PATRIOTIC FLOWER FLAG

​Look around this month and I’ll bet you’ll see a few red, white and blue flags and other decorations getting ready to celebrate July 4th, or America’s birthday.  Each year the kids and I love celebrating by walking around our neighborhood and spotting flowers in America’s colors. 

If we find them on the ground or a neighbor lets us pick them, we enjoy our yearly tradition of creating a flag for the front of our house.  
What’s Needed:

• Red, white and blue flowers
• Clear sticky paper (shelf liner)
• Scissors

Start by heading out on a patriotic flower hunt. Flowers in the shade of red, white, and blue aren’t that hard to find once you start looking. Of course, there are tons of red and white flowers, like roses, petunias, and geraniums.
 
But blue flowers are a little bit more challenging until you walk up to agapanthus or hydrangeas.  Both have hues of blue so use them! 

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Collect a bagful of flowers to use to make a flag.  Just remember to always ask if you can pick flowers that belong to other people.

​Once you have your flowers bring them home and separate them into different colored piles.  Each color should have it’s own pile.

Then, cut two pieces of clear sticky paper, or clear shelf liner, to be the same size.  Whatever size you cut will be the size of your flag.
 
Remove the backing from one piece.

​Start to stick the flowers on the sticky side of the paper.  We started with blue in the corner.  Leave about 1/2 inch along the edges so the other piece of sticky paper will have something to stick to. 
 

​Red is both the top and bottom stripe on the American Flag so we did those next.  The flag also has 13 stripes, but we didn’t enough room or flowers to do that so we improvised. We have 5 stripes total.

​Once you’re happy with your flag, peel the backing off the second piece of sticky paper and cover the flowers with it.  Press down hard on the flag to seal in every space between the flowers. 
 

​Attach it to a pole or stick and it’s ready to fly high.  You could also use this idea to make patriotic placemats!
 
Go red, white and blue!