembling, to the secret deliveries themselves.  Going through those posts always make me smile.  Especially when the kids were so little! So if you care to, you are free to visit the previous years blog post links, and hopefully dig up some more inspiration, to deliver some love, yourselves.

  • 2008
  • 2009-1
  • 2009-2
  • 2010-2011 – Did not blog deliveries, but last year’s basket photos are shown above.

     Following May Day last year, we decided it was likely our last year of planning and delivering May Day Baskets.  Reason being, 1) the kids are getting a little too old (and big! for this particular serving in secret, and 2) after 4 years, we’re not such a secret anymore! When you start getting thank you cards in the mail, you know they’ve finally figured you out! ; )  But, the lessons have been good for our children, and there is nothing better than the feel-good-feeling, of giving in secret! Our hearts are always open to new ideas and ways in which we can serve others, as God calls us all to do.  The possibilities are endless, and there are always daily opportunities in our lives, and yours.

  Acts 20:35
“In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”

Matthew 25:40
“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’



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Filed Under: Celebrations, Crafts & Creations, DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Project, Free Printable/Downloadable, Free Printables, History / Social Studies, Holiday Crafts, Homeschooling, The Big Picture, Traditions Tagged With: Chicken-Soup-for-the-Soul, Holidays, homeschooling, kids-serving, May Day, May day baskets, May-Dak-basket-delivering, May-Day-Basket-ideas, May-Day-basket-ideas-tips, may-day-basket-photos, serving others, tea-cup-plants

Valentine Printable (free, to go with Chocolate Covered Spoons)

February 8, 2012 By Laura 1 Comment

free-valentine-printable-1
This is a free Valentine card printable, that I specifically designed to go with our Valentine Chocolate Covered Spoons, for our kids to give as Valentines to their friends.  But, we are also offering it to you all, as a free printable!

  First, here is what the Valentine looks like in detail:

free-valentine-printable
(Minus the watermark….if you print out a sheet of them.  Link at end. )

I mentioned I wanted to get back to enjoying some of my hand artwork, and so I did sketch the cup, in a chocolate brown colored pencil.  It’s been awhile, but I had fun doing it!  I hope you like it.

This is what it could look like, given with a chocolate covered spoon, as a very unique Valentine:

free-valentine-printable-2 We chose to also add a pack of hot chocolate.  That an option.

Here is how we simply attached it all together:

2_

I apologize for the lousy photo.  It was growing dark and I was having a hard time focusing. But you should get the idea with an explanation:  A single hole punch towards the right side, through the sealed packet of cocoa if you are adding that too.  Then using the pretty silver twist ties that came with the clean bags, we just twisted it around the spoon handle, arranging the spoon to be ‘inside’ the cup, visually.   Easy!  Cute!!

So if you’d like the free printable, 5 come on sheet. I would recommend printing on white card stock, instead of floppy printer paper.  Just make as many sets of 5 as you need, and cut them into individuals!  This below is not full size, but just to give you an idea of how they are arranged on a sheet:

free-valentine-printable-3
Each card is the same size as Swiss Miss Cocoa packets, if you’d like to bundle those with your spoons!
 
HERE is the printable as a full size PDF.
 
If you grabbed these valentine printables, consider it a little gift, and have a Happy Valentine’s Day.
If you didn’t, please have a Happy Valentine’s Day, anyway!



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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Free Printable/Downloadable, Free Printables, Holidays, The Big Picture Tagged With: free-printables, free-valentine-printables, Valentine-cards

4th of July Celebration Table Printables – Free!

July 1, 2011 By Laura Leave a Comment

Happy long 4th of July Weekend, Everyone!

I designed these two 4th of July folded, 2-sided card printables this morning,
for our tables this weekend, and I am happy to share them with you!

free July printables

Above is just a web-sized sample for you to see, only.

(Printed version will be sharp looking. ; )

To download the full resolution 8.5″ x 11″, click here! >> You will also find others there you may like.
** But read and follow directions below first!**

Do not make the mistake of just printing out the image that comes up at that link > It is a low resolution image and will print fuzzy.
To print the full resolution image:
1) Click the GEAR WHEEL in the upper right hand corner
2) Select ‘Download Zip File’ from the drop down menu, and download it.
3) Find the folder under your downloads, and open it.
4) Print what you want.

Select the LANDSCAPE orientation, when *printing out.

*For sturdier cards, consider printing on heavier card-stock, rather than ordinary
printing paper, and/or laminating the cards if possible, after cutting.

Fold on the dotted line. – – – – – – – – – – –

Cut on the solid line. ____________

ENJOY your printables, AND your long holiday weekend!
Feel free to share or PIN this!

Keep it safe, Peeps!!




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Filed Under: Celebrations, Crafts & Creations, Free Printable/Downloadable, Free Printables, Giveaways, Seasonal Crafts and Creations, SUMMER Crafts and Creations, The Big Picture Tagged With: 4th of july free printables, 4th-of-july-decor, free-printables

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