Ribbon Flag Hanging

I saw this idea on the FamilyFun website and had to try it. It looked simple and you know what? It really was! Here's what I used:First cut the ribbon to the following lengths:

Red: four 14 1/2 inches and three 24 inches
White: three 14 1/2 inches and three 24 inches
Blue: seven 10 1/2 inches

Then, glue your blue and shorter red and white ribbons together with about a half inch overlap. Using an American flag as your guide, glue all the ribbons onto your 12 inch stick. I used a dowel but they suggest using a paint stick which, in hind sight, would have been better and easier. I found it helpful to weigh it down with books while drying. After it's dry, add a length of blue ribbon all across the top for a more finished look. To finish, even the ends out with pinking shears and glue your "stars" on. I decided to use 13 buttons like on the original flag. I tried to make some finials for the dowel using clay... um... there's a reason there is no photo of that ( the key word being "tried"). You can weight the ribbons by gluing pennies or buttons on the bottom backs of the ribbons, but I liked the way it looked blowing around in the breeze. Add ribbon to the top to hang, and that's about it. I love FamilyFun. They have the best projects/games/ideas for any day your kids are claiming they're bored. Although, when my daughter claims boredom, I usually just apologize for having such boring toys around and tell her I am happy to get rid of them all. She usually can find something to do after that!