It's almost the start of the summer season in the U.S. and around this time of the year my thoughts turn to 4th of July, patriotic, and Americana home decorations. Over the years I have made many, many different 4th of July, patriotic, and Americana home decorations. Some of my own and some based on other crafters patterns.
If you'd like to check out my 4th of July e-patterns they're in my Etsy shop here.
As you know I love BIG woodcraft decorations. One of my favorite BIG dolls and woodcraft is a self-sitting Uncle Sam that resides in the corner of my kitchen for the entire summer. He just sits there and every time I look at him I can't help but think of the role New England played in the history of this country. In particular he makes me think of the American Revolution and Paul Revere, etc.
My Uncle Sam is 32" tall and was made based upon a TLC Crafters design. He's so cheery sitting in his corner that I decided to name him "Firecracker Sam."
"Firecracker Sam" was made from 3/4" pine wood and was painted blue. Painted black stitches outline the edge of his face, beard, and mustache. Painted white stars adorn his hat and white stripes run down his pant legs. He is holding a painted wooden flag and set of firecrackers in his lap.
So, all summer long he just sits atop his pedestal. After we take him out and place him in his corner he always asks when we will be showing his favorite movie - "Yankee Doodle Dandy." I usually tell him I'm not sure, but I would try to make sure we show it for him.
The wreath shown above hangs in my kitchen all summer was made based on a Pretty Primitives pattern.
Now I know what you're thinking, "You've never met a wreath you haven't loved. Yeah, right Linda.... you love everything crafty. In fact, there isn't any craft you've met that you haven't loved!" Well, that may be true but wreaths certainly are one of my favorites. I love making them and love decorating with them and this wreath is one of my favorites.
I also love decorating my front door for the various holidays and seasons. My house is painted a colonial burgundy color so the big Uncle Sam woodcraft, shown in the picture above, looks great on the front door all during the Summer months. He was also made in 2002 and was based on a TLC Crafters pattern.
I had seen an adorable Uncle Sam ornament by Mary Ayres in a June/July 2000 Crafts magazine and just had to make one. He's totally adorable - don't you think?
To say I just love dolls would probably be an understatement based on the number of dolls I've made during over the years. It's got to be close to 2,000 now if not more. So, of course, I've made a lot of dolls for the 4th of July holiday season. Since they're also patriotic they're out during the Summer months.
I don't always make my dolls exactly like the patterns call for. In fact, most of the time they are entirely different.
The dolls shown in the picture above were adapted from a bunny and angel pattern I had seen in a March 1996 Crafts N Things magazine and was designed by Donna Newman. I thought they'd look cuter as as patriotic dolls and hope you would agree.
Back in 2002 I decided to make a bunch of little patriotic woodcrafts that I could use to decorate a section of the bookcase I have in my family room and created the woodcrafts shown in the picture above. In 2016 I decided to create free e-books to show you how I made these adorable woodcraft decorations for your home. They're all very easy to make and include a firecracker trio, birdhouse, stars, USA cube decoration and flags.
My free e-books are here. I hope you enjoy making your patriotic USA woodcraft decorations.
If you get the feeling I like patriotic crafts you would be right. So, of course, I set up a Pinterest board for all the wonderful 4th of July, Patriotic and Americana free tutorials, patterns, video's and how-to's I've found. I hope these tutorials, video's, patterns, & how-to's are helpful.
If you love my Patriotic, 4th of July and Americana Crafts Tutorials, Video's, Patterns and How-To's board please follow my board by clicking on the link above.
