DIY American Flag For Your Garden

I’m one of 12 bloggers doing a Power Tool Challenge, using just one tool.  This round we’re using a DRILL.  That’s it, only a drill.  My DIY American Flag project doesn’t even need to be sawed!

  I bought these garden stakes at Home Depot—the ones on the right.  They were $3.57 for 18” stakes.

These are the items you need.

• 18” garden stakes
• Red, White, Blue DecoArt Patio Paints
• Foam brushes
• #6 1 1/4” fine thread screws
• 5/64 bit (for pilot hole)  see this chart from Ana White
• Ryobi Cordless Drill
• Star pattern (I printed mine on my printer as though it were a 5×7)
• Tape Measure
• Painter’s Tape
• Foam Pouncer

I arranged my garden stakes to get my pattern.  Then I got busy painting my stakes.  On small projects like this I always spread the paint on my project, then use a foam brush to spread it around.  The Patio Paint dried really quickly.

I did the same with the white garden stakes.

After the paint dried, I arranged the stakes to prepare for securing my screws.  DO NOT arrange your stakes this way.  When flipped over, the flag points the wrong way (in my opinion)

Drills have settings on them that allow you to switch from using a drill bit or a screw bit. When using a drill bit, set the torque control to the “drill” setting, and the gear setting to 2.  This gives you more power.  Set the forward/reverse button to forward. Insert your drill bit and tighten the chuck.  (back in the old days, you had to tighten this with a chuck key)   Now they are known as “keyless” chucks.

Drill the holes through the vertical stake into the horizontal stake, being careful not to go all the way through.  You could use a piece of painter’s tape on the drill bit to gauge the depth. You can see that I have already drilled the pilot holes in the stakes that will secure all the boards together and become the stakes that hold my flag in the ground.  If you don’t drill pilot holes, your screws may split the wood.  There have been many times when I’ve tried to skip this step (due to being very impatient) and ended up regretting it. I’m fortunate enough to have several drills, so I often use one with the drill bit, and the other with the screw bit.  It really speeds up your work when don’t have to constantly switch back and forth.

Okay, in this picture you can see that I had already put my flag together, only to FLIP it over and see that my tips were pointing in the wrong direction.  I had to take it apart and reconfigure the stakes, and secure the screws again. If the screws are tightened too much, the tips may protrude through the front of your flag.

As I mentioned above, I printed my star using the 5×7 option on my printer.  I measured off the area I needed for the star. I cut the star out with a pair of scissors.

I made my area approximately 6×6.

It’s best to remove your painter’s tape before the paint completely dries.

I do a lot of stenciling, and by far my favorite method is using Martha Stewart foam pouncers.  I spread a small amount of paint on a piece of painter’s tape, then dabbed the pouncer and pounced away!

I chose to use one large star on this flag.  I’ve used other formations on previous projects (see below)

Here is the new flag in my flower garden.  Currently you can only see red Gerbera Daisies, and white Petunias.  The tiny little sprouts are hardy hibiscus plant.  Since I took this picture, the sprouts aren’t so tiny! This is new and crisp looking, but if you sanded it back a little, it would look a bit more rustic.

Easy Peasy flag from reclaimed fencing

Above are the other flags I’ve made out of reclaimed fencing and garden stakes. Click this link to see more Patriotic Décor Ideas.

Are you ready to see more great One Power Tool Challenge project ideas?  Check out my friends’ fun projects below:

I hope you find some great projects to inspire you.

gail