We Interrupt Summer...

 We interrupt summer...to give you a glimpse of the future! You all know that summer is not my favorite season and I do tend to wish it away...but, I am not the only one! Almost every craft blog that I follow is already on to autumn and Halloween. They say that it is because, if you are going to be crafting to sell in shows, you need to get started now. I like that story...and I'm sticking with it! And so, I gave a pumpkin candle holder that I saw on "The Crafty Decorator" a try. He is supposed to be very primitive so I went with it but he could also be made with a brighter orange felt and more traditional face if wanted.

Here is what I came home with after a quick trip to HL for the supplies.

I totally broke my HL rules this trip. Normally, I don't buy anything if it is not on sale. Since they have done away with their coupon, shopping is even more difficult in there. Since this was my only idea of late, I paid full price for everything except the least expensive items-the felt. I probably could have tried some other places as well. but I wasn't in the mood. I'm OK with it until I probably see it all on sale next week! Lol

I followed the directions for this guy exactly yet I had to make some changes along the way. The first step is to cut a bit off of the styrofoam ball so it sits flat. I think this is where the differences were. I probably didn't cut off enough so the circumference of the ball was larger. But, I didn't want it any smaller than this so I found a way to make it work.

Next came cutting a circle the size of a quarter. The blogger used a large drill bit but I don't have the correct size bit and that seemed like a bit of over kill so I just used my apple corer and old time veggie peeler to scoop the hole out. Then I stuck in an old candle to make sure it was deep enough.

Next, I cut the felt square into 1 1/4" wide strips. It was supposed to take 7 strips and each one was supposed to go totally around the pumpkin stretching from the opening down across the bottom and back to the opening. This may be where the size discrepancy came in because my strips were way too short to do this. I just cut each one in half and stretched it a bit and then went from the opening to just around the bottom edge. I think this may have actually served me well as the blogger had to put a wood disc on the bottom of hers to get it to stand and mine is nice and sturdy as is!

I went ahead and cut a primitive jack-o-lantern face out of black felt and used Fabri-Tac to adhere the pieces and then I cut the shank off of small semi-circular black buttons and hot glued them on. I actually have enough supplies to make another and I might do that one with a more traditional face...we shall see. I ordered 4" black timer tapers but until they get here the wax candle will have to do.

It felt so good to finally get back to crafting. My problem these days seems to be finding things I want to do that I haven't already done...it's tough getting old. Lol

Since I really haven't been just out and about shopping a lot of late, I was excited to find a sunflower section at HL and broke my rule once again. These items are in their fall section...which is not on sale yet...but, since I didn't have either a sunflower mug or spoon holder, I gave myself permission to splurge...and, I'm glad I did!

I don't know why coffee tastes so much better in a mug that matches my decor but it always seems to. Stay safe and stay tuned.

P.S. I forgot to tell you that those cute little "mini cupcake stands" that I found as well are now being used as candle holders but I can see them as risers for all sorts of things over the next few months.

Still Smiling!

My sunflowers are still making me happy! Now if only the outdoor temperatures would co-operate...it is hot. But, nowhere near as hot as the north west seems to be these days...and, after all, it is summer...so I guess I will stop complaining and embrace the season...as long as I have my sunflowers inside to come home to! Lol

Let's head into the kitchen and take a peek. The kitchen decor includes sunflowers but it also gives me the largest chance I have to "go" Mediterranean. This and the dining room have the majority of the olives jars, urns, etc. along with the touches of citrus fruit. If you wish real hard, you might just think you are sitting in a villa in Tuscany! Lol

Here is where the little wood sunflower tag that I made ended up.

So that is the kitchen for this year. It actually looks like we may not get any rain today so I think I am going to head out to spray the never ending weeds that pop up through all of the brick walks and patios and then, if I'm lucky, I might just make it into the pool today!  I'll be back soon. Stay safe and stay tuned.

 

The Time Has Come!!

I couldn't wait another minute to get my late summer decor up and start my tour for you. It is, after all, the middle of July and by the middle of August, I will already be getting out my autumn decor. With all of the work that it takes to switch my seasonal themes, I really like it if they can be out at least a month before another switch is due. 

And so, with all of that being said, let's see the beginning of Late Summer 2021.

I have already explained why I use the sunflowers at this time of year but I also use this as an opportunity to pull in some citrus and the colors of citrus as well. And, while I'm at it, I use a lot of my Mediterranean influenced pieces as well. In my mind it all just works well together and gives me a chance to use things I love that might not fit into any other themes during the year. 

I love this copper mercury glass bottle that daughter #1 bought me and when I found those gorgeous sunflowers last year, I knew exactly where they were meant to go!

I also still love this arrangement that I bought at Julies of Provence many, many years ago. I stick the sunflowers in there at this time of year but I also use it at other times without them.

The sunflower arrangement here is also from Julie's...many, many years ago. Sadly, Julie just retired and closed her doors but I am so happy I was able to get so many of her beautiful things before she did. My daughter and I would make a trip to her shop every time I was down there. Her things were definitely not inexpensive, but, as the old saying goes, "you get what you pay for"...witness these arrangements still here and still really looking just as good as they did the day I bought them. This one is in a large, rusty container which makes it a double "winner" in my book!

So that is the beginning of my late summer decor. I really love it so much and knowing it takes me one step closer to autumn makes me so happy! Stay safe and stay tuned.

 

Sun Can't Come Soon Enough!

The sun can't come soon enough...in more ways than one! I live in Florida and anyone who is at all familiar with Florida knows that summer in this state equals rain every afternoon...and sometimes all day! It is what it is and we get used to it. On the flip side, it does help to keep the flora green as opposed to the hay it becomes after a few days of dry, scorching sun. My description makes ones wonder why anyone in their right mind would ever want to live here but, the rest of the time more than makes up for it.

We have had a bit of an overload of late so, doing anything in the yard is off the table. And, quite honestly, so is doing any large projects in the house...at least for me. When everything it so dreary, I have a hard time getting amped up about any household anything.

And so, I guess it was good that I had some company this past week to help me keep my mind off of the gloomy weather outside. I had all three of my youngest grand children and their Golden-Doodle here for four days while their folks were off at an engineering conference. I took no pictures and I can't really say we have a lot to show for it...other than lots of time to talk and wile away the days. We played a few games, did a bit of cooking, watched a movie or two but, basically, we just enjoyed being together. The boys still had to go to their football conditioning - and since the oldest is now driving, I was swept back to the days of being a worrying mom again until everyone was safely back at home - but, we made it and it was fun. Now the house is quiet once again.

After finally deciding what we think the weather will be like for the 4th, everyone who can has decided to converge at daughter #3's home for our celebration. It is looking like it will be indoors - and that's fine - but, we have some outdoor things planned to slip in between the raindrops if we can!

So that was where I left off. I was going to start all over but, since that all still rings true, I will just continue. We had a wonderful time on 4th of July. The weather was perfect and we got to be outside playing corn hole and patio connect-four as well as do some swimming. We took the obligatory shots with the grand kids and that was about it. I didn't get any of the beautiful decorations, island full of holiday food or just everyone being everyone...we were having too much fun to interrupt those things with pictures but, here is what I have.

Even though I was hunkered down waiting for Elsa - which, thankfully didn't amount to much more than a typical Florida summer storm - I did get my sunflowers up quickly. It's not that I don't love my red, white and blue...it's that I am OVER summer and ready for even the smallest hint of what is to come. I use sunflowers and pretend that they stand for the summer "sun" but, we all know, that to me they bring the the slightest hint of autumn and I am a much happier camper. In any case, that tour will be starting soon!

Before I go, I need to mention my title bar on my blog. I'm not sure how many of you see that because of the varied places you can be watching from but, Blogger has been throwing out weird changes and there are lots of glitches that didn't used to be there. I have learned to navigate most of them but, when I went in to change the theme bar on my blog for "summer", I did exactly what I have done a thousand times before but, alas, this time it shrunk the pictures and moved the title. I went to EVERY place I could find that pertained to these two things but I could not find a way to fix it. I did try different options but those all made it worse and so, for now, until I can figure it out (or someone else can...or, it magically goes back as fast as it came on), this is how it will look. Sorry. Stay safe and stay tuned.