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...

They started their drying process and became shriveled and a deeper shade of green within 24 hours... but still so pretty...

Until next time...

Stay creative and have a beautiful day!

Summer Secret Garden Tour...

I'm so excited that my blue hydrangeas shrubs have bloomed this year! I know there's not that many blooms, and my plants are small, but I'm still so excited.... because it's been a couple of years since they have bloomed, (more on that and why I think that happened in a little bit). On second thought, I should go ahead and tell you about that before I forget. You see, for two years I was putting used coffee grounds on them, and I think it stunted their growth... and I believe it's why I didn't get blooms either. I did some research, and I am thankful I came across some information on why not to use coffee grounds on plants. I had previously read that plants like used coffee grounds (hmmm), so be careful when researching garden solution things, because the information is conflicting when it comes to coffee grounds in the garden. I stopped immediately upon finding out about how they can stunt things, (which was last fall). This year in the early spring, we fertilized them with some acid loving azalea plant fertilizer granules.... and yay, I have blooms again! See why I'm so excited about it! lol!

But here's how everything is looking right now....

A pair of these hydrangeas (I believe they are called Nikko Blue), were given to us by my husband's mother when we first moved onto our land....the little garden statue was also a gift from her as well...

The secret garden flowers and plants are really growing fast these days, and I am so happy with how everything is flourishing this year....

The other hydrangea has buds, and is almost blooming, (here to the left), To the right the pink polka dot plant, the wax begonia and the English ivy are growing I did find a shell in the pot recently, I've never found a shell in my pots before...any ideas? I'll be keeping on eye on this pot for sure....

My garden flag is from Temu as well as the acrylic stained glass bird ornaments that are hanging on the garden trellis...

The pot of hostas, caladium and impatience back behind the pot of creeping jenny is slow growing...so since photographing it...I've moved it to the front side of this oak tree so it can get some morning sun, maybe that will get them to growing better....fingers crossed!

The creeping jenny here (moneywort) is growing, and hopefully it will overflow and drape down the sides of the pot soon...

The asparagus ferns and the spider plant are doing well so far....

The orange impatience flowers that I have in several pots are doing well so far, and the caladiums in that pot here with the creeping jenny are coming up nicely and growing too...since I got the squirrel to lose interest in it, lol! 

I'm enjoying this beautiful time of the year,....though the heat is settling in now in my area, and it will be here to stay for a long while (likely until late September), it will be a very hot and long summer  I'm sure, and it will be long enough to probably outlast my pretty flowers at some point...but I am still so thankful for this new season....I love this time of the year and being outside... tending to my flower pots and plants, and it's especially nice in the evenings. 

I am so thankful for all of the pretty blooms that seem to be everywhere, in the summertime. This week I found a few little clovers and daisy fleabane flowers and some other little flowers out in our yard this week. I had to pick some and put them in some mini vases to enjoy on the back porch table. They make me smile every time I see them. They were just out there growing all wild...they were requiring no care from me...that makes them all the more beautiful and sweet, don't you think? 

"Summertime the flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come..."

-Song of Solomon 2:12

I hope you are enjoying all that this warm weather season has to offer us! 

Until next time....Stay creative and have a beautiful day!

This week I'm linking up at these inspiring places:

(click the links below to visit all the parties hosts and the other party participants...if you have a blog, join in on the fun by linking up too!)

Tuesday Turn About

Vintage Charm Party

Share Your Style

Thursday Favorite Things

P.S. A huge thank you goes out to the party hosts, I appreciate you!