Seasons, Home & Holidays

"The seasons are what a symphony ought to be: four perfect movements in harmony with each other."  - Arthur Rubenstein

The summer season is upon us once again.  We had a little tease a few months back which caused so much of nature to be fooled into plants blooming much earlier then usual.  The weather sure can be fickle!

Now we are approaching the first "holiday" of the summer season.  We celebrate Memorial Day on the last week-end of May, instead of it's true date of May 30th, and it will be here in a few days.  Where or where do these days go?  Didn't we just celebrate Easter?

With the beautiful weather this past week-end I decided to do a little annual summer planting.  The plan this season is to keep it easy to take care of.  I do enjoy visiting Garden Centers and Nurseries to see all the wonderful plants and look for the unusual or interesting.  I may ask the family to help me dig up a small area near the garage to plant a hydrangea.  I have come to love the new varieties there are.  Some favorites I planted are a new very vibrant petunia, Superbells (love the colors these come in), Sweet Potato Vine and African Daisies (love the shades of these too).

        "Be like a flower and turn your face to the sun."  -  Kahlil Gibran

With all three summer holidays being very "American"  I put together a quick banner to hang from the porch railing.  Took several flags off sticks and glued them to a cotton cord and then added gold foil stars for a homemade "All-American" easy decoration. 

Had to come up with another idea for a banner to hang above the fireplace.  Again I pulled out my trusty Sizzix Big Shot and dies, some paper punches and a bunch of scraps to create a banner for my 

"Home Sweet Home"!

Materials:
Variety of paper scraps
Sizzix Big Shot
Sizzix Dies: Original Pocket, Rectangles, Round A Bout Alphabet, Over the edge "On the Fence", Mini Paper Rosettes, Tiny Tabs & Tags
McGill Paper Punch, Mini Flowers
EK Success Leaf Punch
EK Heart Punch
Mini Rick-Rack
Beacon Adhesive Zip Dry Glue
Ranger Stickles
Ranger Distress Paint-Picket Fence

Here is a link to the post from last summer with another banner idea:
http://madelinesthoughts.blogspot.com/2011/06/junes-designer-craft-connection-red.html
This will be going back up for the summer to replace the "butterfly & flower" garland in another spot.

Showing My Heart(s)

With all the Christmas holiday stuff finally packed away, the house was looking a little drab.  With everything looking gray and brown outside for so long this winter I needed to think about some decorations.  (Though low and behold on Friday we received our first real shot of snow.)

The Big Shot was cranking out a variety of die-cuts for a few days last week.  In the last couple of days I finally got the chance to put together some decorations for the house.  The mantle here is the perfect place for hanging banners.  (In past posts you can see a few of the others I have made for various times of the year.)

This first one here, I used several Sizzix dies and once again went to the scrap bins first to see what could be reused.  There was pieces of "warm & white" batting for the background, fabric scraps for more hearts and the side bows, paper scraps galore for the flowers and leaves and glitter glue.  The red glittered fun foam sheet, glittered stickers strips, adhesive bubble letters and adhesive heart gems were all purchased on sale at a nearby craft store.  

The picture shows the placement of all the pieces used.  If you do not own or have access to a Big Shot or the dies, try making your own patterns.  I have seen kits available for banners and they go together pretty fast and easily, but I would rather take the time to design and cut my own.  

For the second "conversation hearts" banner, I did use purchased felt hearts. Once again I did get them with a store coupon to save a little money.  Simply punch holes into the sides of the hearts and thread torn strips of fabric through.  Tie bows to connect the hearts.  Letters were cut with a Sizzilets Alphabet strip and glued onto the hearts.  For this idea you could easily cut your own heart shapes and use store bought alpha stickers for the words.  Used some "on hand" wired white ribbon for bows at the ends of the banner.  Super simple!  I could go back at some other time and add some lace or rick-rack around the edges or some glitter glue embellishments if desired.

I made these heart ornaments last year and wanted to share them.  They could be given as a gift with notes or photos attached to the pages.  They have ribbon closure to hold it closed, but once opened the ties also hold it open to hang as an ornament.  Change it up by using different papers.  Fill the pages with love quotes or write a love letter to your sweetheart.

Make some hearts and share some love!