Blog Parties

Monday, June 21, 2010

Easy summer crafts to celebrate the 1st day of Summer

Edited 7/20/10: Linking up to the impromptu mantel party over at The Stories of A to Z.



Today is the first day of summer. Welcome, welcome.

As much as I love summer, I hate the heat. Here in southern California, June is usually the coolest month of summer. We can get what is called "June Gloom". It will be overcast and cloudy in the morning & be quite cool. At the beach, the sun sometimes never comes out in June. But I live inland, so the sun usually breaks through the June Gloom between 9-11am. So the temps only reach the mid to upper 80's. Sometimes the 90's. By late afternoon the marine layer starts creeping back in and it starts cooling down. Then we get a cool breeze off the ocean. Nice early summer sleeping weather.

But in another week or two that all goes away & it will get hot, hot, hot. And the monsoon season starts so it will get humid. Nothing like the south or back east. I know you are all laughing at me complaining about humidity, I've been to Texas, Florida & Washington DC in the summer before. How do you stand it? But I'm talking humid by California standards. And it won't cool off much at night. August & September are our hottest months. But sometimes June & July can be just as hot. This year we are lucky to have a cooler June.

So for now, I am enjoying the cooler summer temps. In celebration of the first official day of summer, I thought I would make a few easy summer crafts to decorate my mantel to welcome summer.
I decided for my summer mantel I wanted to feel cool. What better way to feel cool than to use green, blue & white for my colors.

My favorite summer flower are white daisies. I found some this spring at Dollar Tree and thought I would make me some more flower balls. I made some green ones for spring, and I thought white ones would look great for summer.

Here are my supplies for making the flower balls. Styrofoam balls (picked up at the thrift store for super cheap, you can even find them at Dollar Tree sometimes), the flower heads pulled off 3 bunches of flowers (Dollar Tree), my trusty glue gun and some glue sticks.

I just glued the flowers all around the ball. Easy, peasy.

And I ended up with a pretty flower ball for decorating with.

I made 2 white daisy flower balls. I wish I had purchased more bunches of flowers as I would have really liked 3 flower balls. But I didn't get enough & now they don't have them. Boo hoo. I placed the flower balls in tin buckets that I picked up from the Dollar Spot at Target awhile back.

Then remember my empty photo frames from my last mantel? I decided they needed some art for summer. I found some file folders at Dollar Tree last month that I liked. I thought I could cut it down & use in the frames. So I did. I just plopped them in the frame & taped on the back. You can make art out of just about anything. Another easy project.

And finally I decided I needed some blue vases to hold some more white daisies. But I didn't have any blue vases and I didn't want to spend a lot of money. So I decided to make my own.


I picked up 3 clear glass vases from my local thrift store for 50 cents each.

Then I bought the cheapest craft paint from Michael's. This was 59 cents a bottle. I got Robin's Egg Blue.

Squirt some paint inside the bottle & keep turning the bottle until the inside is coated with paint. Just squirt a little bit of paint at a time. You don't want to use too much or you'll have a ton at the bottom. I did turn upside down & poured out the extra paint. Be sure to wipe the paint off the lip of the vase. And no, this is not my hand. I had hubby demonstrate while I took the photo.

After each vase was coated with the paint, I placed on their side to dry. I kept turning them every 5 minutes or so for an hour. You don't want them to lay on one side for very long or all the paint will go to that one side. Darn that gravity. Keep turning them every few minutes. After an hour or so I felt it was dry enough to stand up.

Super easy to do. And I love how they turned out. They were still a little wet inside the next day. I guess I could have put them in the oven on low to dry even more. But I was too anxious to decorate.

I may try this again but instead of adding paint to the inside. I may try spray painting the outside.
With paint on the inside, I'm not sure what water will do to it.

I just used my "faux" flowers as I didn't want to take the chance with water right away. Who am I kidding. The real reason for the "faux" flowers is that I don't have any "real" daisies yet. I just planted some seeds this weekend. I won't have any real flowers until end of summer. If I'm lucky.



All in all I am pretty happy with how my summer mantel turned out. But are we ever really satisfied?

Besides, I now need to do some patriotic decorating for the 4th of July. But my summer mantel will reappear once the 4th is over. By then, I'm sure I will have found my box of shells, so who knows what my mantel will morph into by then.

Stay tuned.




Linking to:



48 comments:

  1. Kim,
    This is such a "COOL" thrifty idea...you must come by and show it off at my party and while you are there...enter my COASTAL GIVEAWAY!

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  2. What sweet little vases! They turned out great -- wonderful job! :)

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  3. I love the bud vases! What a great idea and thanks for the tips on how to keep rolling them. The flower ball turned out great too! Might be heading out to DT this afternoon.

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  4. What a great transformation! I love the blue vases! So cute!

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  5. They turned out great! Beautiful choice in color!

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  6. love this and how smart. I haven't been over in a few days. You've been busy. I love the split pea soup! And the coffee table is so great. I love visiting. You always have something wonderful to share. Thanks for sharing your craftiness.
    Have a Blessed Week,
    Sherry

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  7. what a great idea for the vases. LOVE the color! Your mantle looks wonderful...very summery.
    Debbie@houseatthelake

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  8. Love the vases and how the glass shows outside. Haha on the hand comment. I'm right there with you.

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  9. Hi Kim,
    I love your painted-inside glass flower vases. I'm gonna try this very thing. And I love your daisy balls :)
    I live not too far from you and love this month's weather so much. Wish all summer would be like this. Not looking forward to Aug/Sept's heat and humidity (such as it is) at all.

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  10. Thanks for the comment on my blog. I love those blue vases. I never thought to paint them on the inside. I'll have to try that one.

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  11. I love what you did with those vases. So creative!!

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  12. Kim, you are so darned creative...those are the cutest vases. Great color choice.
    Just be thankful you don't live in Kansas in the summer...the humidity is almost as high as the temperature...believe me, when it is in the upper 90's it isn't fun!

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  13. Your vases turned out wonderful. I will be stealin....er...borrowing this idea!!

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  14. I LOVE how the bud vases look with the paint on the inside! I have the same color paint, but I don't have any vases. I will be one the look out for some so I can duplicate your idea! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  15. I love your mantle! And, the paint in the flower vase idea is too fun. They are darling!
    I may just have to do a few of those myself!

    Blessings,
    Rhonda

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  16. What a wonderful summer mantel! Love the daisy balls and I really like the idea of painting the insides of the vases ~ now I wish I'd kept mine!! Guess I'll have to go thrifting for some....

    Just a quick reminder ~ the WEDDING BLOG PARTY is coming up this Friday, June 25th! Hope to see you there! It just wouldn't be a party without you! :0)

    Big TX Hugs,
    Stephanie
    Angelic Accents

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  17. Boogieboard CottageJune 21, 2010 at 11:04 PM

    Even though it might be more time consuming than spray painting the outside, I really like the clear glass coating on the outside that you wouln't get with the spray paint method. It just looks really nice. Especially cute with the daisies! Mary :O)

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  18. I love the flower ball but I love, love the vases .. I like seeing the glass still it give depth to the vase.. I see me coping you ~ real soon ..lol
    Thanks for stopping by.
    hugs from Savannah, Cherry

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  19. Wow Kim, I love the ideas with the framed file folders and the vases! They certainly are cool, in more ways than one! My sister always talks about June Gloom and it sounds so funny to me 'cause up here June is bright and sun-shiny! It has been a cool, breezy one though!
    Hugs,
    Dawn

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  20. What beautiful blue vases and an awesome technique. I am hosting a giveaway and I'd love it if you stopped by!

    Laura @ along for the ride

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  21. Kim, I love your new summer mantel. Those vases look wonderful with the aqua paint added to them. I have done that with clear ornaments before. Love your daisy balls, too.

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  22. Okay Missy!!!!
    I'm lovin the paint in the vase idea!!!!
    How cool is that!
    I'm all over that one girl,
    Thanks for the inspiration!
    xoxo~kathy @
    Sweet Up-North Mornings...

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  23. I love that look of paint in the inside. I must try that one day!
    Love your summer mantel, reminds me it is time to start some summerizing myself soon. We finally have some summer weather here!! Yeah!!
    Love, M

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  24. Great ideas, love the vases and daisy balls!
    I'm now a follower too!

    Rondell

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  25. The flower ball is gorgeous and I love the blue vases. Great ideas.

    Glad you stopped by Pittypat Paperie. Come again anytime Ü

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  26. Cute ideas! I am going to have to try the flower balls. Ooo, I think I have some leftover blue paint and some plain glass vases around here too!

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  27. This is such a great idea. I wonder what water will do to them as well. Lovely! And I so am into that color.

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  28. I love these ideas! I've been in the same mood of wanting to cool things down with colors. It's 85 here by 8 a.m. Ninety-nine degrees in the shade. And I won't EVEN bring up the humidity, you lucky duck. Wish we had COOL anything around here!
    Brenda

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  29. You always do the prettiest mantels!

    Jeanine

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  30. This is just gorgeous and so creative. I love the painted vases, what a fantastic idea. The flower balls are just stunning too. Beautiful vignette. Hugs, Marty

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  31. Love your tip with the vases!! I have so many of those clear vases and the are just soo boring!!! Thanks for sharing your ideas!! Your mantel looks gorgeous!

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  32. Kim I hope you like awards. I left you one over at my blog. Come by and pick it up!
    Have a lovely day,
    Sherry

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  33. I have painted the outside of a vase and then wrote on it with a paint pen but I like this look of the paint on the inside. Nicely done.
    Pam

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  34. I adore those blue vases. They are such a pretty color! I love daisies, too!

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  35. Kim, you are so clever! Love all of your ideas (who would have thought of framing file folders-obviously Kim, but I would not have thought of it - amazing)! Your daisy balls lookk adorable in those little pails, and the blue vases turned out beautifully! I love how you just jump in there and invent a way to make something your own. Do any of your projects ever fail? Great job! laurie

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  36. Your mantel is amazing. I love everything about it ... the vases ... I have to do that. I love the glass shine with that color. The picture ... I love to frame cards but now I will be on the look out for folders and anything pretty. You are creatively amazing!

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  37. I love the painted vase idea! I'm gonna have to try that!

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  38. You are the vignette queen my dear so I'm so glad you linked this post up! I love it!

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  39. Wow- so simple and yet I've never really thought about doing this with my old glass vases! Perfect idea!

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  40. Did you ever attempt spraying vases on the outside? How did you get on?

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  41. I featured your awesome vases in my "Tutorial Tuesday" post today featuring my favorite DIY projects. Thanks for the awesome tutorial!

    http://erraticallyelizabeth.blogspot.com/2011/03/tutorial-tuesdays-home-decor.html

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  42. wow what a great idea!! I have all ways disliked those vases and now can't wait to find some and try the paint on the inside. NOt sure I would like the paint on the outside,think the paint might look dull. on where or not you could put real flowers with water in them couldn't you paint them with acrylic paint????

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  43. I just came across this from Re-Nest and with great timing too. This would be perfect for a glass bottle/vase vignette display I was considering, and would save a lot of money instead of buying colored glass. I already have the paint and glass! Thanks!

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  44. Found you on Re-Nest. Love the idea and the effect! Going to use for a baby shower this weekend!

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  45. I also came over her3 to mention that you were feature on re-nest today. Do they tell or ask you when you are featured there?

    This idea totally changes the look of these "chepie" vases. I'm gonna get mine out from under the sink and do this.

    Hopefully I can get the dryed grunge out of the bottom of them...

    xoxo Bunny Jean
    www.bunnyjeansdecorandmore.blogspot.com

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  46. LOVE all of this! I especially LOVE what you have done with the vases. They are so, so pretty. I hope you don't mind, I just could not help but feature them on my new frugal home decor blog here:

    http://frugal-home-design.blogspot.com/2012/01/thrift-store-makeovers-plus-some-free.html

    Thank you SO much for sharing :)

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  47. these vases are lovely :) I just read somewhere not to put water in after painting the vases on the inside, use the little water vials instead :)

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