Those of you who are squeamish might not want to read this post… there are paint covered hands! Oh nooooo! 🙂

I made a mess with this craft but I had a great time putting it together.  I’m wishing I’d had a saw better than a bendy hack saw but the crookedness of my firecrackers just lends to their primitive air. Yeah, that’s right. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

You’ll need a dowel rod 1/2” to 3/4”. You don’t want to go any bigger than that… especially if you don’t have a power saw of some sort to cut them.  You’ll be there all day sawing away… and we can’t have that! There is fun to be had, paint to get on our hands and well, we just can’t have you sawing all day.  That is no fun!

Cut the dowel rod into three pieces 3, 4 and 5 inches tall.

Drill a hole straight down into the top of all of the pieces about a 1/4” deep.

Gather up your paint and a few smallish brushes.

I used Folk Art Blue Ribbon, Wicker White and Cardinal Red.

Paint them all white.

I used star stickers as a resist.  Make sure to rub the edges down well so that paint doesn’t seep underneath.

And then I painted over the stickers in blue. Let Dry.

Another one I painted with stripes and dashes.

And the third one has a line of stars and I painted a wide red stripe down the middle.

Let the blue and red dry and then carefully remove the stickers.

Folk Art Antiquing Medium rubbed on with a paper towel or rag makes them look old and grubby.

Put a little glue (your favorite brand) down into the hole and then put a short length of jute inside.

Repeat for all of the firecrackers.

Lay them all together and then tie with jute.

Ta Da! A great 4th of July decoration or party favor.

I know this looks like something you might find in a store and my husband says if you can buy it in a store for cheap you shouldn’t waste your time MAKING it but I totally disagree.  I love being able to say “I MADE THAT”.

What about you? Do you think that if you can buy it cheap that you should just buy it or should you go ahead and make one?  Let me know what YOU think!