Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

Stars and Stripes Flag Cake

This Easy Stars and Stripes American Flag Cake is really easy to make and you don’t have to be a master cake decorator or expert baker to pull this off! I’ll link sources at the bottom of the post!

I’m sharing the step-by-step instructions and photos so you can make this one for your Fourth of July celebration. Everyone loved my Stars and Stripes Flag Cake last year and I think I’ll make it a tradition from here on out.

Making the Cakes

This Easy American Flag Cake Recipe really is easy! You’ll need two cake box mixes. I used vanilla cake last year and this year I’m using lemon. One thing I always do to make my box mix cakes more moist is add a package of jello instant pudding to the cake batter. I used vanilla pudding for the vanilla cake and lemon pudding for the lemon cake mix. I follow the cake mix recipe and then I add about a 1/4 cup more water and two extra tablespoons of oil. Bake as directed in a half-sheet cake pan. Spray cooking spray generously on the sheet pan and then line it with parchment paper. This helps to remove the cake from the pan when you’re ready to assemble it.

Pour equal amounts of the cake batter into two, half-sheet baking pans sprayed with cooking spray and lined with parchment paper. It’s okay if the cakes don’t look perfect since you’ll be covering them up with filling and frosting.

After you’re done baking the cakes, let them cool, then set them in a freezer or refrigerator for about twenty minutes or so.

Cream Cheese Filling

While the cakes are cooling, start making the filling and the frosting. To make the filling, mix two packages of softened cream cheese with one large container of Cool Whip. Then add in a package of cheesecake jello pudding and two teaspoons of almond extract. I mix mine up in a Kitchen Aid stand mixer but you can also use a hand mixer or mix it by hand.

Next, make the vanilla buttercream frosting. You can use store-bought frosting but you’ll need three or four containers. I like to make my own because it’s so easy and it tastes so much better in my opinion.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Print

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Light and Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword buttercream frosting, cake, chocolate frosting, flag cake, fourth of july cake, vanilla frosting

Equipment

• Stand or Hand Mixer

Ingredients

• 1 pound butter(2 cups) (preferably unsalted)
• 6 ½ cups powdered confectioner sugar
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla
• ¼ tsp salt (eliminate the salt if using salted butter)
• 6 tbsp heavy cream, room temperature

Instructions

• Make sure the butter and heavy cream are at room temperature. The butter should be soft enough to bend without breaking but not so soft that it's melting. Do not warm it in the microwave.
  1 pound butter(2 cups)
• Whip the butter with an electric or stand mixer until it's creamy and noticeably lighter in color. It should lighten up and become a pale yellow.
• Start adding the powdered confectioner's sugar into the whipped butter, make sure it is sifted and free of lumps, and start the mixer out on low so that the powdered sugar doesn't go everywhere! Gradually increase the speed of the mixer. Add about half of the rest of the powdered sugar then mix it for 3-5 minutes. Then add the remaining powdered sugar and mix it for another 3-5 minutes until it becomes light and fluffy.
  6 ½ cups powdered confectioner sugar
• Mix the sugar in very well before adding the heavy cream. The frosting will be quite thick but the cream will loosen it up a bit and the frosting will become silky and lighter in color.
• Add in the vanilla, salt, and half of the heavy cream. Beat the frosting for three minutes then give it a stir and test the consistency. Add more cream, if needed, and beat for another 3-5 minutes. If the frosting is too loose and not thick enough, add in more powdered sugar until it's the right consistency.
  1 Tbsp Vanilla, ¼ tsp salt, 6 tbsp heavy cream, room temperature
• The frosting should be soft and spreadable but not so loose that it doesn't hold its shape.

Set the buttercream frosting aside while you assemble the cakes.

[holly_healthful_tips]

Tips and Tricks for Making the Best Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Ever!

• Make sure the butter isn’t too soft. If it’s oily, it’s too soft and will cause the buttercream to curdle. Put it in the refrigerator for a few minutes to cool it off a bit if it’s too soft.
• If you can find it, try using confectioners’ sugar that has cornstarch in it.
• Don’t be afraid to let the frosting whip for a while! The more air you add, the lighter the frosting will be, which in turn makes it taste less sweet. It also helps it to become white, so turn your mixer up and let it whip on medium-high for 5 minutes.

Use a tall cup and place the parchment bag inside the cup. This makes it easier when filling the piping bag with frosting. I use disposable piping bags but you can use a gallon zip lock bag or a pastry bag as well. [/holly_healthful_tips]

Assembling the Cake

I like serving my cake in a large rectangular baker. The one I have is Polish pottery and it has little blue stars on it. I’ve linked some of my favorite Seeing Stars Polish Pottery below so you can replicate the look. I can’t find any links to the white and blue stars (like I have here) but I’ve linked some similar ones below. I’ve had mine for over 20 years and they last forever!

When the cakes are cooled, lift the first cake out of the pan and set it inside a large baking dish or pan that is 9″x13″ or larger and place it in the bottom of the baking dish. Peel off the parchment paper.

 Spread a generous layer of the cream cheese filling.

Layer another one of the cakes and another layer of cream cheese filling.

Add one last layer of cake if your pan is large enough to hold three layers. If not, just use two of the cakes. Use the remaining cream cheese filling to cover the top of the cake.

Decorating the Top of the Cake With Stars and Stripes

Fill a piping bag or gallon zip lock bag with the buttercream frosting then cut off a small amount of the bottom of the piping bag. If you want to use a large piping tip you can but I didn’t.

Squeeze a little out into the bowl to make sure you made the hole big enough. You are going to want it to be big enough. Test it out until you’re comfortable with piping your rows. This is not a fancy cake so its okay if it’s not perfect! Just have fun and don’t stress when making it!

Add two rows of raspberries to start the stripes. Try to use large ones that are about the same size if you can. Then add two rows of buttercream frosting with your piping bag.

Continue with another two rows of raspberries to finish off the shorter section of the stripes. Then add two full rows of piped buttercream and so forth.

Next, add the blueberries in the stars section.

Get another piping bag or small ziplock bag, put a star tip or any tip you have, and add some white buttercream stars on top of the blueberries.

That’s it! Refrigerate until you’re ready to serve it! This red white and blue Easy American Flag Cake Recipe might even become a tradition for your family, too!

Some other ideas to use up the rest of the cake and frosting:

Use a 3″ circular cookie cutter and cut out the extra cake into circular shapes. Use three layers of cake and use the rest of the buttercream frosting and cream cheese filling if you have some leftovers to make mini naked cakes!

Another thing my mom used to do was make sugar cookie dough and make a cookie fruit flag. Roll out the sugar cookie dough into a thick rectangle and bake as directed. When cool, add a layer of the cream cheese filling and then pipe the buttercream frosting. Then, assemble the fruit to make the flag (same concept as the cake above)

Wishing you all a very happy Fourth of July and I hope you give this a try!

I’d love it if you subscribed to my blog and feel free to follow me on Instagram @homewithhollyj and on Pinterest – Home With Holly J. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Check out this blog post Fourth of July Tablescape Ideas to see how I created two different tablescapes with this cake and other yummy desserts!

And this fun post  Patriotic Home Decor Ideas!

Similar Faux Stems:

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/26-peony-spray-white?_pos=4&_sid=d41b9a229&_ss=r

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/28-lambs-ear-leaf-spray-green?_pos=3&_sid=519af7410&_ss=r

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/blueberry-pick?_pos=1&_sid=d012e0487&_ss=r

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/blueberry-spray?_pos=2&_sid=d012e0487&_ss=r

https://evolutionhomedecor.com/products/copy-of-blueberry-pick?_pos=3&_sid=d012e0487&_ss=r

Enjoy!

XOXO,

Pin this Post for Later:

Sources and Similar items are linked below.

The post Stars and Stripes Flag Cake appeared first on Home With Holly J.

Patriotic Dish Pantry Organization

I have so many red, white, and blue dishes so I thought it would be fun to organize them by color. This patriotic dish pantry organization project was definitely more work than I had expected and I was wondering what the heck I was thinking after I started! At first, I did it with all the colors mixed together and I didn’t like it very much. I have a lot more blue and white dishes than red dishes and there was not enough red to balance it out. I then moved all the red to the middle and did white and blue above and below with more white on the top shelf.

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

Dish Collecting

I have been collecting dishes since my early twenties and I’ve accumulated some really beautiful pieces over the years. One of my favorites are polish pottery dishes. I have a lot of the blue stars pattern which is so fun to use for the patriotic holidays. I collected many of these when my husband was serving in the military twenty years ago.

I like collecting a variety of dinnerware as well as serving pieces. I’m a sucker for a pretty serving bowl or cake stand!

The red and white dishes also work for the Christmas season. I love dishes that do double or triple duty in that they can be used for multiple seasons and occasions.

Another thing I love to collect is white milk glass. There are so many beautiful patterns that were made years ago that add so much character to my collection.

 Organizing Your Dishes and Serving Pieces

Organizing the dishes is not as hard as it may seem. I try to keep like colors together and then stack plates biggest to smallest. I also like to stack similar shaped items.

Set smaller items like teapots on top of the stacked plates or serving pieces. This saves room and allows you to have the smaller, lighter things on top that are easier to access.

Alternate the heights of the different pieces. You can see here on the top shelf that I put the taller items in the corners, smaller items next to them, and then a taller focal point in the middle using the pitcher.

Add Some Character to Your Shelves

I added some red, white, and blue flowers to one of my tall white pitchers and set it on top to add some character and color. Since I had all white up top, I added a few of my favorite white and blue vases. This adds a little pop of color to the upper shelf and a pretty focal point.

Add some signs or other accessories to fill in gaps. It’s fun to dress the shelves up!

I hung this flag sign on the door that leads into the pantry.

You don’t have to have a ton of dishes in every color to create something like this. Start small and if you enjoy collecting dishes and have the storage space, pick one color and search for those pieces. I tend to be inspired by what season it is and that helps me refine what I’d like to add to my dish collection.

You can never go wrong with collecting white dishes. They go with everything and you’ll get a lot of use out of them.! I use ALL my dishes. Nothing is off limits and I figure they were meant to be used and enjoyed.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this fun little project of organizing my red white and blue dish collection. This was a lot of work to move so many dishes around but now that it’s done, I’m so happy I took the time to do it!

To see more of my dish collection check out this post: My Pantry Organization Project

Enjoy!

Here are some of the sources or similar items I have collected to create this patriotic pantry.

Pin This Post For Later

The post Patriotic Dish Pantry Organization appeared first on Home With Holly J.

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

Fourth of July Party Tablescape Ideas

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday besides Christmas. I absolutely love decorating with red, white, and blue and celebrating with friends and family. I’m sharing my Fourth of July Party Tablescape Ideas and all the details of how I set it all up.

I actually set up and photographed two different versions of this table because I was asked to be on a local TV station to share my scones and honey butter recipe and a patriotic tablescape. We taped the show three weeks before so I had to create it twice! I’m sharing all the photos of both set ups so you can see a few different variations here.

I am very patriotic and my country means a great deal to me. I have always had this love of country and I think it’s only grown stronger as the years have gone by and after being a military family. I’m proud to be an American and will always honor my flag and country. I am grateful for those that have sacrificed their lives for my freedom. I take that to heart. I am also grateful for those men, women, and families that are serving our country now.

Some of my Favorite Items I used for this tablescape.

I’ll link the sources at the bottom of the post.

Hosting a Fourth of July or Patriotic Gathering

When hosting a Fourth of July party I like to set up a tablescape that has some fun decorations as well as all the yummy food I’m going to serve. Since this was a backyard party, I set up the tablescape with all the food and drink indoors because we don’ have any shaded areas in our backyard.

The Menu

Barbecuing is a tradition in our house on the Fourth of July and my husband and sons all like to use the grill and smoker. I plan the side dishes around the meats we are barbecuing. I’ll try to share some of these recipes soon! I’ve linked the ones I have shared already.

Baby Back and St. Louis Style Ribs

My Favorite Baked Bean Recipe

Watermelon (cut into star shapes)

Potato Chips

Stars and Stripes Cake

Chocolate Cake with Butter Cream Frosting

Mason Jar Strawberry Trifles

Starwberry Cream Cheese Pie

Scones and Honey Butter

Bottled Shirley Temple Sodas

Lemon Water

The Table Decorations

When setting a food and dessert table I always have a focal point using a centerpiece with some type of decoration. In this table the focal point was the centerpiece I made using a galvinized tin can filled with faux peonies, blueberries, and sage greenery. To add a touch of red, white, and blue, I added a few flags into the centerpiece and set it on top of an old vintage crate at the far end of the table.

I like using different things like crates and cake stands to add different heights when displaying decorations and the food.

I used a rustic wood flag sign in the center of the table to set other items on. This was a great way to add some color to the middle section of the table and incorporate another flag into the decor.

The wood flag sign has wood supports on the underside which worked even better because the sign set up off the table an inch or so. If you have a flag sign you want to use for this on your table, just put some wood or something underneath it to lift it up a bit. This will make it look a little nicer. In these photos you can see the supports under the flag.

I set the drinks in an rustic red tray with star cut outs and the straws in a Rae Dunn mug that said military  mom. I’m the proud mom of a US Marine, an airman in the US Airforce and I was an army wife for six years.

I also found some cute little signs on etsy and in some local shops that you can see here.

Serving Pieces

Get creative with your serving pieces and ways to display your food. Some of my favorite items are my polish pottery serving dishes that I collected years ago when my husband was serving in the US Army. Many of the army wives collected polish pottery and I certainly did my share of collecting. If you want to find this pattern google Polish Pottery Stars Pattern and you’ll find some things online. One of my favorite pieces is this big rectangular baking dish that I made my Stars and Stripes cake in.

I used all my red, white, and blue dishes and checkered napkins and set them in different parts of the table. They are useful parts of the decor!

Stars and Stripes Cake

This cake was really easy to make believe it or not. I’ll be sharing the recipe soon so check back for it or check the desserts section under the recipe tab. I’ll link it here when I’ve added it to this post.

I just sort of made this up and crossed my finger it would turn out. I used a white cake and baked the cakes in sheet cake pans so they were thin. I took one layer and set it inside the polish pottery star baking dish then added a layer of cream cheese filling then another layer of  cake. I then did a light layer of butter cream frosting on top and then piped the Stars and Stripes intermixed with the fruit to create the flag. This is a rustic cake and not meant to look perfect. It tasted yummy too!

I hope you enjoyed seeing the details of my patriotic Fourth of July Tablescape. I always look forward to this holiday. Happy Fourth of July and God Bless America!

Happy Independence Day!

Sources are linked below!

XOXO,

Pin For Later

Shop the Look

Polish Pottery Sources –

The post Fourth of July Party Tablescape Ideas appeared first on Home With Holly J.

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

Patriotic Home Decor Ideas

With Memorial Day just behind us and the Fourth of July coming soon I wanted to share some of my favorite Patriotic Home Decor Ideas. I prefer to keep my decorations simple and this year I tried to use all the things I had from the past few years. Once you invest in a few items, it’s easy to use the same things year after year. It just takes a little creativity and thinking outside the box.

The links and sources will all be at the bottom of the post so scroll down!

The Kitchen Decor

With my kitchen being so white and bright, it makes the red and blue patriotic decorations really stand out. If your kitchen is darker in colors, mix some rustic wood decorations along with red, white, and blue colors. I do this at my other home in Washington as my kitchen is much darker that the Utah house.

I found this cute AMERICA banner and the red, white, and blue star felt ball garland on one of my favorite etsy shops, Pearl and Jane. Using scotch tape, I just taped it up on the range hood.

I created a really simple flower arrangement in a french flower market can. Faux flowers, greenery, and blueberry stems are what I used. These came out of my Christmas decor bin! Lastly, I added two American flags that I found at the grocery store. This took me ten minutes max to create!

Next, I hung a square flag sign on the pantry door from my favorite sign company Teal Barns Signs. I used a command strip hook which worked great! (similar option linked at the bottom)

I swapped out the linen chair cushions for these blue cushions and tied them on. I’m loving the lighter shade of blue and I think its so nice to have some contrasting shades of blue mixed in with the darker navy blue.

The cushions were really inexpensive and from Homegoods.

Because I have a lot of open shelving and A LOT of dishes in every color, (see some my collection here) I pulled out the red and blue dishes and stacked them on the shelves. We use all the dishes in my collection for the most part.

I have a handful of blue polish pottery pieces that I collected twenty years ago when my husband was in the military. The star pattern with the cobalt blue is one of my favorites and fits perfectly with my patriotic theme.

I adore this star polish pottery tea pot!

Here’s a view of the blue dishes and another piece from my polish pottery collection.

On the upper shelves, I displayed some of my white and lighter blue cake stands and milk glass compotes.

The Dining Room

I added some flag pillows into the end chairs and hung up a sign that is also from Teal Barn Signs. I love this sign so much!

Similar options:  Sweet Lang of Liberty Canvas // Land of Liberty Sign

For my centerpiece on my dining table I laid a large wooden sign that I bought from a dear friend of mine’s etsy shop, CharaWorks. Here you can see how I used the flag as a base and then decorated on top of it for our Fourth of July bbq.

I’ll be sharing more details of this tablescape and set up soon so make sure you subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss it. I’ll also be sharing the recipe and instructions for this cake I made!

Is this not the cutest cake?!!  It’s made in a polish pottery baking dish with the same stars pattern. I love this so much!

I”ll share more of this in the coming weeks!

The Family Room

Well, I forgot to take any photos of the family room area but if you look in the distance of this photo you can see I added some flag pillows to the couch and some white and blue throws. I also had another sign from Teal Barn Signs. I don’t know why in the heck I didn’t snap photos of this?!!

Here’s my Patriotic Tablescape from last year. I love the flags in the napkin rings.

Last but not least, I added some blue bowls and a flag to each of these wreaths and hung them on my front door. We also had our American Flag out as our flags for the US Marine Corp, and Air Force. We have two sons in the military. I guess we need an army flag too! My husband spent six years in the Army.

Ribbon in my shop: Patriotic Ribbon Bundle // Navy 2″ Ribbon //

I hope this post gives you some fun ideas for decorating your home for the Patriotic holidays. I like to start my decorating around Memorial Day so I can enjoy it all the way through July.

Pin This Post for Later

SHOP THE POST HERE

Sharing similar linked items if others are unavailable 

The post Easy & Festive Patriotic Home Decor Ideas for Your Whole Home appeared first on Home With Holly J.

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

Hosting at Home for the Holidays #8 – Patriotic Tablescapes

It’s been a while since my friends Lory, To Have + To Host, and Holliday, Home With Holliday, and I have done a blog hop with our entertaining ideas and tablescapes. We met for the first time in Lory’s hometown of Phoneix, Arizona, last month and we had a wonderful time meeting in person and talking about our love of entertaining and hosting at home.

Together we created this stunning Anthropologie Inspired Outdoor Tablescape in Lory’s beautiful backyard. Lory then hosted us for a delicious dinner in her home with her lovely family.

We are so excited to share with you our eighth post in our blog hop series Holiday Hosting at Home!  Today we are sharing some inspirations for any patriotic parties you may be planning…specifically, July 4th, which is right around the corner.

To Have + To Host

Lory created this red, white, and blue chic tablescape and I love how subtle and versatile this is. It’s done in traditional patriotic colors but it’s less bold and muted colors makes it perfect for any patriotic celebration or a fun summer dinner party. Lory says in her post “Just because you want to celebrate the most patriotic day of the year doesn’t mean you have to decorate with stars and flags everywhere . . . and that’s what I’ve done with this 4th of July tablescape. More versatile than just a one-day event, this table uses red, white, and blue, but in a chic and subtle way, that can be used all summer long.” I love this idea and how simple yet subtle it is. Click here to see details from Lory’s Post.

Home With Holliday

Holliday created this adorable outdoor tablescape for Memorial Day. I love the denim tablecloth with it’s lighter shade of blue that doesn’t overpower the more traditional patriotic colors. The mix of the red and blue rimmed stemware and the white and blue plates is perfect! The red napkin is my favorite addition with that bright pop of color. The red geranium is a nice way to add a centerpiece and I’m guessing Holliday will be able to use this in her yard once she’s put the table decor away. The addition of the flags makes this perfect for Memorial Day, Flag Day, and Independence Day. I love a versatile tablescape that can be used over and over! Click here for all the details from the darling outdoor tablescape!

Home With HollyJ

I created this tablescape last year and we used it for all 3 patriotic holidays. I went back and updated the post because it was one of the first posts I published when I launched my blog and I made a few changes now that I’ve learned a thing or two.

I also share a little bit of my heart in this post towards the end as I have two sons who have joined the military since the writing of this original post. I also shared how I created this fun table and how simple it was to so with the help of my family members who were all here visiting. The addition of the flags is my favorite part!

You can read more about it here.  

I hope you enjoy this Holliday Hosting at Home Blog hop! Be sure to go to Lory and Holliday’s blogs and Instagram feeds and follow along. They are both some of the loveliest, most gracious, and talented women out there! I’m blessed to have them as friends and I’m am so blessed by the service of those in our our Armed Forces who sacrifice so much for my freedom. I have deep gratitude for you all. God Bless America!

XOXO,

Holliday “Holly” at Home with Holliday

Instagram – Facebook – Pinterest – Twitter

Holly at Home with Holly J

Instagram – Facebook – Pinterest

Lory at To Have + To Host

Instagram – Facebook – Pinterest  

SHOP THE POST:

Pin This Post For Later:

The post Hosting at Home for the Holidays #8 – Patriotic Tablescapes appeared first on Home With Holly J.

Disclaimer: This post does include affiliate links for your convenience. This is at NO additional cost to you but earns me a small commission. To read more, check out our disclosure policy.

Red, White, and Blue Patriotic Tablescape

I love the Fourth of July! Celebrating this holiday has always been so fun and meaningful for me and my family. I also get an excuse to create a Red, White, and Blue Patriotic Tablescape and use my dishes in different ways!

I’ve traveled the world playing and coaching soccer, and whenever I have been in other countries, I almost always choke up when our national anthem is played. I have been able to observe how other people in various countries sing their national anthem at the top of their lungs with as much pride for their country as I have for mine. It’s such a beautiful thing!

I’m that person who will always sing it when it’s appropriate and my kids look at me weird and probably wish I’d just stand there with my hand on my heart. I am a stickler for putting the hand on the heart, hat off, and taking that time to show the respect to our flag and our country and the thousands of people who have sacrificed for our nation. I love my country and am grateful for the freedoms I have here in America!

In honor of our Independence Day, I created this patriotic tablescape from mostly things I had on hand. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to find little patriotic trinkets to put on the table! I found the star candles and flags in the dollar bins at Target and have seen them at the dollar store as well!

The Tablescape Details

For the center swag I used faux eucalyptus as a base. I layered individual stems on top of the table runner. Then I added in a mix of faux white flowers stems and faux blueberries. I tucked them in until it looked balanced and then nestled in the candles and wooden stars.  To finish off the middle I added in two small flags.

Patriotic Place-Setting

For the dishes, I had these pretty blue and white plates and then I found a pretty red salad plate to layer on top! I pulled out some cobalt blue tumblers and finished it off with a red cloth napkin and a white napkin ring.  My cute mom was in town and had the idea to slide the dollar store flags into the napkins, which added a nice patriotic finish!

[holly_healthful_tips]

Holly’s Helpful Tips

*Keep it simple. The colors with your plate settings will do most of the work

*Try to incorporate things that you already have in your home, like candles or other little trinkets like the stars

*Mix and match dish patterns to create the dimension and contrast.

*Incorporate your own style! If you are more feminine or traditional in your style, choose pieces that reflect it

*Use real or faux flowers to build your swag. The faux flowers can be nice, because you can reuse them over and over again[/holly_healthful_tips]

Creating Family Memories

My mom, niece, sister-in-law, and daughter helped me put it all together. One of my favorite parts of doing tablescapes is having my family work together with me and creating memories we will enjoy for years to come! My mom’s love of dishes has passed on to me, and now I’m passing it down to my own daughter. It brings us all together and photographing and sharing them preserve it for us!  I hope that someday my granddaughters will look back at my photos of these tablescapes and feel inspired to create too!

My Own Families Service in our Armed Forces

I have so much gratitude and respect for those men and women that have chosen to serve in the armed forces. My husband served in the U. S. Army for 6 years as a dentist and I was an Army wife. It was difficult at times to be in the service with a young family but I’m so grateful for that experience and for my husbands service.

My second son, Jordan, enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp just 5 days ago (June 2019) and is hopefully surviving his first week in boot camp. He went into the delayed entry leadership program and just turned twenty five. I am so proud of his willingness to serve his country and to delay his pilot career to enlist in the Marines. I can’t wait for his graduation from boot camp in September.

My third son, Cameron, has been doing the U.S. Air Force ROTC  program while attending UVU/BYU. He’s been at field training the past few weeks and I’m looking forward to seeing him when he returns. He just received a scholarship for the remainder of his college education and will enter the Air Force in two years after graduation. I am also extremely proud of him and know he will be amazing at whatever he does.

My heart if full as I write this post and I’m looking forward to celebrating our countries independence in a few weeks with an even greater respect for the men and women that serve this great nation we are so blessed to live in.

I hope this patriotic tablescape inspires you to create a beautiful and fun table-setting for your own family gatherings. Wishing you all a wonderful and safe Fourth of July. Enjoy!

Pin This Post for Later

Shop The Look Here

For some great recipes to go with this patriotic tablescape click here:

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie Recipe

Stans Scones and Honey Butter

Pink Party Punch and Refreshing Summertime Drinks

The post Red, White, and Blue Patriotic Tablescape appeared first on Home With Holly J.