by Jessi Wohlwend
I don’t usually get to decorate our apartment for holidays or seasons or whatever. I blame it on my lack of a mantel, deck/porch/outdoor area, or any indoor horizontal surface that is safe from cats. Seriously, I have three pieces of “decor” and they are all on top of the tallest bookcase in our apartment, and still sometimes I come home from work find them knocked to the ground!
So imagine how excited I was to see the adorable Fourth of July pinwheels that Vanessa from Nifty Thrifty Things linked up to last week’s Fun In Functional link party! Outside decor that doesn’t require a whole porch! Woot!
I printed out her printable, followed the simple instructions, and look!
They’re super easy to make, so if you’re still looking for some decorations for the 4th of July just head over to Vanessa’s blog and download the printable.
There are only a couple of things I would note about making these. First, when you stick the pin through all the “spokes” to hold it together in it’s pinwheel shape make sure you start from the white, un-printed side of the paper. I did it backwards at first, poking the pin into the spokes from the colored side, but it doesn’t go together at the end if you do that.
Also, I just used the extra sticks from when we made caramel apples because I don’t have any paper lollipop sticks. You could also break a wooden shish kebab skewer in half and use that.
And finally, the white space in between the spokes of the pinwheels looks like a fat little dolphin! How cute is that! I didn’t realize until I cut the pinwheels out, but check it out.
The cats were totally fascinated by the pinwheels too; it was really pretty adorable. I blew on one of the pinwheels to test that it turned and that I hadn’t bound it together too tightly and they immediately started trying to “hunt” it. 🙂
I ended up sticking the pinwheels in the flower pots our herbs are growing in so that they could be blown about by the wind. But of course it was totally still and calm (and 100 degrees, gross!) all day today, so they aren’t moving right now. But the alley this window looks out on gets really windy sometimes so I can’t wait!
A little over-exposed, but it’s hard to take a picture out a window when the sun is shining in through it!
Have you decorated for the 4th of July yet? Do you plan to? Or do you have cat-related hindrances to your decorating abilities as well?
Katie says
I place things on shelves and tables all over the place, but nothing that resembles a stick, ball, or anything that is, might be, or might once have been food can go in dog reach.
Also, the Kong is dangerous (Kong is a brand name but they’re these hollow rubber beehive things). We must throw it because Jayne must fetch it or he would probably die, and our walls are covered in black rubber skid marks and many a decoration has fallen victim to a wayward bounce. Since it’s beehive shaped and not round, it doesn’t bounce predictably.
But I feel you on the lack of mantel! I want one so badly. I never know where to put things, like Christmas stockings.
angie says
love pinwheels when I was a kid and love your patriotic pinwheel as well
Evelyn says
What cute pinwheels! And these would be perfect to celebrate the 4th of July here in the Southwest since we are in a fireworks pan due to the drought. The kids would love these. Thank you for sharing a cute idea at Freedom Fridays and giving the shout out to Vanessa.
Trisha says
Thanks so much for the link. I have been wanting to make pinwheels for the 4th and these are perfect. I did convert the file from PDF to PNG and then uploaded to my Silhouette Cameo to do all the print and cut. So much easier than hand cutting.
Jessi says
Ooh yeah, that would be easier 🙂 I have been wanting a Cameo for forever cuz cutting things out by hand gets hard after a while. Just one more thing to add to my list of reasons to bite the bullet and get one!
Vanessa @ {nifty thrifty things} says
Thank you so much for your sweet email, Jessi! I’m so happy to hear (and see) that my little project turned out great in your hands! 🙂
I hope you’re having a wonderful week!
xo! Vanessa
Jessi says
No thank YOU for the printables! I had a ton of fun working on the project!
Danni Baird says
So cute and so tiny! I love them! They would be easy to store too!
Pocketful of Dreams says
Cute! I have a black cat that looks a lot like yours! He is an old man now, though, so he would probably have tried to lay down and swat at it.
Jeanette says
So cute! I’m working on my 4th of July mantel this weekend – there’s still time right? Definitely going to make these!
Jessi says
There’s definitely still time!