With July almost here, I thought now would be a good time to share how to make an American flag for your yard.  Who knows, maybe you have the materials already and don’t even know it!!

You could start with maybe something like this!I made mine from a piece of flooring I  found in my father-in-law’s trash pile.  He was installing thermal heating in his home, and had removed the existing floor.  I couldn’t wait to makeover this big hunka wooden love. (I am sure you have seen all the different versions on Pinterest of painted pallets and wooden signs. This is my version!)

You are going to want to cut it to size, my hubby helped me with that.  We added a piece to make the blue section of the flag to give it dimension. Then gave it a good coat of paint,  I used glossy white paint.  I chose glossy finish because this was going to sit outside, and a glossy finish is just more durable.  I also wanted the colors to pop and be as bright as possible.  I used red and blue acrylic paint for the rest.

Now as far as the white stars go, I was stumped at first on how to paint stars in a straight line, have them all look the same and keep it neat and tidy.

My answer came with my trusty Photoshop Elements.. I just love this program!!  I found a star online, created a whole page of them and printed out multiple sheets.

I cut them into strips and kept playing with the placement until I got as many starts to fit as possible.

After I was satisfied with the placement, I taped them on so they wouldn’t move.

Now this is where you will get to exercise your finger muscles!! Use a pen and trace over each star, pressing just hard enough to make an imprint on the wood beneath, but not tearing the paper.  I used a pen, it holds up better then a pencil, and made a nice thin line on the wood below.

When done, you will have all of your stars on your wood, ready to paint.  I used the same glossy white paint, and a small paint brush and painted away!

After painting all the stars, we attached the painted blue piece to the rest of the flag with some screws, careful to pick a length that doesn’t go thru to the other side.

Now when deciding to add the back part to make it stand up in the yard, we decided to make the stand longer than the flag so we could stick it in the yard and have the flag still sit up.  I used a slab of oak flooring, this baby is heavy!

Next, I used a basic hinge from my local Busy Beaver to attach it.

You are going to want to attach it to the stand part first, just line it up and get to work.

I used my cordless drill at first.

But my bit was in bad shape, so we used a screwdriver instead.

When that part is done, just repeat the steps to attach it to the flag.

And that is about it!  I made this flag last year, and left it out the whole month of July and it looks just as good now as it did then.

It is true what they say, “Another Man’s trash is another Man’s treasure!”