Supplies
- 8 paint sticks
- Red, white and blue paint
- Foam or craft paint brushes
- Masking or painters tape
- Hot glue gun and glue
- Jute Twine
- Star punch and white paper or star stencil
- Mod Podge, Matte Medium, or liquid glue
- Baby wipes and paper towels
Video Tutorial
Step-by-Step
Paint the Base Color
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int all 8 paint sticks white. Be sure to paint the edges, too. After the white paint dries, take 2 sticks and repaint them red. This may seem unnecessary, but it will help the reds and blues match in your final project.
Tip: Bare paint stir sticks are free when you buy paint from most stores; however, they often don’t provide stir sticks to people who aren’t buying gallons of paint. Luckily, they are inexpensive to buy from craft and hardware stores. I bought this set of 40 12″ paint sticks from Amazon.
Choose Your Red Paint
If you have multiple brands and types of red paints, do sample swatches of each of them. Let them completely dry before you choose which red is best for your flag. You’d be surprised how different reds look when they dry sometimes! I used a heavy bodied Liquitex Medium Red.
Punch Out White Stars
Using a regular sheet of typing paper and a star punch, punch out a pile of stars. I wasn’t sure how many I’d need or want, so I punched out a full row around the perimeter of the paper. It was plenty.
Paint the Blue Portion
Place 4 of the white paint sticks together and place a strip of painters tape about 4.5 inches from the left edge. Press the tape down firmly so that the sticks won’t move and the paint won’t bleed under the tape. To get a super clean line, you can first repaint the taped off section white and let it dry before continuing. I was not patient enough for that, though, so I painted the blue portion of the flag and let it dry completely.
Paint the Red Stripes
After the blue paint is completely dry, move the tape over to enable you to paint the red portion of the stripes. I used a heavy bodied Liquitex Medium Red. In addition to the 2 paint sticks that have blue on them, you want 2 other fully painted red paint sticks.
Touch Up
Remove all tape and touch up any paint edges that either didn’t get full coverage or need to be straightened out. A small flat angled paint brush works great for this.
Glue Stars on the Flag
Use Mod Podge, Matte Medium, or a 50/50 mixture of water and white glue. Paint the blue portion of one paint stick and place your punched out stars on it. Then, brush the same glue over the top to seal the stars on. Repeat the process on the blue portion of the other 3 paint sticks.
Secure the Flag to the Tabletop
Flip each paint stick over being sure not to change their order. Space them as desired and tape them to the tabletop.
Glue the Twine
Cut 2 lengths of Jute Twine 2-3 times the length of the flag. Using the glue gun, put a dot of glue along the edge of each paint stick and secure the twine to it.
Tie the Twine
Untape the flag from the table, flip it over, and tie the 2 lengths of Jute Twine in a bow. Hang it as a decoration and enjoy!
Let me know in the comments what patriotic decor you might try to make. I’d love to see how it turns out.
Products Used
