Happy Independence Day, everyone! For those of you in the US, I hope you’re doing something fun and festive to celebrate this special holiday. We have a tradition in our family. Every Fourth of July we go swimming in my parents’ pool, and afterward we have a barbeque. It’s usually the standard barbeque fare like hot dogs, hamburgers, corn-on-the-cob, and all the common accoutrements.
I have a confession to make: I’ve never scrapbooked any of our July 4 celebrations. So when I was asked to write today’s blog post, I jumped at the chance because I knew it would encourage me to finally memorialize some of those Fourth of July photos from years past. I turned to one of my favorite places for inspiration: Pinterest. I actually prefer to look at non-scrapbooking images as inspiration for my scrapbook layouts. I did a search for “red, white, and blue” and here are some of the great images I found.
Red, White, & Blue “Pinspiration”
Be still my heart. Take a look at this beautiful cake. Can’t you just taste the delicious buttercream frosting?
Doilies are hot, hot, hot right now in scrapbooking. How about adding a patriotic version to your layouts, maybe something like this:
Or why not use red, white, and blue patterned papers to create accordion pinwheels?
Here’s an adorable idea for making a garland out of paper stars:
You can find the tutorial for these sewn stars on the Hope and Honey blog: Sewn Paper Garland.
Independence Day Scrapbook Layout
I loved this last idea so much that I decided to incorporate it on my layout. I simply traced some chipboard stars onto patterned paper, cut them out, then ran them through my sewing machine. Super easy!
4th of July by Stacy Cohen. Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper; Patterned paper: Echo Park Paper Co.; Letter stickers: American Crafts; Gems: Queen & Co.; Glitter: EK Success; Baker’s twine: The Twinery; Thread: Gütermann; Adhesive: Beacon Adhesives, EK Success, and Tombow; Font: American Typewriter; Other: Lace, date tag.
Have fun scrapbooking your own Independence Day traditions, and happy Fourth of July!
—Stacy Cohen, CK Dream Team member
P.S. Would you like to win a special July 4 prize? We’ve pulled together a box of patriotic goodies from companies like Art-C, Bazzill Basics Paper, Canvas Corp, Close To My Heart, Creative Charms, Echo Park Paper Co., Glitz Design, and It Takes Two. To be eligible to win, leave a comment here about what traditions you have for the Fourth of July, or, if you live in another country, what you do for your own country’s patriotic holidays. (We’re sorry, we can only ship prizes to winners in the U.S.)
Congratulations to our winner!
Marilyn Nimmo: We have a cookout over at my parents — just got back. Took some photos for my 4th of July layouts. So much fun!
Watch for an email in your inbox with instructions on how to redeem your prize.
We have a family reunion for the 4th every year. My Mother is 1 of eleven children, so it’s a big family affair filled with good food and laughter!
Happy 4th!!! We always watch the neighbors shoot off
their fireworks! They were going off on all four sides of
us last night!
Carla from Utah
Gorgeous page Stacey! I love the star banner! Happy ‘belated’ 4th to you!
I love the fireworks and the BBQ that we have every year:)
We have a two day celebration. My oldest granddaughter’s birthday is July 3rd. On that day we have cake and presents in the afternoon, then we all pack up and go to a local town for an outdoor dinner, concert and fireworks. This year my granddaughter came home with me for a sleepover. On the 4th we went back to her house for the traditional cookout with all the family, then fireworks in the evening. Great time for all of us!!
We started taking our kids to the parade in our town, but we could use some more ideas. I’ll read what others have commented for ideas:-)
We take the little ones to the parade, get together as a family, eat brisket and traditional sides that go with it and shoot fireworks when it gets dark!
Eating BBQ and fireworks!
We have always hosted a 4th of July party at our family’s lake home. Perfect for celebrating summer!
4th of July here starts with the parade in the morning. In the afternoon, there are games and contests on the beach and lots of swimming and chatting with friends and neighbors. In the evening, everyone gathers on the beach or along the Boardwalk for fireworks. Very traditional.
We go watch the fireworks at our local amusement park!!!
Love these layouts and ideas! We usually go to the local fireworks show for the Fourth, and the annual parade as well…depending on where we’re spending the holidays. We also always shoot off fireworks on the 3rd for my son’s birthday!
We have a family reunion at my sister’s house. We shoot off fireworks and have a bbq! TFS!
Lately we have been going to Bank Atlantic Arena. We get to tailgate with lots of yummy food, good friends, precious family and amazing fireworks. It is so much fun! As I watched the fireworks this year, I paused to pray. I feel bad for our troops and all they are going through!
July 4th varies, lately we go to my friend’s house for a barbecue/party, but I always make time to watch the Capitol Fourth TV special, even if it’s the repeat the next day.
We started a new tradition of going to see our city’s big fireworks!
We head over to the Ronald Regan museum where they have actors portraying past presidents, as well as face painting, games, and fabulous music.
Family,grill out and fireworks. Great picture oppurtunities!!!
I hope I didn’t miss out on this giveaway. We don’t have a lot of traditions for July 4th. We used to go camping, but now none of our friends do, so we stay home. We did manage to make it to the fireworks – and hopefully we’ll make that a tradition with our little one (she loved them!)
We live on a beautiful lake that has fireworks just across the water. We invite friends for a picnic and fireworks. Decorating is half the fun!!
We take our small outdoor table and chairs to the end of our driveway. Get some wine, cheese and crackers and sit and watch the neighbors and two city displays (that appear over the tops of the trees and houses) for our 4th of July display. Our cat is on a leash at our side. This is the first year we have not done it since we have been in our home. The city displays were cancelled because of the heat and dry landscape and our neighbors were concerned enough about it to not set off their fireworks either.
Our holiday tradition includes celebrating my hubby, a fourth of July baby! Lots of fireworks, friends and good food. Good ol’ American fun.
We live in Florida, so it’s lots of fun pool activities this day, traditional American BBQ and (professional) fireworks in the evening. If the fireworks get washed out – which happens frequently in this area – we curl up on the couch with A Capitol Fourth on PBS TV. No matter, it’s always a fun day for everyone.
We enjoy a picnic and fireworks at the golf course my husband manages. Been doing it for20 years!
I will sometimes go to my local fireworks, but this year I actually saw a few from home–whoo hoo!
I hope I didn’t miss the deadline – I’d love to win some goodies!
My husband and I go to a July 4th party at our friends home. We all bring food, go swimming and grill all day long!
My birthday is on July 3, so on the 4th my mom has a birthday cake for me and she uses sparklers for the candles. It’s become a fun tradition for years!
We always get together for lunch with my family then just us four at home that night to watch the fireworks in our neighborhood!
We do something different every year. This year we watched the Capitol 4th on PBS – was great to watch fireworks without the heat & mosquitoes! Thanks for the opportunity to win!
Every year we go to the big parade in Chatham, MA then celebrate with a cookout
We usually go to Ft. Rucker’s Freedom Fest with a beautiful fireworks display at the end. Then we usually barbecue. We love to celebrate our freedom.
We live in FL and friends of ours live in MO. They have a huge party complete with their own fireworks display every year. Their show exceeds many of the shows we have down here and rivals some of the best shows I’ve seen. We celebrate with them as often as we can!
We always BBQ with our neighbors. Since we live in the hills above a valley, we can watch the fireworks from all around us on my next door neighbors patio. A local radio station brodcasts their show set to music so I open the windows crank up the music and watch their show along with several others set to amazing music.
4th of July means fireworks at our house. As the kids have grown, the fireworks have gotten bigger and louder!
Just hanging out with family is our tradition!
Fireworks. . . ANYWHERE! Usually try to bbq with friends.