friendship pins

summer is coming to a close around here and we're soaking up the last of it

we spent alot of time in the kitchen baking goodies & making crafts this summer

these friendship pins were probably one of our favorite projects

you can make your own with some seed beads and a few different sizes of safety pins

we purchased both at Joanns & Michaels

with a quick search on pinterest, we found a bunch of pin "patterns"

flags, animals and lots of other things! 

you can find my "summer" board here where i pinned a bunch of them

 it's a little bit of trial & error, but once you start making them it's addicting!

my younger daughter ended up finding an empty bead box in my craft room and started to use some of her spending money on more supplies ha! 

her box ended up filling up pretty fast and her little fingers were working even faster!

some of the bigger beads were surplus from my supplies (mostly found on etsy) 

& she had some of the character charms in her rainbow loom stash.

we found these canvas sneakers at five below for only $5 

and she added puff paint polka dots to the front of the sneakers 

for the hanging pin designs like the flag one - we found out how to slide the hanging pins through the loop of the main pin - just think of it like a key ring - use a small pliers or even a thumb tack to open up a little bit of space in the ring to get started - once one pin is in the opening it's easy to slide the rest through

once all the hanging pins are on the opposite side of the closure side you can pin it to anything you want - shoelaces, jacket lapels or backpacks!

she even made some friendship pin earrings! so fun ♥

if my feet were small enough

 i'd be borrowing these happy rainbow shoes from my daughter's closet fo sho :)

happy crafting!

happy August ♥ and a new mini printable calendar

July was so good to us ♥

it was full of vacation

camp and lots & lots of ice cream stops!

we got to go out for the day on a friends boat ... and tubing! 

kids love it! me not so much. i'm chicken :)

my older daughter is going to high school this fall. so crazy...

my little is still holding on to being a kid

somedays she's so grown up and i'm sad

but other mornings i walk into her room and find this

her crumpled up messy bed, legos, superhero girls and remenants of Jesus time 

oh my heart ♥

as much as i DON'T like NY in the winter

i really love it the rest of the year

we've had a super dry summer, it usually rains quite a bit here so it's been a nice change of pace

with zuchinnis growing like crazy in the garden and a tennager who likes to bake

the mixer is always on in the kitchen

snickerdoodles were on this day's agenda

i just kinda felt like my cuppa tea needed a cookie.

my bestie AmyJ. is pumping out the cutest things lately in her digital shop 

i just got a new happy planner so i've been cutting out the printable stickers from her shop at night during tv time. it's so relaxing and so much happy to see them all in this little sticker binder!

my husband and i celebrated 17 years at the end of July

17 roses were waiting for me at home

it's his signature thing ... roses :)

marriage is hard. but it's beautiful isn't it?

hope you're having the most wonderful summer ♥

we still have almost 5 weeks left before school starts 

so pool time, hot dog eating and sleeping in is still going strong!

download this month's free mini calendar here!

rainbow pinwheel wreath!

hi all!

we're back from a wonderful vacation, and boy.

it sure is hard to face reality when sleeping in and krispy kreme donuts for breakfast at 12:30 in the afternoon was life for two weeks. yikes.

so we're trying to settle into a summer routine, it's been a little tough so far this week but we're striving for progress not perfection. and not staying in pj's and watching tv all day is making progress. ha. my shop is closed for the summer leaving me SO much free time to do crafts with my girls, fun projects around the house, bike rides etc.

and project life! i've been hoarding PL supplies for about 3 years now and haven't touched one album.

so i'm going to be working on that this summer too. any PL people out there? any tips for getting started? i want to keep it simple. i'm not a simple person and that's what keeps me from getting disciplined activites like project life done and kept up with. so i need to make it uncomplicated! 

anyways... back to this wreath :)

i found these ginormous rainbow pinwheels last month when we went into 5below and they had my name written all over them. i bought 6 and decided to try making a wreath with them somehow, and it was really simple actually

supplies you'll need // styrofoam wreath form ( i got the largest one i could find) 

// fabric strips // ribbon for hanging

the little pin the holds the pinwheel together comes apart very easily

and you're left with just the pin part to push into the styrofoam wreath

i made holes with the pinwheel to kind of get an idea for spacing

i ripped some fabric into a really long strips and wrapped it around the wreath marking with a sharpie where the holes were in the styrofoam

once it's covered and the holes are marked i snipped little holes in the fabric with really sharp scissors so i could push the pinwheels in easier

that's it! i put some ribbon around the form and hung it with a command hook

i love our little front porch, my dream home would be in the country (sorta in the country :) it would be white with black shutters with a wrap around front porch, rockers, bunting, lights and all ... but this little porch makes me happy.

my hubby found these hanging strawberry plants at wegmans and thought we should try them 

they have been SO AWESOME. we pick berries every few days and have them for breakfast or lunch and they're sweet!

i really really do love summer. i just love it.

the begonias & succulents on the front porch are doing really well this year.

i think i'll transplant the succulents into the back yard in the fall since they're perennials.

the begonias were hanging baskets that i got at the market. i transplanted them into my chalkboard pots that i made at least 3 years ago... they're holding up pretty good and they got nice and chippy.

i found the rocker on the curb probably 5 years ago. it's seen a lot of colors and cans of spray paint. i love making something out of old things people just don't want to bother with anymore.

much love to you and happy beautiful summer days!