Patriotic Pinwheel Products

Happy Summer everyone! I know, I know, summer doesn't officially start until June 21st, but like most I've always considered summer to start on Memorial Day and end on Labor Day. And guess what - warmer weather has finally arrived as well! They are predicting a high of 84 today here in Indianapolis. Very wonderful news as I don't believe we've even hit 80 yet this season. :-)

With all of these thoughts of summer, my mind moves to the biggest holiday during the summer months - 4th of July. I love this holiday and everything it entails - fireworks, BBQs, sparklers, American flags, lots of wonderfully fattening foods, etc. I love entertaining on this day too! (Surprise, Surprise.) Although I haven't hosted a 4th of July BBQ in several years, when I have, it's always been one of my favorite events to host. This year, I decided to begin putting together some 4th of July themed party products early. Of course these products combine red,white and blue - and pinwheels. Pinwheels always remind me of summer. I've kept back some of the below patriotic pinwheel products for my own BBQ, but I've also placed some of them for sale at my Etsy shop.

Of course I instantly fell in love with this red and blue paper. Why? Because it's damask, one of my two favorite patterns!

Although white is missing from this paper, I think it could easily slide by for a 4th of July event, especially when it's positioned on a star themed pinwheel such as the one above.

Any of these pinwheels would work well as party favors. In the past I've also stuck similar pinwheels in the pot in the center of my patio table and also in the planters/pots in my yard. Very festive!

Here's another set that contains vintage inspired patriotic paper. It features red, cream, aqua blue, and light blue stripes with scattered stars.

Too cute!

These pinwheels are the perfect handheld size - 8" tall by 4" wide.

Isn't the aged appearance of this paper wonderful?!

I also created matching cupcake pick toppers. If you're like me and very handicapped at decorating cupcakes, these cupcake picks are perfect. They look wonderful on even messily iced cupcakes.

Back view of the cupcake toppers. Please ignore the horribly iced cupcakes. :)

Yet another variation of the handheld handcrafted pinwheels. These pinwheels feature a red background with cream swirls (that almost look like fireworks) and faded stripes of blue.

I used more faux aged paper to create these pinwheels.

Once again this paper is subtly patriotic, but sometimes I think the more subtle the theme is, the better.

Wonderful swirl pattern on the back of the pinwheels.

I also created matching swirl cupcake pick toppers to match the above pinwheels.

And look how perfectly the striped star papers and swirl papers match. They coordinate perfectly and thus both the handheld pinwheels and cupcake toppers could be mixed and matched on a patio or picnic table filled with goodies.

Some more patriotic pinwheels. These are a bit larger at 14" tall and 6" wide. These have been assembled and placed on plastic handles.

Matching pinwheel cupcake pick toppers have also been created to match the above handheld pinwheels.

I'm still in the process of finishing a few matching items - including pinwheel napkin rings to coordinate with the above damask pinwheels. I hope to have these, and other items, added to my Etsy shop by the end of the weekend. In addition, I've also been working on perfecting pinwheel cupcake toppers that will actually spin - easily! Wish me luck! If I can perfect them, they will be really cool and will look very awesome on cupcake stationed outdoors. They will be able to sit there all afternoon and just spin away in the breeze. Talk about a Wow at your event! :-)

Well, I must be running some errands.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Enjoy the 'first' weekend of Summer!