Garden Stake Flag

I absolutely LOVE 4th of July décor!  So when a friend gave me some extra garden stakes she had, I immediately saw a flag in their future!

See…don’t you immediately think flag?!!? (:  To complete this project, I used a total of 11 garden stakes.

Before painting could begin, these stakes needed to be cleaned off.  Lucky for me I have a little one who LOVES to play with the hose and was more than happy to help out his Momma!  {{Well, he tried.  After about 5 minutes of hard work I found him making mud puddles in the sandbox instead! (: }}

Using masking tape, start by marking off where you wanted your square of blue to be.  Now, {finally} it’s time to start painting!!!  {{Do you ever feel like the prep work takes SO MUCH longer than the actual project!?!}

Using a foam paintbrush {or paintbrush}, paint each of your stakes.  {I used Folk Art acrylic paint.}

Colors I used:  Red:  Apple Red, Blue:  Brilliant Ultramarine, White:  Wicker White}.  Paint a single coat of paint and once dry, move your masking tape so you can paint the additional colors.

Once all of the paint is dry, it’s time to put all of the pieces together.  I enlisted my hubby’s help.  We used a combination of wood glue between the stakes and also a nail gun to attach the pieces together.  To ensure that it stayed together while drying, my hubby dug out his wood working clamps.

Let it dry overnight to ensure that is secure.  Now take your handy power sander and go to town!  Distress the paint as little or as much as you like.  Wipe off the dust and add some distressing ink to the edges.

For the star, I just found one I liked online and drew it by hand on an off-white cardstock.  After it is cut out, distress all of the edges using distress ink.

Mod Podge the star in place and you’re finished!  I LOVE how it turned out and will be displaying it WAY longer than through the holiday! (:  What’s most impressive about this project??!  I actually finished it with time to spare before the actual holiday…yipee! (: 

I’m linking up to these parties!