July Fourth is the first official celebration of summer—kids are out of school and ready for fun!
This project, made from washi tape, bells, beads, and upcycled K-cups, is fun not only to make, but to use in any number of festive ways. You can hang it on your door as a chime, attach it to your backpack or beach bag, or tie it to the back of your kids’ Radio Flyer red wagon to make some noise at your Independence Day parade.
What you’ll need:
- 7 “pods” from a single-cup coffeemaker, cleaned out
- Washi tape in 4 or 5 red, white, and/or blue patterns (available from CuteTape.com)
- White paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Thread
- 9 bells
- Small beads
- Snap Hook
- Ribbon
- For each cup, cut or tear one pattern of tape into eight to twelve strips that are roughly the height of the cup and apply them vertically to the outside of the cup. Don’t worry about making them neat or evenly spaced.
- Adhere three or four strips of this same tape side by side to white paper and cut a 1-inch circle out of this covered area. Attach the circle to the bottom of the cup with glue, being careful not to cover the puncture hole that the machine made when brewing the coffee.
- Cut a 2- to 3-foot piece of thread and tie a bell to the bottom. Thread on some beads and then a cup, stacking enough beads to prevent the cup from covering the bell. Thread on more beads, then a bell, then more beads, then a cup, and continue until you have three or four cups per strand. Repeat to make a second strand.
- Tie both strands onto the snap hook, then tie a ribbon to the hook to hang on a door, if so desired.