Pin Board Frame with Printable {Porch Projects}

I’ve had this wooden plaque from AC Moore hanging out in my craft closet for months on end.  So, I carted it down to Savannah, along with my chalk paint and waxes to finally make use of it.  When I saw a board painted with “Today I’ll be Happier than a Bird with a French Fry” in Seaside Sisters down at Tybee, I knew then and there that it was the perfect contender for my plaque and would make a fantastic addition to the new porch!

You’ll need:
- A piece of wood
- Upholstery tacks
- Picture or saying
- Paint and supplies
- Plate or book stand for displaying on a table or picture hanger to hang
1. Paint your board.  I used Annie Sloan’s Duck Egg Blue with both clear and dark waxes.
2. Center your picture and adhere at the four corners with the upholstery tacks.  If you want to use mine, download it for FREE here!
Happier than a Bird
3. Swap out your picture as the fancy strikes!  Here’s my 4th of July version…
 
I bought the board with a 40% off coupon too long ago to remember how much I paid, but I am certain this whole project cost me under $10.

Happy crafting, y’all!
xoxo

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Red, White & Krispie

I absolutely adore Rice Krispie Treats.  And Honey does too.  Forget the creme brulees and complicated custards because a good old RKT is the dessert of choice around these parts!  I’ve had fun getting creative with them over the years…like Rice Krispie Cupcakes and the King Krispie Cake…and these patriotic Red, White & Krispie Treats for July 4th were no exception!
I told Sister at least a month ago about my idea to layer red, white and blue RKTs.  I’d never seen it done before and was seriously patting myself on the back for a new fangled idea, when lo and behold if the same darned thing didn’t pop up on another blog.  Ahhh!

Here’s a few tips and tricks:

• I had quite a crowd to serve, so I made three entire recipes of RKTs.
• For this amount, I used a 9x13” pan and greased it well.
• For the blue and red layers, add your food coloring after you’ve melted the butter and marshmallows and get it the perfect color before stirring in the cereal.
• Between layers, use a greased piece of waxed paper to press them down into the pan as much as you can.

We’re off to a pool party for a dear friend’s youngest daughter and then are cooking out tonight on THE PORCH!!
xoxo

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4th Annual 4th Celebration

After a long afternoon at the pool and a few too many snow cones, we celebrated the 4th of July with our 4th Annual Low Country Boil and Fireworks fete!  With rain looming in the forecast all week, I didn’t put a lick of effort into this party.  Just good food, cold beverages, all sorts of yard games and loads of the best friends and family a gal could ask for!  Oh, and probably a little too much Madonna on the play list.

     

        

Happy birthday, America!

xoxo

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Patriotic Porch Mini Reveal

I’ve been awaiting this day with bated breath…the porch is 99% complete (only need gutters and screens) and I am in love.  I am going to put together a full reveal with all the detailed shots, sources and of course contact information for our amazing contractor, but in the mean time I figure if I don’t share it all dolled up for the fourth then I’ll have to wait another year.  And y’all know patience isn’t one of my virtues. (Is anyone else singing “Patience is a virtue” from Thomas & Friends right now?)A view from the back of the house.  We’ll landscape that bed this fall when we have a much better chance of survival!  The flag buntings are from US Flag Store.
 We landscaped the bed and path leading to the porch earlier in the spring and it’s all thriving.  Now, y’all come on in!  The stairs showcase the pots I found on clearance at the Savannah Target and the lanterns are from WalMart.  Mother was a doll and dug up the potato vine from the back of her yard AND planted the pots for me while we were visiting.  They were looking pretty rough for a few days but they did come back, just as she assured me they would.
 


Mother helped me make a second set of red pillow covers for use at fourth of July and the holidays.  The  fabrics are both from Premier Prints.  The flag pillow was purchased from Pottery Barn a few years ago.  Sweet Land of Liberty DIY canvas (with free printable) project showcased here.  A tutorial for the frame with the “Dixie Land” quote is on the docket.
  The flag runner was a wedding registry gift ten years ago.  A few flags in my giant clam shell dressed it up for the holiday.
The flag made from reclaimed pine is from Pottery Barn.
  I had grand plans to make a fabric bunting for the sideboard but ran flat out of time :-)  There’s always next year!  We did get the yard shaped up and flags in most of our pots…
Have a happy and safe fourth of July!
God bless the USA!
xoxo

Southern Porch {Week 1}

Porch Progress {Week 2}

Porch Progress {Week 3}

Porch Progress {Weeks 4-5}

Porch Progress {Week 6}

Ikea Chair Makeover

Porch Progress {Week 7}

Porch Progress {Week 8}

Another Set of Chairs

Porch Progress {Week 9}

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Celebrating the 4th in style!

This is a guest post I did for my good friends over at Bae - a fab home decor boutique in SF. Visit their blog at Bae Home & Design


You don’t need to clear out your local Hobby Lobby of everything with a star or a stripe this month to give your home or 4th of July celebration a patriotic sparkle, you can show your pride this Independence Day in a less is more approach with style, sophistication, and a little bit of fun.

The opening of The Pledge of Allegiance in a bold modern graphic print is a great way to show some spirit.

via eighteen25 download art here.

What is more decadent than cheesecake? Individual jar servings make it special, strawberries and blueberries make it festive.

via The Tomkat Studio Recipe: My Baking Addiction
 

Show up to the cookout in this chic and pretty sweetheart dress.

Available at Anthropologie.

Bae's SkLo float vessels would look great anywhere in your home or party. Cluster a grouping of them around some candles to create a colorful glow. See more

 

This patriotic throw pillow is so cute you can use it year round.

 Via The Stir, available on Etsy.

You can also decorate with your own accessories. Group together any red, white, and blue items you already have around your home to get that patriotic feel.

Via The Examiner

Have a happy, stylish 4th of July!

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A Patriotic Welcome

Our front porch is decked out in red, white and blue for a very patriotic welcome!  
Honey hung the bunting and I stuck a few flags in the pots.  And in about two minutes flat the front was ready for the fourth!
Y’all, the back porch is just a smidge away from complete and I’ve been as busy as a bee feathering the house for our annual fourth of July shindig.  There’s nothing like a party to set things in high gear!
xoxo

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Sweet Land of Liberty {Free Printable}

We’ve had a rainy couple of days in Savannah so in between a whole lot of shopping and an afternoon at the movies, I put together this patriotic Sweet Land of Liberty canvas to decorate the porch mantle for the fourth of July holiday!
    I had planned to order a canvas online but at this late stage in the game, I couldn’t get one in time AND I really didn’t want to spend a hundred dollars plus shipping for something that is seasonal decor on an outdoor porch!  So…Mother and I brainstormed a way to DIY the canvas.  It only took a couple of hours and cost about $40 to make (I already had mod podge.)
1. Gather supplies – you'll need:

18x24 canvas (I purchased half off at AC Moore)
2 pages of 8.5 x 11 scrapbook paper OR a little paint for the edges (If I had it to do over, I would have just painted my edges aqua rather than cutting and mod podging the sides.)
Matte mod podge
Large 18x24 photo print.  (Staples printed mine on photo paper for $20 in about an hour.  Sign up for their rewards card to get 5% off.)
Paint brush
Scissors or paper cutter

2. Cut your scrapbook paper into strips sized to fit the depth of your canvas.  Mine was 1 3/8”.
3. Use mod podge to adhere scrapbook paper around edges of canvas.  Just follow the directions on the jar.  I used a spatula to smooth out any bumps and wrinkles in the paper.
4. Coat the top of canvas with a nice layer of mod podge.  Press picture down and smooth out any wrinkles. (See that lovely spatula?  It’s older than me and I had no idea how my parents prized it until I got a little mod podge on it.)

5. Brush on another coat of mod podge right over the front of the picture and around all sides.  I did mine with a back and forth stroke so that it would leave brush marks when dried.
6. I let mine dry overnight and gave it a new coat this morning.  It only took about 15 minutes to dry and looks fantastic!!!

If you’d like to make your own canvas, or just have it printed out and mounted on foam board, download the file for FREE here!!
Sweet Land of Liberty

We saw Madagascar 3 yesterday and LOVED it.  Who knew animals could be so hilarious!?!?  If this rain doesn’t move on out we’ll probably do Brave today.

Rain, rain GO AWAY!
xoxo

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Sparks Will Fly

After the early morning parade and after-party, we headed to the pool for loads more family fun in the sun!

When the littles fingers were wrinkled as raisins and they were sufficiently sugared up on cotton candy and sno cones, we headed home to set up for our evening fete.  Now, I know y'all all know what they say about the best laid plans...  Well, we had some pretty solid ones to celebrate the Fourth, resplendent with party tents, buntings, a jumpy jump, zip line, bubbles, side walk chalk, a play set and loads of blankets for watching fireworks on the golf course.  And just as we had set up the last table and stepped back to admire our handy work, the storm rolled in.  Honey and I frantically moved all the tables and some of the seating under cover and the back yard celebration we'd envisioned quickly became a garage hootenanny.  With the unexpected shuffle, I failed to take as many pictures of the little details as I should have.  Though, they were admittedly a little less fabulous in the lovely space generally reserved for car parking and wood working :-)

The "Eats" table went un-photographed but housed the delish Lowcountry Boil cooked up by Honey and all of the side dishes graciously brought by the other party-goers.  The "Sweets & Treats" table was loaded with all sorts of patriotic goodies - cupcakes, pretzel sticks, marshmallow pops, rice krispies treats, popcorn and buckets of candy.

I topped the cupcakes with pinwheel picks found at Michael's and red sixlets.  I made the quatrefoil wraps.

Everyone in blogland makes marshmallow pops look so easy.  I suppose I'm marshmallow pop challenged...

The PCP was most impressed by the red and blue popcorn.  I'll post the recipe as soon as I have a minute to type it up.  It was pretty tasty - you know for those of us with the refined taste buds of a five year old.  See here for the how-to on the popcorn cones and display box (that I recycled from our last baseball game).

The chocolate dipped pretzel sticks were a crowd favorite and so easy to boot.  And I nearly swooned when I ran across the ikat melamine plates at Tar-jay.  Love that place.

Sister inspires me to always have fresh flowers at a party - these were causal daisy and carnation arrangements thrown in Mason jars and topped with a pinwheel (from Party City).  I made eight... EIGHT... of these little flower arrangements from two bunches of flowers at Costco that totaled eighteen dollars!!!  That's two twenty-five a piece (to spare you the long division in your head.)

The "Drinks" table had fixin's for all sorts of Southern summer libations.  Sweet tea, lemonade, firefly, fresh mint, fresh lavender AND the requisite Coke, beer, wine and water.

At the first break in the clouds, we toted the newly painted picnic table out for the littles... only to carry in back in at the thunder that boomed and rain that ensued oh...about two minutes later :-)

It was raining cats and dogs at fireworks time and the club had to cancel the show.  But rest assured that the littles at our shin dig were just as happy as a lark putting on their own sparkler show.

All rain and little hiccups aside, we celebrated our country and our freedom enjoying the company of friends and family!  I can't think of much better than that.  And TODAY we had a visit from childhood bestie E and her THREE littles AND old neighbor S and her twins.  I adore looooong weekends!!!
xoxo

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