Christie's Mobile Home Diary

A Few Summer Decorating Ideas and Changes

Though Summer is in full swing....I've not changed my home decor much since spring, but recently I did add in a few things that feel like summer to me.....

With a few blue hydrangeas being in bloom in my little garden area, I decided to bring some of my faux ones inside and add them to the side table in our living room....

I added the Fresh Flower Market sign, little wheel barrow and the ceramic English tea house that I already had on hand....the garden bunny tray has been here since spring, but since I love seeing bunnies year round, and brown ones visit our yard, I wanted to leave it out for summertime too....

In my antique card collection I found this beautiful old postcard from the early 1900's, it looked like summertime to me, so I set it out beside my vintage teacup and tea tin on the living room side table...

In the kitchen on my small garden shelf I added a few bee related items for summer...

The Avon Bee Skep jar is one I already had, the tea towel was a Goodwill find for $1.99 and the Bee Skep Honey Jar was a recent indoor flea market find for $1

The Ladybug Pitcher was a recent indoor flea market find, it's made in Italy and was only $4...

Not much has changed for Summertime in the sitting room....

Other than I've added the colorful cotton patchwork quilt to the back of the sofa...it's actually a fabric shower curtain that I found recently at Goodwill for $5.99, (it is in like new condition).

Emma and George are really loving it....

I am too...I've always loved the look of patchwork quilts....I think it's fun to look at all of the pretty designs on them... I'm glad I brought this home with me, because it fits right in with what I already had going on in here in the sitting room, and it adds a lot of color too....

I didn't change out what I've had on the fireplace mantle since spring, but for a little change I decided to use this beautiful Vintage Crewel Embroidered Picture instead of the tray, for summertime....it's a yard sale find that I found last spring, and I think it's perfect for what I've already got going on in here in the sitting room...I love that it fits right in with my summer garden theme in here....

Well, that's how things are looking right now...I hope you are enjoying the summer!

Until next time....

Stay creative and have a beautiful day!

Summer Crafting

When the summer weather gets as hot as it is in my area, I get out some crafts...

Here's what I've been crafting this summer...

Clay apples for my fall doll house....aren't these adorable!

I had a hard time finding apples for an affordable price for my doll house last fall, so I told myself I'd make some myself when I got the chance. So I have and here's how I made these....

I made these with polymer clay that was already colored. So I used the apple green, the red and the brown. I found this kit around Christmastime at Ollie's Good Stuff Cheap, Discount Store....

The kit is for making mini desserts, but I figured I could use the clay to make other things, like these apples for the doll house....

I rolled these out and shaped them so they would look like apples, I put a tiny hole in the bottom with a toothpick and the top, I rolled out a stem for some of the apples with the brown color, and put it on the tops of some of the apples, then placed them on a foil lined baking sheet and baked them according to the package directions....

I love how these turned out!

I also made some doll house curtains, back in the wintertime...I didn't get the chance to make a post about them, so I thought now would be the time to show them.

I used things I already had on hand below to make these curtains...hot glue, wooden skewers cut to the size of the windows, fabric, crochet lace, string to tie back the curtains, and foam double sided mounting tape to hang the curtains....

First, I measured the window and cut the wooden skewers to fit the size I needed for the curtains to hang above the window frame, then I cut the fabric to the size of the window, then I cut it in half, I used hot glue to glue the top of the curtain around the wooden skewer, then I hot glued the crochet lace around the top of the curtain (like a little valance), next I tied each panel of the curtain with string into a bow, and lastly, I hung them in the doll house by placing the mounting tape to the backside of the curtain and attaching the curtain above the window.

Here's the backside of the curtains...

These weren't too hard to make and I think they look cute...at least I'll have a less likely chance of getting a "peeping tom" now, ya know?!

Here's one more craft I finished over the winter season that I didn't show in a post....it's another hand embroidered necklace I made from a kit...I love how it turned out.

I'm looking forward to making some other crafts this summer season, did I tell you that we hit 100 degrees here in our area recently? If my flowers outside weren't looking so pretty, I'd be totally bummed out, lol. And, If I'm being honest, I so want to move right now too, lol! (I say this every summer).

Even though it's super hot here, Summertime is all about finding ways to have a little extra fun. I'm gonna be trying to do that, no matter what the weather is doing at the moment. For me, summertime is all about evenings in my secret garden checking on how things are coming along, it's wearing flip flops, cute sandals and lightweight pretty summer dresses (to stay cool), it's eating slices of watermelon and fresh peaches, it's sipping cold iced sweet tea with lemon on the back porch rocking chairs, at dusk, (and making crafts when it's too hot to do anything else). Summer is a beautiful season, no matter what the temperature gauge reads...I'm gonna embrace it with joy and and a grateful heart. I hope you are finding fun ways to stay cool this summer!

Until next time...

Stay Creative and have a beautiful day!

Summer Back Porch Plants and June Secret Garden

It's amazing to me how much a garden can change and grow in just one months time...

Here's how things are looking outside this June 2024...

This daylily had been underneath a tree for a long time, I had several of them under the tree and they seemed okay for a while, but as the tree grew bigger, the daylily was shaded more, and so the daylily hadn't been thriving for a number of years, and I even lost several others that I had in different colors, but this one came back this year, so I decided to move it this spring, to this pot and it's growing now, and I even got two blooms. I am so happy to see it like this, this year! I've always loved the quote, "Bloom Where You're Planted" But in this case, with my daylily, maybe it's best to move it, so that it can bloom and thrive better, lol! I love looking for the little life lessons from God, in the garden, His creation. It always amazes me how God gives us something interesting to think about, from being in nature in the garden and usually a way to apply the lesson to daily life.

Here's how the Basil plants are looking, I've been able to use some leaves for spaghetti and pizza so far....I'm so thankful for these. I grew them from seeds. It's been a little bit of a challenge with these since early spring, and to be honest, there were times that I didn't know if they would make it or not... but they have and it's been fun caring for them and they were worth the effort. I've had to move them in and out of the sun regularly, but I think they are doing good so far. Sometimes I feel like I'm babysitting plants in our very hot summer heat. It seems they need to be checked on often, lol!

And here's how the Secret Garden area is coming along this June...

The canna lily bulbs (rhizomes) were a surprise flower color...I bought a mix so these were a different color than the ones I planted in the pot on the back porch...

The creeping jenny has exceeded my expectations this year...

I'm happy to find out by accident that the creeping jenny (moneywort) plant roots in water.....

and so does spearmint....

I'm keeping them in water by the French Doors....hoping I'll be able to have more plants from these....

Well, that's how things are looking right now...

Until next time....

Stay creative and have a beautiful day!

A Pretty Way to Dry Herbs

This summer my herbs have grown so much out in their pots this June, I thought they could use a little haircut. So I clipped a few bundles of each and I hung them to dry from a jute string that I hung from the corbels of our kitchen shelf that hangs above the mirrors. I love how this turned out, and I think this is a pretty way to display them while they dry...It's been fun seeing them hanging here, and also interesting to watch them as they've dried...

I have spearmint, basil, lemon thyme, and oregano hanging here...I loved the smell that these brought into the kitchen...it smelled so good, especially that first day of hanging...