As you bid farewell to summer and say hello to fall, decorate your home with fall mums. These perfect fall flowers look great both indoors and outdoors. Mums add so much vibrancy to a home during fall. They’re festive and fun and you can’t do fall without them. Discover the best ways to decorate with these charming fall flowers....
The hardest part about getting away, whether over a long weekend or on a two-week European excursion, is making the plans. Booking hotel rooms. Planning must-see sites. Divvying up the expenses. It’s a lot to get done. Getting everything organized for a trip is where I struggle. I have a bad habit of procrastinating planning. I have this irrational fear that I’m going to pick a bad hotel or not do enough research to find good sightseeing opportunities, so I put off getting started. It also doesn’t help when I don’t have a good way of organizing. I’ve used everything from Word® documents to Excel® spreadsheets to a folder in my email to organize trips. None of which work well for this purpose. The best method I’ve ever used is this travel planning board, made from craft paper and Post-it® notes, which I hung on the wall. While fun, this method had its downsides. I couldn’t access it away from my house and it was a pain to make changes. When planning a two-week vacation to England, France and Wales in July, I found an amazingly better option. I used Travefy, a free online and mobile group planner. It...
If you’re looking for some easy scrapbooking inspiration, then this miniature photo album just might motivate you to break out the page protectors and print some photos. It must be all of the Instagramming I’ve done lately because I’m obsessed with square photos. They just offer a more interesting look than typical rectangular photos. So, I’m really excited to share this 4X4 photo album I made featuring photos from a recent camping trip. Here it is! The most difficult part of making this photo album was printing the photos. That’s what always takes the longest. I had to sort through all the photos I took while camping (a lot) to find the best ones (not as many), and then I edited them and sent them to be printed. My favorite way to print photos is the PostalPix app for iPhone. (It’s also available for Android.) I can order photos directly from the app and they’re mailed right to my house. Of course, I also love that they offer the 4X4 option. You can order prints in these sizes: 4X4, 4X6, 5X5, 5X7, 8X8 and 8X10. PostalPix also offers aluminum prints, where photos are infused onto 1mm thick aircraft grade aluminum. I...
The humble mason jar has been having a serious moment. This vessel is everywhere. Mason jars have been transformed into light fixtures, wedding centerpieces and toothbrush holders. They’re being painted, stenciled, bedazzled—you name it Mason jar projects are so popular right now, I’ve even heard the word “overused” associated with them. But, to me, mason jars will never go out of style. How can they? They’re a classic. So, I was super surprised when I realized I haven’t ever written a post on just mason jars. (The shame!) My favorite ways to use mason jars are the ones that stand the test of time. The tried-and-true methods you’ll use over and over. You’ve probably heard of most these mason jar uses before, but I want to keep it simple and just celebrate some fabulous ways to use mason jars, without changing them too much. Here are my favorite ways to use mason jars. 1. Mason jars as votives Outdoors, indoors, doesn’t matter. Stick a tea light in a mason jar and you have an instant votive. Group several mason jars with flickering tea lights together to form an easy—and sparkly—centerpiece or just have one sitting on a table to...
Summer may be coming to a close, but it’s still here—for now. For a season that I associate with slowness, mine has flown by. As most summers do, I suppose. And I feel like I haven’t appreciated it enough. Summers in the Midwest are special. It’s a season when you know it’s all good. It’s all lazy dogs, bare feet and long days. Iced tea, sunsets and happy nights. And I’m going to soak in every hot, humid moment that’s left. The humidity here in the Midwest doesn’t bother me, like it does a lot of people. It’s more like a well-known friend. Familiar, expected. Thick and warm. Kind of like a cozy blanket. In celebration of this almost-gone season, I’m listing my favorite things about summer. What are your favorites? 1. The sound of cicadas I love the sound of cicadas on summer nights. A summer evening isn’t complete without the hum and pulse of their vibrating song. Some people find it noisy, but after growing up hearing it year after year, it’s a kind of music to me. 2. The golden hour There’s just something about summer evenings. They’re lazy. Slow. There’s no reason to rush, and...
Maybe you have this conundrum too. You have a bunch of vases you love, but keeping them filled with fresh flowers just isn’t in the budget. Vases are all over my house. I kinda didn’t realize just how many until I started writing this post. I have skinny mini milk glass vases. Pottery. Mason jars. Glass vases. Bottles. They’re everywhere! I like the height they add to vignettes and displays. And, a unique vase just seems to complement any room. Because I like to keep so many vases out and about, I’m always searching for creative solutions for what to put in them. I’m not a huge fan of fake flowers, although some do work. I tend to go for more natural (and typically free) items to fill my vases, like feathers, pinecones, and cedar sticks. Maybe that sounds weird, but these items last, well, forever, and they add visual interest. While trying to come up with something new to fill a vase in my living room, I thought of twigs. I’ve used them before in vases just as is. Straight from the backyard to the vase. (Like farm-to-table, but twig-to-vase.) But this time, I wanted something different. Painting them was...
Dress up a window or door in your home with an embroidery hoop sun catcher. Made from just an embroidery hoop, wax paper and pressed flowers, it’s a no-skills required project. I love that this embroidery hoop sun catcher uses an embroidery hoop in an unexpected way. Because embroidery hoops are more than just needlecraft tools. With a little help, they can make a statement in their own right. From mobiles to light fixtures to picture frames, you can complete crafty projects galore with these versatile circular devices. So, I’m excited to share just one of those embroidery hoop projects: How to make an embroidery hoop sun catcher. Making an embroidery hoop sun catcher is simple, sweet and inexpensive. You can save farmer’s market flowers or summer blooms from your garden to enjoy all year, and you’ll have something pretty to hang in your window to catch the light. Here’s how to make your own embroidery hoop sun catcher. Step 1: Press your flowers You need something pretty to go inside your embroidery hoop sun catcher, right? What better than the delicate petals of some pretty flowers? This part of the project is a little more time-intensive, but only because...
