Summer Crafts

Favorite Things: Summer Crafts for Kids

July 26, 2018 by VintageMama 1 Comment

It’s hard to believe, but my girls only have about three more weeks of summer vacation before school starts up again. We’ve been busy having fun and getting tons of projects completed around here, but I still can’t seem to find a craft project that really, really, really fits the specifics that I’ve been looking for. We made some of the cute little painted jar lanterns, but Miss Perfectionist took three days to get around to painting polka dots on an empty jar with a QTip . . . . because they might be the wrong color, or they might not be perfectly round, or they might be too close together, or they might be too far apart. FINALLY, I convinced her that we were really striving for the “shabby chic” look and the polka dots are not supposed to be perfectly round or exactly the distance apart.

They actually turned out pretty cute, but now I need to get a bag of sand from Hobby Lobby to put in the bottom of them. We actually bought some of that new yogurt that comes in those really adorable little glass jars, just so we would have a few for making our lanterns. Well, the yogurt is pretty good, too, so I guess we’ll have a few more cute little jars in the near future. I also found a package of those tiny battery powered tea lights at Walmart, and along with some twine I had in the sewing room for the handle, they will be perfect for decorating her room this autumn. If she ever finishes painting those polka dots!

So the first requirement for a craft project around here is that it needs to be something that this particular kiddo can do on her own. With her Cerebral Palsy, her left side is much weaker than her right side, so I’m always looking for something that will get both of her hands working together. It can be a challenge, as she would rather use just her right hand, but then that doesn’t work out very well for doing crafts. Or most other things, which is why we are always on the look out for opportunities to get that left hand involved.

Another requirement when looking for craft project ideas is to find something that she will actually use in her room or at school or really anytime at all. So we typically stay away from the paper plate, popsicle stick, or construction paper projects. We’ve already got about a hundred or more of those kinds of projects from elementary school days, so now we are on to more “grown up” kinds of DIY projects. That’s what I was looking for this week and I think I found a few that we might be able to do together, and maybe we will gradually stop worrying about everything being perfect and just have fun! Here are a few that I found that are “kid approved” for fun as well as for decorating her room. I actually can’t wait to get started tomorrow . . . as soon as we take a quick trip to Hobby Lobby!

DIY Birdhouse from Delineate your Dwelling

We already have a lot of pretty scrapbook paper that we could use to embellish a little cardboard birdhouse. This would make a really cute decoration for her room which happens to be painted in the colors on this birdhouse: coral and turquoise. This looks easy enough that I could make sure the base of the birdhouse is sturdy and then she could cut and glue all kinds of fun stuff to it.

Popsicle Garland from Play Ideas

OK so I said no more popsicle stick crafts – but this one really is different. I’m thinking she could spend a whole afternoon cutting, gluing, and embellishing these cute popsicle cutouts. Then with some string or ribbon, we would have a cheerful and bright garland to hang across the top of her bed or over her dresser. This just might be the one we do first!

Pineapple Button Necklace from Raising Whasians

Well, we already have jars and jars filled with buttons of all shapes, sizes, and colors, I’m pretty sure she could spend another afternoon sorting through them all to find just the perfect buttons for this cute pineapple necklace. A few snips of green felt and some yellow or green yarn . . . and this is so adorable she might even want to wear it to school!

Embellished Flip Flops from DailyWT

There are about another million ways to use flip flops to make cute summer DIY projects. I’ve seen them strung up on ribbon to make a colorful garland, or just decorated for the kiddos to wear outside, or even a summer wreath / door hanging. These bright colorful flip flops have been embellished with all kinds of fun stuff and would make a great wall hanging inside, as well. So many different ways to use the plain, ordinary flip flop!

DIY Twinkling Flower Light Garland from Inspired by This

I know, I’m pretty sure that making a DIY project using cupcake liners wasn’t at the top of my list, either . . . . until I came across this idea. Since we already have a string of little paper lantern lights in her room that she uses as a night light, it didn’t occur to me to make something – until those tiny lanterns burned out. Now no more pretty pink lantern night lights for her! But look how cute these are! They are just made from a string of white lights (like Christmas lights or summer outdoor lights) with fringed cupcake liners tucked in behind each little bulb. The tutorial is HERE if you want to make your own Twinkling Flower Light Garland.

DIY Decorated Birdhouses from Ye Craft Ideas

When I came across these cute birdhouses I couldn’t resist adding them to this collection of fun summer crafts for kids. These designs are a bit more “kid” friendly and could be painted, with designs drawn on with markers, or painted, or even glued on gems or other embellishments. It could even be as simple as using card stock which is really easy to work with, and then make a whole little village of baby bird houses to display on a shelf in her room.

Well, now that I’ve found a bunch of fun projects that might (just might!) keep the creativity flowing for the remaining days of summer, I guess we’ll get busy tomorrow working on something – which one should we do first? I still think we’ll begin with the popsicle garland because I already have everything we would need to make that one. I’ll be sure to let you know! I hope you are having a good summer and that you will take time to join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party. Hope to see you there!

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Six Cute Ways to Decorate Your Shoes!

July 24, 2018 by VintageMama 2 Comments

I’ve embellished shoes for a long time, and I’ve sold a bunch of them in my Etsy shop. But I was running out of ideas of my own so I decided the check out what other bloggers / DIY Divas do to decorate shoes. Of course, you will find about a million different ideas, and some of them are pretty amazing! Some of the gems and glitter and other stuff that are glued onto high, high heels are absolutely gorgeous. But I was actually looking for ideas that were a bit more practical – maybe once I get back in the swing of embellishing shoes I’ll try some of those more elaborate projects.

For now, I wanted to find creative ideas for embellishing sneakers of all types and sizes. I found some really adorable white slip on sneakers that are embellished with tiny pearls and gold embroidery. They would be perfect for a wedding where the bride wanted to be comfortable on her special day!

Pearly Embroidered Flats from The Good Stuff

I also found a tutorial for painting and gluing on silver studs or gems that are really cute, too.

Embellished Canvas Shoes from Lotts and Lots

These black slip-ons are very attractive embellished with ivory lace trim and medallions . . . .

Black Canvas Shoes Embellished with Ivory Lace and Medallions via Pinterest

For a bit more on the wild side, I found these cute sneakers that have been painted with navy blue and white stripes and then bright red and yellow flowers have been added on top of the stripes.

Painted Canvas Sneakers from Trinkets in Bloom

How about these cute “saddle shoes” that were created from plain ol’ white sneakers?

Black and White Painted “Saddle Shoes” from BuzzFeed

When it comes to cuteness, these adorable little black and white polka dot slip-ons for children feature a pink and white chevron stripe ribbon across the toes of each shoe.

DIY Chevron and Polka Dots Embellished Shoes from The Crafting Nook

I can’t decide where to start! But I’m certainly inspired to get going again on creating some fun, decorated shoes for my Etsy shop. It’s amazing what you can find when you go looking for a bit of creative inspiration. Have you ever embellished shoes? Was it fun? I would love to see what YOU have created!

On a Midsummer Day

July 17, 2018 by VintageMama 3 Comments

I have to admit . . . I’m not so great at being that really “cool” blogger-mom who is right on top of the latest trends and can whip out an amazing DIY project, take stunning photos, get them uploaded and edited, and then write a step-by-step tutorial for a weekly blog post that will go viral. I do try, I promise, but with all the other things in life that require my attention, I just can’t keep up. That’s why it is the middle of summer and I’m just now getting the pictures of my cute watermelon flower pots posted, along with a blog post that hopefully will encourage someone else not to give up . . . . I guess I just need to start my DIY projects a little earlier if I want them to be somewhat relevant!

Back in June I wrote a blog post about a bunch of watermelon DIY projects that I discovered on Pinterest and other websites, and decided to try my hand at creating a few for our yard and garden. I got started . . . . and then of course, I also got interrupted. So it took a while to get back to my projects, just like to frequently takes me several days to reply to emails. It is not uncommon for me to have an email land in my inbox on a Friday afternoon or a Saturday morning, and I don’t see it until the middle of the following week. I really do try not to work on the weekends, but I guess not everyone takes a break!

So by Tuesday (sometimes earlier) I’m getting emails with headings like, “Did you get my email? I’ve been waiting to hear from you.” or “This is the last time I will email you until I hear back from you!” or “Just checking to make sure you got my last email . . . . what do you think about my proposal?” About that time (since I actually have OTHER responsibilities that demand my attention on Tuesdays – and Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursday, Fridays, and life claims my attention on Saturday and Sunday) I’m beginning to feel slightly overwhelmed and wonder if it might be better if I just kind of drop out of the whole social media / blogging / writing / teaching / editing world. Maybe one day . . . . .

Often times, after I have been teaching online for three – four hours in a morning, I end up with a headache and my eyes are crossing. That’s when I have to step away from the computer for a while, which makes my problem of being inundated with emails even worse! A few days ago I finished painting these cute watermelon flower pots – that I actually started about three weeks ago. I had them all painted red and green, and then something happened. Can’t remember what it was. Probably supper happened. And my cute little red and green flower pots landed in a corner on the kitchen counter with the paints and brushes all tucked neatly inside. Well, maybe not very “neatly” but at least they were all together in one place. That made me feel better, thinking that when (if?) I ever had the opportunity to get back to that project I would be able to find everything I needed.

After moving those cute little things around for several days, I finally had time (or actually I TOOK time while some people were STILL waiting for me to reply to their emails) and decided to sit down one evening and finish painting the details for my watermelon flower pots. The red and green parts are pretty quick and easy. I suppose the white part would be quick and easy too, if I wasn’t such a perfectionist. But since I had already invested so much time (working and waiting) in this project, I wanted to slow down a bit and take my time finishing up. The tricky part for me was getting the shading right so that the white is right around the rim of the flower pot, right between the green and red, and then gradually shading the white out to the red on the bottom and the green on the top. Kind of like a “real” watermelon, where the white of the rind is in between the green of the outside and the red on the inside.

Here’s the other thing that made me rather anxious about this whole project . . . . I bought one little package of white impatiens to plant in these red and green pots about three weeks ago. Thinking they would be finished much sooner than they were. Those white impatiens got rather straggly looking by the time I was ready to plant them, even though I faithfully kept them watered. You can see in this picture that they are OK and they are even beginning to have a few new blooms on them, but I think they were almost as stressed out as I was in all this heat!

Then, the other day, I decided to pick up three small herb plants which I’ve been wanting to get anyway to use around my hosta plants for ground cover. I used to have a pretty big herb garden when we lived in Michigan and would love to create another one here, but I think we’ve done all of the big outdoor projects for this summer. Maybe next spring . . . . so I put one of those herb plants in each one of the planters, along with some of the white impatiens, and I think they look kind of cute that way!

The rest of my garden display on our front porch, right outside our kitchen door is made up of mostly “junk” that I either found at the thrift shop or had in the back of the garage . . . except for the galvanized metal containers that I bought at Walmart. The periwinkle blue rain boots belonged to my girls, and they wore them outside to play when they were little. A bit of spray paint and voila! they match the little blue watering can that came with my Mother’s Day flowers from my son and the blue bird house that I pulled out of the garage.

The white watering can is from a planter that we had several years ago. It was galvanized metal and starting to look rather shabby, so I gave it a good spray of semi-gloss paint, along with another old birdhouse that I found in the garage. And then there’s my favorite part of this display – the battery powered red lantern that I found at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago. Annie said it reminded her of Florence Nightingale, so for several nights she would turn it on and go around the house at night to make sure all the doors were locked. I picked up the old shabby white scroll / frame at the same time as the lantern, along with the tall plant holder in the corner with more impatiens. That plant has pink blooms but they were “resting” the day I took the picture. They have since burst forth with more, bright flowers.

Then there’s the colorful Welcome mat that I picked up either at Walmart or the Dollar Store, can’t remember which. The hanging basket with white petunias and the impatiens in the galvanized bucket are from our local hardware store. And the little white shelf . . . . that is the top from one of those bathroom shelf units that broke off from the bottom part when we were moving it. I kept the top because I thought it was kind of cute, having no idea where I would use it. So there it sat, in the garage, looking like it needed some cheerful plants and other “accessories” to brighten it up.

Well, this was a fun project, but it took me longer than I anticipated to get everything finished and ready for pictures. If you are one of those amazing bloggers who can come up with brilliant DIY projects, get it made and staged, photographed and blogged about on a regular basis, well, you are truly awesome! I guess I better start on some of my fall DIY projects pretty soon or it’ll be Christmas before I get them finished. Better yet, maybe I should get going on some Christmas projects. What do you think? What should I do next?

Thanks for stopping by. Leave a comment so I know you were here and I’ll do my best to pop ’round and visit you, too. As soon as I answer all those emails that have landed in my inbox since I started writing this blog post! Have a great Tuesday . . . .

Lemon This and That

July 12, 2018 by VintageMama 2 Comments

Lately we’ve been drinking a lot of lemonade. On these really hot days it seems like meal times are even more difficult to figure out than during any other time of year. We don’t really want to fix something hot (because we are already hot!) and sometimes we don’t even feel like eating much of anything at all. Unless it might be watermelon or ice cream! We also make iced tea to keep on hand for these hot days, but the girls have recently decided that lemonade is now their summer beverage of choice.

So I got to thinking about all of the possible ways to use lemons in summer time recipes, crafts, and even home decor . . . so I put together this fun collection of “Lemon This and That” for this week’s Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party. Lemonade is just the beginning! We’re trying to keep our summer days rather relaxed so I wasn’t looking for anything that was too time consuming or difficult, but just a few fun ideas to do with my family on a summer afternoon.

We’ll be playing around with some crafts later today after I finish work, so these ideas will give us lots of inspiration for some summer fun. Hope you are having a good summer so far, and that you are having fun, taking some time to relax, and maybe even find some time just to play!

Lemon Wreath from We are Wodgrain

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins from The Well-Tended Nest

Citrus Stripe DIY Wall Art from Lake Girl Paints

Clean Naturally with Lemon via Pinterest

Lemon-Theme Entry Table Display from Carolina Cottonwood

Mint-Lemon Sugar Scrub from The Idea Room

Paleo Homemade Lemonade from RecipeThis

“Make Lemonade” sign via Pinterest

Just looking at all of these yummy, gorgeous lemon ideas makes me happy! Enjoy your summer days and come on along for the fun of the Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party . . . hope to see you there!

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Picnics – A Relaxing Summer Pastime + HM #191

July 5, 2018 by VintageMama 4 Comments

I remember when I was a little girl taking a basket of sandwiches, cookies, apples, and a thermos jug of water out to the woods behind our house. It seems strange now, but I don’t really remember being too annoyed by mosquitoes. Or spiders. Or snakes. Or any of the other creepy-crawly things that slither and scramble beneath the leaves on the ground out in the woods. But I do remember setting everything out on the little “table” that I made from old boards and rotting tree stumps, and having the grandest picnic with my dolls. So when this week’s theme for the Home Matters Linky Party #191 was picnics, it brought back lots of fond childhood memories. #picnics #summer #HomeMattersParty

Retro Picnic Basket on a Blue chair from DJBazookaJoe

A little bit of nostalgia can’t hurt anyone, I guess, so I started thinking about all of the fun games we used to play, down by the lake, playing with our dolls in the secret shady place beneath the Weeping Willow trees, scrambling down the hill to the rickety old dock, hiding behind the boat houses, and even climbing up the old stone fire places. But my favorite place was always out behind our house in the woods where I had a path right back to my own little “house,” where I had separate “rooms” form my little doll family, separated by logs and saplings, with the branches covering for the roof. I would stay out there for hours, and now I wonder that I wasn’t covered with bug bites by night fall. Well, perhaps I was, but all I remember was the magic of summer days in the cool shade of my little house in the woods.

Vintage White Picnic Basket Display from Vintage Mellie

Nowadays, I have a real house, with a lawn, and flower gardens, a deck, and a garage. And since we don’t do a lot of outdoor entertaining because of my reaction to the heat and too much sun, I thought it would be fun to find some vintage picnic baskets, just for old time sake, and I discovered some charming ways to refashion these retro treasures and use them again for home decor, storage, or for photography props. So, for this week’s party, here is my collection of vintage and retro picnic baskets, given a new lease on life in a modern home of an old-fashioned girl.

Refashioned Vintage Blue Floral Picnic Basket from My Shabby Chateau

Retro Red Plaid Picnic Basket from Vintage Origami

Vintage White Wicker Picnic Basket Storage from The Wicker House

Stack of Vintage Picnic Baskets from TParty

I hope you can visit some of the other bloggers at this week’s #HomeMattersParty and see all of their creative inspiration for our picnic theme! Hope you are having a great summer so far . . .

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Favorite Things: Simple Sewing Projects for the Beginner

June 28, 2018 by VintageMama 3 Comments

I learned to sew as a young teen, many years ago. Back in those days, I could babysit for the neighborhood kids and make $2.00 and go to the little dime store downtown and buy a pattern and enough fabric to make a new dress. That was how I got new clothes! Through lots of years of trial and error, a few sewing classes along the way, and many opportunities to make clothing for myself and my family, sewing is just part of who I am. So when all of my daughters found other hobbies or interests, it was just part of like, knowing that “Mom will make that for me,” or “Mom will fix that for me.” I suppose when Mom can do it for you, why would you want to do it for yourself?

As my older daughters have become mamas themselves, there has been a bit of an interest in learning to sew, and my oldest daughter now sews beautiful dresses and skirts for herself and her two girls. So when three of our granddaughters expressed interest in learning to sew, that made this Grammie’s heart happy! Last weekend two of the granddaughters were here for a visit and the first thing they announced when they arrived was, “I want to learn to sew, Grandma!”

OK, well let’s work on that in the morning . . . and so we planned to “learn to sew.” Of course, with no understanding of what it really takes to be able to sew something rather complex, one of them said, “I want to make a skirt!” Hmmmmm . . . . . well, let me think about that for a minute. Of course I have tons of fabric for the girls to choose from so that wasn’t a problem. The other one then announced with enthusiasm, “I want to make a dress!” Time for Grandma to give some basic sewing advice: first you have to learn to sew before you can make something that complicated, and that will take a bit of time.

So let’s start by learning to stitch two pieces of fabric together using a needle and thread. We’ll eventually get to the skirts and dresses, but for today let’s just learn how to thread a needle and hand stitch a few seams. They were excited to learn how to do that, and I had a pile of 6″ squares in pretty fabric that I had left over from a previous project, so I got them started. I was surprised at how quickly they were able to master the stitches (especially since one of them is left-handed so I had to kind of wing it with her). So they sat in my sewing room for several hours stitching those squares together until they had several strips that they then asked me how to stitch together to make a doll quilt.

By the time they had to leave they both had stitched enough squares together to make a small “blanket” for their dolls and a little sewing kit each that we put together for them. They picked out three different fabrics and matching thread; we put that in a zip lock bag with a few pieces of ribbon, some straight pins and a couple of needs and a small pair of scissors. They were so excited! I told them that I will be up to see them in a couple of weeks and I’ll bring them each a few more things for their sewing “kits” and we’ll keep practicing. We might even have time to learn the basics of using a sewing machine and then we can really make a skirt or even a dress.

Here are a few super simple, basic beginner sewing projects that I found so that when I see the girls next time we can choose a project and work on it together. Another one of the granddaughters who is just a bit older than the two that came for a visit last weekend, also is interested in sewing. She has had some sewing experience through her participation in 4H, so she is ready for her own sewing machine. I’m planning to buy a beginner machine to take to her when I go visit them all and then we will have a fun day sewing, just Grammie and the Girls. I’ll be looking for more easy sewing projects in the next few weeks, and I’ll take pictures of our projects when they are finished. In the meantime, I hope you can join us for this week’s Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party. See you there!

The 10 Minute Skirt from Make It Love It

DIY Animal Pillows from B-Inspired Mama

DIY Child’s Apron from Sarennedy

Play all Day Dress from Its Always Autumn

Teach Kids to Sew from Seasoned Homemaker

This is the one I’m most excited about! I can teach my girls what I have learned over the years, but it will be fun to get some ideas, advice, and wisdom from another mama who has been doing this for a long time, too. It’s going to be fun putting those sewing kits together! Have you taught your kids or grandkids to sew? I would love to hear about it! See you soon . . . . .

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