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.




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Weekly Thrifty Finds

I can't seem to get up early enough on Saturday morning to hit the local yard sales. I like to sleep in & get my beauty sleep (so far it's not working too well). Shopping at thrift stores fits my schedule much better.

I just love shopping at thrift stores. You never know what you will find. That is the most fun part. And getting stuff for pretty cheap isn't half bad either.

Today I am sharing this past weeks thrift store loot.

My favorite find of the week is this Lefton plate. I love it!!!! It was $4.00 and in perfect condition. And it matches a tea cup & saucer that I already have.

When I was in the thrift store I couldn't read the makers mark. I thought it said "Made in China". I knew it looked a lot like the tea cup & saucer I had a home. I just thought it was a "Lefton China" knockoff. But when I got it home and got it cleaned up I was able to read that it was actually "Lefton China". It was the real thing.

I just love a pink & green color palette. And I love, love, love hand painted roses.


My next favorite find is this glass dome. It is huge!!!! And it was only $2.50. I'm going to make it a cloche or I might just make a hanging lamp out of it. I haven't quite decided yet. I really don't need another cloche, but I couldn't pass it up. Did I tell you it is huge?


The problem with thrift store shopping is that I tend to buy stuff I already have. I can't seem to pass up something I like even if I already have it.

Take this candle holder (I guess that is what it is). I already have the exact same one. But it's great for placing a decorative ball on it. It was only $1.00. And since I love the one I already have, what's the harm in having two?

And candlesticks. I already have a bazillion. But I love to pick up ones that are a little different from what I already have. They make great bases for making cake plates. This one was $1.00.

Plus my niece is getting married in August and the original plans were to use a bunch of candlesticks on each table. So I've been using that as an excuse for buying more candlesticks. Except I just found out that we can't use tapers at the place the reception will be. They only allow tea lights and/or votives. What??? Tea lights and votives aren't as romantic as tapers.



Even though we don't need candlesticks for my nieces wedding. I couldn't pass up these 2 tall ones. They were $3.00 for the pair. Oh well, I guess I will just have to add them to my candlestick collection.

I know, I know, enough with the candlesticks. But I love finding old brass ones. You can paint them up any color you want. And at $1.00 a piece you don't have to feel guilty. These will be painted blue hopefully by this weekend.

I guess I have too many collections. I now have 3 of these glass compotes. So now I have a collection. Why do I need three? And why do I need a new collection? But for $2.50, I couldn't pass it up.


One of my newest collections has been milk glass vases. But then I saw on someones blog painted vases and I knew I needed some. So I found me some clear glass vases for 50 cents each. I'm going to try painting these blue this weekend as well. And if they don't turn out, it really won't matter as they were cheap. But if they do turn out (which I'm expecting they will), I'll have something new to decorate with and blog about.

Another of my collections is cherubs. These were only $1.50 each. I really only needed one, but two is always better than one. That way I have one to keep and one to sell or giveaway.

Next is lamps. I love lamps. I have a lamp obsession (but then, what don't I have an obsession with). I have no idea where I will use this vintage glass lamp. It was only $3.00. I got it for 1/2 price. Would you have passed it up? I didn't think so.

Besides my collections, we have seasonal decorating to think about when shopping at thrift stores. These next few items I picked up for 4th of July decorating.

This small creamer has an eagle and stars on it. It's perfect for patriotic decorating. Plus this one is a double winner. I also collect white creamers and pitchers. This was 50 cents.

I also couldn't resist these 3 glasses or jars or what ever they are. They have stars around the rim.
I think I am going to put a candle in each one. I love the stars. So patriotic. They were 50 cents a piece.

So there you have this past weeks thrifty finds. Hopefully I will show you later how I used my thrifty finds. Right now my biggest problem is where am I going to put this stuff. I really need to get rid of some of my old stuff. I guess it is time to start selling on eBay again. Or maybe open up an Etsy store. Don't worry, I'll let you know.

Thanks for stopping by. What thrifty things did you find this week?



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Thrifty Finds

It's been awhile since I posted any of my thrifty finds. So today you are going to get "thrifty overload".

I found this cute plate on clearance at Target a couple of weeks ago. I got it for $5.00!!! I think it was originally $10.00. Isn't it cute? It goes perfect sitting on my china hutch.

When I saw this tray at my local thrift store it was love at first sight. I had to have it. It was $17.00. More than I would normally pay. But it was love, love, love!!! And did I tell you it is huge???? I'm going to paint it Heirloom White & probably distress it. It will fit perfect on top of my old trunk with the uneven top. This tray will make displaying objects on the trunk so much easier. Hubby can't see the beauty in this piece. And he thinks I paid too much. But it was love!!!

I love the frenchy handles. I'm not going to paint them.

I've started a new collection. Like I don't already have too many collections. But I've been bitten by the vintage flatware bug. I've seen so many of you with them in displays, I had to jump on the bandwagon. Here are the knives I got a few weeks ago for 25 cents each at the thrift store.

These spoons were 50 cents a piece.

The forks were 50 cents a piece as well. I choose all my vintage flatware for the pattern on the handle as that is the part that is going to show when I display them in my little white pitchers.


Every time I go to a thrift store I always look for a Scrabble game or Dominoes. But have not had any luck until last week. I found a Scrabble game for $2.00. Still had every single letter. It was like brand new.

I also love collecting urns. Found this one for $1.50 a couple of weeks ago at the thrift store.

I picked up these ugly brass candlesticks for about $1.00 each. I'm going to spray paint them. Not sure what color. I'm thinking blue for summer. I need candlesticks like I need a hole in my head. But I don't have any that aren't silver, crystal, black or white. I'm looking to add some color to my life. And I won't be afraid to paint these some wild color. Or some not so wild color.


I paid $1.00 for this silver candlestick. I just love the shape of the base. I am probably going to glue this to a silver tray to make a pedestal tray. I'll be sure to share it later if I do.

This is something I got this past Saturday at the thrift store. I think it is a towel or napkin holder. Not really sure. I just loved the bird on it. It was $4.00. A bit pricey for me, but again, it was love at first sight.

I'll probably paint this heirloom white as well & then antique it. Then I'll add a vintage print to the frame part. I'll use it for holding my dinner napkins. Isn't that birdy just the sweetest?

I got this little shell dish to use in a summer vignette. I'll probably paint this heirloom white as well. It was $1.25.
I found this 3 tier dessert stand at a thrift store for $5.00. I have a couple of reproduction ones from Tender Heart Treasures. Paid a lot more for the reproduction ones. I think this silver one is the real deal.

I passed it up a few weeks back as I already had a couple of the repro ones. But I couldn't get this beauty out of my mind. So lucky for me it was still there on Saturday.

At this same thrift store I found this vintage rooster for $3.00. Yup, roosters is another of my collections. There isn't much I don't collect I'm afraid.

I also found a bag of vintage clothes pins for 50 cents.

And I found more vintage flatware for my newest collection. Each piece was 25 cents.

Another new collection for me is vintage milk glass vases. I saw on someones blog, where they had about 5 milk glass vases sitting on a round silver tray with flowers. I loved it. I have a silver round tray and some flowers. All I need are the 5 milk glass vases.

So I started looking for milk glass vases. All the ones I saw at Goodwill were like $2-3.00 each. Yikes!!! I can do better than that. I found this one at my local community cupboard thrift store for 50 cents. Much better.


And these 3 were only 25 cents each. I just need one more to make my silver tray display. But until then, I'm using 3 of them in this weeks tablescape. Be sure to come back Thursday to see more.

I'll try & show you later how I used my thrifty finds around my house. So stay tuned.

Oh and I almost forgot, I found the most spectacular crystal chandelier at Lowe's on clearance for $32.00!!!! Once hubby gets it installed, I show photos. I am so excited, I can hardly wait. I've always wanted a chandelier.



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