How to Make American Flag Bead Art

Have fun making a painting with beads! This American flag bead art is such a cute and easy craft.

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Yield: 4th of July bead craft

Author: Debbie Chapman

Cost: $5

Cut a piece of cardboard that will fit in your frame. (Ours is 6 x 9 inches.)
Then use a pencil to draw an American flag shape. Draw a rectangle in the top left corner for the stars, and then divide the rest of the cardboard into 7 horizontal stripes.
You can add more, or fewer, stripes, but try to do an uneven number so your flag can have red on the top and bottom.
Paint the cardboard base in the colors of the flag.
Add blue paint in the rectangle, and alternate between red and white stripes, starting with red at the top.
Allow to dry.
Add lines of glue to the inside of your frame.
Set the cardboard flag template into the frame.
Push it down, making sure it's nice and flat and secure in the bottom.

Add a generous amount to glue to the first red stripe. Use a paintbrush to spread the glue evenly, if you'd like.
You can start either at the top or the bottom.
Place red beads into a single layer on the glue covered red stripe.
Play around with different sizes and shapes of beads, covering as much of the stripe as you can. We found it easiest to add larger beads randomly across the stripe and then fill in the rest with smaller beads.
Add glue to the next stripe (a white one), and add white beads to cover the stripe.
Repeat until all the stripes are covered in beads.
Press down on the beads, pushing them into the glue as much as possible to help them adhere.

Add glue to the blue section of the flag, and add blue beads in mostly the same way as you did for the stripes.
With this section, try to imagine where you're going to add your star beads so there are flat areas for them to sit on.
Look over the flag as a whole and see if there are any gaps or spaces visible.
Add smaller seed beads to fill any gaps you find. If the glue is already drying you can use a toothpick to add more, either in the space or onto the bead itself.
Add glue to the back of a star bead.
If you don't have star shaped beads you can also use rhinestones, star shaped paper fasteners, or star shaped thumb tacks.
Set your star beads into place on top of the blue beads. Arrange the stars in whichever pattern you'd like.
Let your bead art sit overnight to dry.
Your American flag bead art is complete!

Looking for more 4th of July crafts? Here's a few of our favorites: