DIY wood tags for Fourth of July made from a 1x4. Tiered tray rustic farmhouse wooden tags for the 4th of July. Red white and blue patriotic farmhouse rustic DIY decorations for coffee bar.

Easy 4th of July wood tags for rustic decor

I love those little wood tags. They are oh so cute and fit perfectly on a farmhouse style tiered tray. You can literally create these wooden tags for any occasion or season AND they are SO cheap to make! Especially if you have scrap pieces of 1x4’s around.

For my 4th of July themed coffee bar I told myself to get an early start because I would totally put it off and not make all the things in time to both share with you all AND get my display up in time to enjoy it for the holiday. So I got my butt in gear, cut myself some wooden tags, put on some makeup & real clothes and went live on my Facebook page while I made these little wooden patriotic tags.

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Click here to see how to make your own wood tag cutouts

Here’s what you need to make Fourth of July wood tags

wood tag cutouts (click here to see how to make them yourself)
red, white, and blue acrylic paint
wood star or star template
jute or twine
paint brushes
sandpaper
heat gun (if you want to speed up the drying process)
chip brush for antique wax
antiquing wax
scissors
lint free cloth
paint tray
canvas drop cloth to protect your surface

1.PAINT THE WOOD TAGS

Since these are patriotic themed wood tags I went with the colors red, white, and blue.

I painted two of the tags all white, when the first coat was dry I painted a second coat on them. Sorry for the grainy pic I took snips for my fb live I did to create these.

Then I painted the third wood tag blue. I used an English blue and not a true blue so it would tie in better with my rustic farmhouse looking home décor.

Click here to get access to all of my FREE cut files, prinables, and more.

2. PAINT RED STRIPES

Unlike my chunky 2x4 wood flag where I used tape and got a cleaner look I just eyeballed the stripes on these wood tags and was happy enough lol! But if you want a little cleaner lined look to your stripes you can use masking or painters tape to make the lines a little straighter, even, and more crisp.

I painted 3 stripes on each wood tag. One down the center then one stripe on either side of the center stripe.

3. ADD A STAR

You can free hand this, use an adhesive stencil, a cardstock stencil, or trace a wood cutout of a star like I did. I had a leftover star from a Christmas ornament that I didn’t use so naturally I put it with the rest of my hoarded craft supplies. I centered it on my wood tag then traced around it with a pencil.

I took a small paint brush and painted a thin coat of white acrylic paint. After that was dry I painted a second coat over it.

To help speed up drying time I used my heat gun. This tool was so inexpensive and comes in handy all the time!

4. DISTRESS THE WOOD TAGS

If I was not in my house I would have used my sander for this step. But since I was inside I used 150 grit sandpaper. I focused on the edges and corners and lightly went over the fronts of each wood tag.

5. ANTIQUING WAX

If you’ve read some of my other posts you might know that I LOVE antiquing wax for my distressed pieces. This stuff is so good and gives pieces such a primitive look.

If you want a more in-depth tutorial on how to use ANTIQUING WAX I created an entire post on how I use it on my craft projects.

6. ADD TWINE TO YOUR WOOD TAG

The last step is to add a piece of twine to your wood tags. I went with a thicker jute for my tags since the hole I drilled in the 1x4 tags was on the larger side.

That’s it! These wooden tags are so easy to create for your rustic 4th of July decorations. If you have any questions leave them in the comments below.