The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Festive Fourth of July decor, goodies to brighten the holiday
This Fourth of July, brighten your table with an idea inspired by two highlights of summer: flowers and fireworks. Bundle utensils in blueand-white linen with red pom-pom napkin rings. The palette is patriotic, and the style factor is skyhigh.
To make the napkin rings wrap raffia around a pom-pom maker or credit card. Cinch the raffia at the center on one side with floral wire; slide it off and cut the loop in half. Fluff the ends. Fashion the wire into a circle, and twist it closed.
Quick craft: shooting stars
Create this celestial centerpiece by just pressing two beeswax sheets together, trimming out star shapes with cookie cutters and inserting skewers. To use them as candles on a birthday cake, first place wick string between the beeswax layers.
The find: proper toppers
The dishes in your backyard spread deserve prettier bug protection than aluminum foil. These mesh and woven tents by Amanda Lindroth (in four styles; from $30 each, amandalindroth. com) are an elegant fix: They keep bees and flies out while elevating any barbecue.
Recipe remix: eureka!
That’s exactly what you’ll be saying after you take a bite of this Mediterranean-style seven-layer dip. Serve it with pita chips for a party starter that’s (nearly) as delightful as a swim in the Aegean.
Greek layer dip
In a food processor, pulse 1 garlic clove. Add two drained 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt and 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice; purée. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Spread onto a platter. Top with 1 cup each chopped cherry tomatoes and cucumbers; season with salt. Add 1/2 cup each chopped, pitted Kalamata olives and crumbled feta, and 1 tablespoon each chopped fresh parsley and dill. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil; sprinkle with more pepper.
Expert advice: screen saver
Planters typically have a hole in the bottom to drain excess water and keep roots healthy and rot-free. To prevent soil from seeping out onto your patio, place a swatch of screening mesh on top of the opening before you fill the pot.
DIY style: get stranded
Colorful beaded bracelets have signaled summer for as long as the coolest counselors at camp have been stacking them up their wrists. These chic, grown-up versions are just as fun, but with one extra benefit — you don’t have to sleep, shower or swim in them, thanks to a crimp bead that makes sliding them on and off a cinch.
How-to: seed-bead bracelet
Supplies Embroidery floss Thin, flexible wire needle
Clear tape
Seed beads Crimp bead
1. Trim floss to loosely fit your wrist. Thread through needle, leaving a loose tail several inches long; tape other end to a flat surface.
2. Slide seed beads onto needle; push down along floss to create your pattern.
3. Add crimp bead. Remove needle and tape, and thread needle onto other end of floss; pull it through crimp bead. (At this point, the beads should form a loop, and the loose ends of floss should stick out from the crimp bead, as shown in photo.)
4. Trim floss and knot ends. To adjust bracelet, pull crimp bead up and down. The details: DMC embroidery floss, 52 cents for 8.7 yards, michaels. com. Stainless steel twisted needle, No. 10, $6 for 100; Miyuki seed beads, No. 11, from $3.25 for 7.5 grams; and goldplated brass crimp beads, 1 millimeter, $6 for 100, firemountaingems.com. Blue-striped Ghana glass beads, $8 for 200, shopleekan.com.