By Tamara McRill
What could be more natural than pairing dogs with a day dedicated to independence, patriotism and love of our country? After all, our furry friends are the epitome of freedom, loyalty and love. At least that’s how my mind works, and so my patriotic canine crafting theme for the Fourth of July was born. These easy crafts range from dog-themed to actually for the dogs, with a little in between.
Uncle Sam Dog Hat
This was my favorite project, because it produced such adorable pictures and inspired the final craft. I started with one of those dollar store cloth hats, but you could easily make one from construction paper. Just be sure to have a camera and dog treats handy – I used
CANIDAE Chicken and Rice TidNips™ to reward Wuppy for sitting pretty.
Supplies: Uncle Sam hat, white snow batting or cotton balls, glue gun, glue sticks, and 1 ½ foot of string or elastic.
1. Pull off enough batting to make two sections of pouf white “hair” to hang around your dog’s ears.
2. With the glue gun, glue each section to the inside brim of your hat, so it hangs down like hair, one section on the left and one on the right. Allow glue time to dry.
3. Pull off another section of batting, enough to make a goatee. Hot glue the goatee to the center of your string or elastic. Let the glue dry, then tie the goatee on your dog’s head.
4. OPTIONAL: You can also glue the string or elastic to the hat, like a chin strap, if you want your pet to wear the hat for more time than just picture taking. Loop it around from your dog’s head to chin, to measure the right length.
Firecracker Dog Treat Favors
Since I was handing out treats to get Dusty and Wuppy to pose for pictures, I decided they needed their own rocket favor containers. They were entirely too willing to pose with this craft!
Supplies: toilet paper or paper towel roll, small section each of red and blue poster board or scrapbook paper, white printer paper, scissors, tape, glue gun, 3 inches of string, and markers or paint.
1. Wrap the white paper around your toilet paper roll and tape it where the paper meets. Trim the excess paper off the top of the tube with scissors.
2. Decorate covered roll with markers or paint and write your dog’s name on it.
3. Take one of your poster boards or scrapbook paper and cut a half circle that is 3 ⅓ inches on the flat side. This is going to be the firecracker’s pointed cap.
4. Fold the half circle perfectly in half, tip-to-tip. Tape it where the flat bottom now meets in two sections.
5. Put a bead of glue along the top edge of your toilet paper roll and set the newly made point cap on top, with the point facing up.
6. For the feet: Cut out three or four identical feet from your poster board or scrapbook paper, for your firecracker or rocket to stand on. These should be an inch across at the top and taper where they will stand at the bottom.
7. Tape the string to the inside top corner of one of the legs, if you want a firecracker. You can skip this step if you want a rocket.
8. Cut 3 or 4 slits (depending on how many legs you made) evenly up the bottom of your tube.
9. Insert legs, with the narrowest point facing down.