A different sort of flag

I've been seeing these "stacks" everywhere...

(Image via my friend Lacey at Strawberry Pearl Studios)

...or how about this one, from this past week's Inspiration Station?

(Image via Punkin Seed Creations)

Well, I needed something for a table in my front room.  

It needed to be free-standing.

And it needed to be bigger than this Scentsy warmer. 

But not so big that it took over the whole table.

Then I saw this picture:

(via How Does She?)

And I had my answer.

I constructed this out of scrap pieces of wood leftover from 2x4 studs.

It's 9 inches tall, and 9 inches wide.

I started by drawing up the measurements, then cutting, sanding, and staining all sides of each piece.

Then I decided it was too dark and not really what I had in mind. 

So I painted over it with two sloppy coats of Antique White paint, not wanting them to look too perfect.

After that, I traced the "front" of each piece on some scrapbook paper, then Mod Podged all of the papers to their coordinating blocks.  While those dried, I cut out a 2 3/4 inch star on my Cricut and glued that to the blue block. 

Once they were dry, I took my sander to them, then some distressing ink...

(If you look closely, you can read the print on the "newsprint" scrapbook paper I used... It was a page I got on clearance, titled "Style Times" so all the text is about fashion-related topics.  Kind of funny!)

I love how the dark stain shows through the white paint after I sanded it down.  I tried to keep a rustic look as I went, and I just love how it turned out!

Then I just stacked them back together, and my flag was done! 

 I hope I've inspired you to think about what you have laying around that you could throw together into something unique to your home.  What have you made out of wood scraps?

Have a great holiday weekend, and happy Independence Day!