So I’m not sure what laws and policies are where you live regarding fireworks, but here in northeast Missouri the firework tents are up and they are beginning to sell. Around sundown the fireworks begin to pop in our neighborhood. I remember my brother and I loved to shoot off bottle rockets but in our hometown we were not allowed to shoot off fireworks in the city limits. Lucky for us the city limit line was actually our street, so all we had to do was cross over the road – no houses, just an open field area – and it was bottle rocket heaven!
Dad came over and sunk in a copper tube pipe that we stuck the rocket in with just the fuse sticking off the edge of the pipe. Light the fuse, get away, and hear a loud “THUNK”as the rocket shot off into the sky! It was awesome!!! LOL We lived on a dead end street and we were the last house so really no neighbors around to disturb so we shot off hundreds of rockets each year. It surprising we didn’t get hurt but such was life back then.
Creating A Background With The Rubber Band Technique!

I wanted my front piece to be more blue than white, so after stamping and clear embossing with the inked rubber bands, I used a blending brush to ink in Misty Moonlight, then used silver embossing powder to add the silver. I was a bit heavy handed but no time to start ALL OVER! It looks much better in person than in the picture though! Greetings came from two different stamp sets – Handmade Hugs and Very Best Occasions.
So yesterday I was texting with a good friend about my next patriotic card and she reminded me about the rubber band technique I had used for a graduation card in May. In fact, she and her sister spent this past weekend creating invitations for a family reunion in mid July and what better color theme than red, white, and blue???? With rubberbands on blocks and ink pads ready they created LOTS of these mats for the family invites which turned out great!!!


More Directions On The Rubber Band Technique Needed???

If you click on the link below you can see the directions I used for the card I made for my former student’s graduation. It just so happens that her school colors were red and blue, so even though it’s NOT patriotic, it gives you another card design possibility!!!
https://lolarist.com/creating-graduation-cards-with-rubber-bands/
Final Thoughts….
I’ve been crossing items off my craft list this week with 24 kits assembled, hand signed, and delivered, as well as hundreds of cards laying on my dining room table ready to assemble for our youth group’s fund raiser. Tonight is our team meeting, tomorrow a baby shower, and Saturday morning baby Cal and his momma are coming over to see what we can create for our son’s first official Father’s Day gift. I’ll be back tomorrow to share one more patriotic card, but until then, keep stamping, keep crafting, and God Bless!

I LOVE your patriotic cards, and I LOVE the rubber band technique!! Your creations are AWESOME!!
Thank you Johnna!!! I’ve loved creating them and you know from teaching, once you get on a theme roll it’s hard to stop!!! Maybe you need to create some tiny cards to attach to the candies for the parades coming up!!!!!
This is a part of my blog I am the pits with – responding to comments!!!! So sorry – I write my blog with my laptop but I check email on my phone which is how the messages come through. I WILL GET BETTER friend!!! Promise and I’m glad you enjoyed the Patriotic themed cards!!!!