Let Freedom Ring

This 4th of July, I made my own flag. It's not the traditional red, white and blue but it does have stripes and a few stars...

I decided to keep some boards natural because the knots and grain of the wood was too awesome to cover up! The other boards, I simply dry brushed on some white paint...

 
I knew I wanted to go larger with this flag so I choose a pallet that had the larger planks. As soon as I saw these boards I knew I had to try and keep them intact and use every knot, nail hole and crack I could. I love the texture on these boards!

It was such a pain to pry these boards off, but well worth the effort! I love all the nail holes. I even took our grinder to the nails, grinding off just below the nail heads so I could keep them in the boards.

Because I lack any artistic skills in the drawing department, I did what any useful person would do...trace. I have this little star that I used as my outline. Once I traced the outline of my star, I cut it out with the jig saw.

Some other tools I used was wire and rusty bells to join the boards together. I layed all my boards down on the garage floor, on top of a piece of plywood so I could drill the holes for the wire. The hardest part was getting my spacing between each board just right. Once I had each piece of wire cut (6), I shoved some bells on and twisted the wire together. I have this handy little wire twister thing (no idea what it's really called), but you can use a pencil or even your finger depending on how thick your wire is.

I wish I could say I was original with this one but I did get some inspiration from The Lettered Cottage with their coastal-style flag.

There she is in all her distressed glory. I'm still deciding if I need a 5th "stripe?" Such a simple craft, go find a pallet and get started. I think she'll be hanging out all year long...

I'm linking up with Donna this week...