The thing is, I ultimately only used a few of his chips on the place card project, and when Alex saw our blog post about the paint chips I used, I quickly got a phone call.

Alex: "Good morning..."

Me: "Hi, what's up?"

Alex: "I see there's no reward for the willing."

Me: "What are you talking about?"

Alex: "I practically ran from the store with paint samples falling from my arms, elderly security guards hot on my heels, and that's all I get for my efforts? Eight place cards with stars on them? Did you really need 'lots,' or perhaps 'a few' might have been a better description?"

Me: "No, I definitely needed lots...don't worry...I have another idea. They won't be wasted."

The conversation went on, but the thing is I didn't have any other ideas as I was satisfied with my simple place card idea. And while honesty may be the best policy, we could delay honesty for just a bit in the event I was able to make good on my word. Alex was at work, I was at home, and I had a good six hours to come up with a plan to put my husband -- who's really just a fugitive from leading a normal sane life -- into a state of mind where he didn't feel like I had taken advantage of his fragile psyche. 

I knew I wanted to make something that would go in the kitchen and dress up our wine bar area for today's party, but I had to keep the food prep area free and clear since we'd be using it both in the run up to the party and during the event.

I took stock of the remaining paints chips and realized that I really had, well, a whole lot more than I initially realized. Some of the best ones were actually large red and blue squares from Valspar. As I thought about some of the various things I could make, I kept thinking about a bunting idea of some sort. That's when I remembered my Valentine's Day greeting card reuse for our mantel decor. 

I decided to make three hanging pennants to adorn the three open shelves we built above the wine bar. Sort of like this...

As you'll see from the photos, Alex was the photographer on this one, and he actually arrived home when I was well into working on the project. This way I looked like I had actually intended to do this second project all along. Muhahahahaha (evil spouse laugh).

Using the large square red and blue chips I cut tall triangles of equal size. They're roughly twice as tall as they are wide to give that long hanging flag look.

Next I used the star template I had printed out for the place card project, tracing several sizes on the reverse sides of the white chips Alex brought home.

Once I went through all of the chips and felt I had enough flags and stars, I started to lay out my design. It was important to get it all set before I started to string anything up to make sure I had enough shapes to achieve the look I was going for. 

I first cut lengths of a red ribbon I had on hand from another project. 

I then decided on two different designs. The first would be a long hanging pennant with alternating red and blue flags and small stars. While the second would be groupings of flags with larger stars between each group. The design choice was born from necessity, as this was the best configuration to create three similar length pennant flags with the supplies I had at the ready.

Once I had everything set and laid out the way I wanted it, I started glueing each flag onto the ribbon, again using my hot glue gun.

After a few minutes of gluing I had myself three pennants of the desired length and perfect patriotic flair. 

We used a few pieces of blue painters tape (quite the appropriate selection of tape) to affix each pennant to the front of the shelves. 

The end result of my scraped together effort, a fun and festive little addition to our wine bar area, which is where I plan to set up the buffet for our party this afternoon. 

This was by no means a difficult little project, but it took a surprisingly long time in measuring, cutting, planning, and gluing. If you're looking for a fun craft to do with kids, this might be just perfect for you.

At the very least, I think Alex was satisfied that I made effective use of his paint chip loot. Here's what he was greeted with when he returned home from work.

Mission accomplished! I think I've had enough paint chip crafting to last me a lifetime, so I've safely stowed them in my dining room buffet like a true hoarder. You never know when I might need them again.

We're going to be getting ready to host our little party throughout the day and hope to go down to the National Mall for fireworks this evening. Fingers crossed the rain holds off long enough to get the whole day in. 

What are your 4th of July plans? I'm guessing cookouts, fireworks, friends, family, and fun? Let me know if I'm right on.

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So today, like every other year since our migration from Cleveland to Alexandria, we'll be making our annual trip to the National Mall to watch one of the best fireworks displays I can imagine. With a backdrop of the Washington Monument and US Capitol, and the Lincoln Memorial at our backs, we'll sit and watch fireworks in the sweltering heat along with thousands of other people...and we'll love it. 

Here is a short video from last year's fireworks display that should give you a taste of what we love to watch. 

Obviously, a video can't do justice to being there and feeling the fireworks as they explode. In person, it's literally breathtaking.

We'll be back tomorrow with a bit of house progress that's made Wendy smile, but until then, if you're celebrating, we hope you have a wonderful 4th of July holiday with your friends and family. Be safe, everyone.

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After scrounging around in our kitchen cabinets, dining room hutch, and buffet, I realized I have a pretty substantial assortment of red, white, and blue tableware on hand, largely due to having items that complement our red dining room and navy blue outdoor umbrella.

After some thought, I decided upon a tablescape style I like to call "formal al fresco." It's a combination of using nice dinnerware and glassware (no paper napkins, or plastic cups or cutlery here), but it's set for a relaxed outdoor dining experience. I settled on using:

• Our everyday white square dinner plates from Crate & Barrel
• Our everyday blue and white transferware plates (free as part of our honeymoon package back in 2002)
• Our formal flatware, given to us as wedding gifts
• My favorite red goblets from Crate & Barrel, picked up in an office white elephant gift exchange
• Our everyday bee glasses for water
• The formal white and red placemats that I typically use for Christmas
• Plain white napkins -- well, the ones that Alex hasn't used as paint rags yet!
• Silver napkin rings, also a wedding gift

I love any excuse to use our wedding gifts, although admittedly I don't use our china as often as I should because it's not dishwasher safe. So I felt this tablescape is a good combination of everyday dishes that aren't too precious, combined with some of our more formal entertaining items.

After shuttling everything outside, I was able to quickly set the table that will set the mood for a festive and fun 4th of July celebration. 

Setting a beautiful table isn't about running out and buying all new, holiday-specific items. Instead, be creative with what you already own and think of ways you can reinvent it for different looks, styles, and holidays. I'll let you in on a little secret. If you take a close look, you'll see that the 4th of July setting above is largely the same as the one below I used for Christmas last year.

By moving the party outdoors, changing out the napkins, and introducing blue accents rather than fresh greenery, I can easily transform the look from Christmas chic to 4th of July al fresco. And it cost me absolutely nothing!

Do you have any special tips or tricks that you use to make a gathering feel more festive for any given holiday? Do you have a particular recipe or serving dish that's become a tradition in your home? I'd love to hear all about how you make even the most informal of gatherings special and memorable. 

Are you looking for other 4th of July decorating or entertaining ideas? If so, check out the holidays section of our projects page for cocktails, recipes, exterior decor, and more. 

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I suspect it's no coincidence that one of the things I enjoy most about this time of year is the bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables, specifically blueberries and strawberries. It's really just perfect timing that these blue and red berries come into peak season just in time for 4th of July celebrations. And as many enjoy doing, I like to sieze convenient opportunities to color coordinate my snacks with the holiday we're going to be celebrating. What can I say, I'm a bit obsessive this way.

Last year I tried my hand at creating festive 4th of July cupcakes. They sure were a crowd pleaser, and the fireworks toppers go down in my book as an all time favorite. (Details on how I made them can be found here.)

In addition, I'm sure we've all seen the cool whip and berry topped jell-o mold of years past, decorated to look like an American flag.

Photo Credit: Kraft Foods

In recent years I've also seen layer cakes carefully sculpted so that cross sections look quite patriotic. So cool, but very labor intensive.

Photo Credit: The Sugar Turn Table

All of these options look great, but can take a lot of time to make. This year I wanted to try something a little different, and put together a lightening fast, easy, and healthy treat that can be served as breakfast, a snack, or a refreshing side dish/appetizer. What I'm making you can honestly call the "perfect" treat because it is a fruit and yogurt parfait.

This simple dish requires just four ingredients and takes only a minute or two to put together.

Ingredients

• vanilla yogurt
• granola
• blueberries
• strawberries

Assembly is a snap, and can be done according to personal preference. For the parfait pictured above, I layered the ingredients into the bowl with a lot of blueberries and granola hidden beneath the surface. I then finished it off with a fan of strawberries and a blueberry center.

While the bowl presentation gives you the nice red white and blue, it hides the majority of what is good beneath the surface. If you want to do this as a small item you bring to a party, or as something with a little more presentation, it's best to serve in a glass container or clear cup.

Really, any size glass container will work. I've done our example in a ice cream bowl, but a small plastic shot glass might be perfect for that summer 4th of July cookout with tons of food options.

Start by layering in a base of yogurt. This is the first layer, so you'll want to cover approximately the bottom 1/4 of the container.

Fill in the center of the yogurt with a little bit of your granola. This will get covered, but it gives a little bit of to the center of the yogurt.

Next, layer your blueberries around the perimeter of the container. You want them to be out near the edge so you'll be able to see them from the outside once fully assembled.

Then fill in the middle with more blueberries, just because they're so good.

Next, add some additional yogurt to bring the yogurt level near the top of the glass, but be sure to leave some room for the strawberries. You'll want to add the yogurt in the middle and let it move to the outside on its own. If you add right to the perimeter, the yogurt will take over the edge and you'll lose the layered look.

The final layer, much like the first example, will be your red strawberry layer. In a smaller glass, where you can't lay them all out in a fan, just slice your strawberries into small pieces and lay them in around the top. In this case, I was able to use the fan 

Finish the whole thing off with a blueberry in the center...

...and a little more granola if you like.

If you use a taller glass you will really see your festively layered and extremely healthy 4th of July side/dessert.

If you want this tasty snack to be a bit sweeter, add some honey to the middle layers. If you're looking for more of a dessert feel, you can substitute broken up oatmeal cookies or ginger snaps for the granola, and even swap out the yogurt for whipped cream or whipped topping. There are obviously so many combinations for this treat, and our suggestions are only scratching the surface. We hope you'll try it out and let us know what you think.

Do you have any fun and festive color themed food favorites? Maybe your own summer cookout standby? Hey, even a burger with a tiny flag stuck in the bun counts. Do tell.

Are you looking for other 4th of July decorating or entertaining ideas? If so, check out the holidays section of our projects page for cocktails, recipes, exterior decor, and more. 

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Even though Alex had his heart set on actual flag buntings -- those that have true embroidered stars and different color materials stitched together -- we came up empty handed through our early Internet searches. What we settled on was an inexpensive (and up close, a little cheap looking) screen printed buntings. 

While we enjoyed them for the last several years, they'd started to fade after the beating sun of summers past. In addition, the light weight fabric often became tangled and flipped up on the window sills during strong winds. Alex ended up rigging up an elaborate manner of tethering the buntings to the house and added weighted washers. To say it was an annoyance is an understatement.

While in St. Michaels, Maryland this past weekend (do you notice an Eastern Shore theme this summer?), you can imagine our delightful surprise when, after eight years of looking, we came across actual flag buntings! We actually saw them hanging on the front of The Candleberry Shoppe store on Talbot Street in all their star spangled glory.

After passing the store a few times I suggested we should see if they had any for sale. Alex was skeptical, but we went in anyway. Unfortunately we learned that the three out front were the only three they currently had in stock, but they offered to sell us those. The only issue was they couldn't remember how much they had purchased them for and assured us if we came back the next day that they could give us a price, and the buntings.

That night we did a little internet research and found the same buntings on Amazon for only $19.99 each plus shipping, but there were only two in stock. Our next results found them for $24.99, including tax and shipping, from House-Impressions.com. So it seemed that somewhere in the realm of $24-$28 would be a good price.

Sunday afternoon on our way out of town we stopped back into the store in St. Michaels. We talked it over and we had a good idea of what the same buntings were going for online, but we really wanting to take them home that day. We walked in expecting to hear $35 or more per bunting, but I was thrilled when the owner told us they were $26.99 each. Then, imagine my excitement when the store's owner offered to give us 10% off because they had been hanging outside. I think you may know my penchant for a good bargain, and this was one for sure. We gladly took them on the spot, and were on our way home.

No sooner then we had unpacked the car, we excitedly turned our attention to hanging our new purchase. We hadn't put up our old buntings yet, and the 4th of July is only a week away, so we really had no time to spare.

Our old buntings were 36" wide, while these new ones are just 30", so we were a bit concerned they wouldn't look quite right. First step, Alex did a little modeling so that we could check the width.

Though they are a bit smaller, and may take a little getting used to, the size seems good and about equal to the width of the windows themselves.

Ready to get them hanging, we grabbed our trusty 3M removable sticky hooks. We've used the same style hooks to hang buntings and Christmas decorations for years, and they tend to work really well for this purpose. Alex cleaned off the window sill while I cut wire that would allow us to hang the buntings on the ledge. A few quick loops of the wire over the hook and we were well on our way.

We took a step back to look at the first floor to see how it looked. 

So far, so good. We didn't have any time to waste, as it was starting to get dark and we wanted to be able to take some good photos to share with you today. After a few minutes of hanging out of the upstairs windows, our patriotic flair was in place. 

What do you think? Too small or do they look ok to you? At any rate, this aged look is far more what we have wanted for years, and the additional weight in the fabric should keep these from blowing back up on the window sill during a light breeze like the old ones did. 

I also feel like with the re-installation of the original shutters in the upstairs windows, the look will be better balanced.

This shot shows the heavier weight of the fabric and quality of construction quite nicely.

Readers from the United States: what sort of patriotic decor is going to appear on your house for the 4th of July holiday? And for our international readers, does decorating for holidays like this strike you as a little odd, or do you do you have a national holiday that's celebrated in the same way? Near and far, we'd love to hear how you celebrate the country you live in.

**Update**

We added a few photos above, but here is an additional example or two that highlights my desire to get our original shutters back in the upstairs windows. Ahem...Alex, any day now.

And a final of the whole house. I still love how much the blue of the front door pops in the evening when the sun is on it.

Are you looking for other 4th of July decorating or entertaining ideas? If so, check out the holidays section of our projects page for cocktails, recipes, tablescapes, and more. 

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