summer crafts Archives - grace grits and gardening

Ten Tips for a Fun Family Reunion!

June 14, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner 7 Comments

Here in the South we are all about “the reunion”. Family reunion, church reunion, class reunion… If you belong to a group of some sort—and of course you do!—there’s a good chance you’ll receive an invitation to a reunion before the end of summer. You may even be asked to plan it. Today I’m sharing my ten tips for a fun family reunion, tips to make yours a roaring success from planning to execution.

1. Planners gotta plan. There are a few people in our family who always step up and take charge. Whew! These people form the primary planning committee. They suggest two or three dates and a couple of locations and everyone votes. It’s the democratic way.

2. Spread the Word. Once a date and location is decided upon, it doesn’t take long to spread the word in our family. We are a group of talkers, and we have a family Facebook page. The thing to remember within a large family is that people get news different ways. It’s important to cover all the bases via email invitations, phone calls, Facebook, and mail paper invitations. (American Greetings has a great online site for printing free invitations!)Continue Reading

#RandomLoveLetter Bookmarks

July 1, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner 5 Comments

My friend Sarah, who blogs at Random Love Letter to Adventure, has been participating in a #RandomLoveLetter Instagram Challenge during the month of June. The idea behind this IG micro-challenge is to leave a note, a “random love letter”, in a public place for someone to find. Something unexpected to brighten someone’s day. As usual, I’m extremely late to the party, but on Sunday I became inspired to create #RandomLoveLetter Bookmarks to leave in each of the books in my Little Free Library.

This was a simple craft project especially since I had this incredible notepad from SugarBoo Designs purchased at Shindig Paperie in Fayetteville. There’s an inspirational saying or quote at the bottom of each page.

Not only is each page already perforated, there’s also a hole on one end begging for a ribbon. (If you don’t want to buy such a notepad, you could type up your own, right?)

This project is justification for saving every scrap of ribbon you happen upon all the live-long year. Not that I do that:) And the packages of vintage rick-rack you weren’t sure how you would use? Bingo.

Those ink stamps? Use them!

For a completely spur of the moment project, this turned out to be really fun. I made enough bookmarks for every book in my Little Free Library plus a few for later.

Speaking of books...I’m doing pretty well working my way through my “not so typical” summer reading list. If you missed my summer reading list click HERE.

So far I’ve finished The Girl on the Train (★★★★), The Deep Green Sea (★★★★), The Pleasure of My Company (★★★★), Hold Still Sally Mann (★★★), The Life and Adventures of an Arkansaw Doctor (★★★). I’ve also read a few that weren’t on my list including The Vacationers (★★★), Biography of Marilyn Monroe (★★★), and Stoning the Devil (★★★★).

What’s everyone reading?

Happy July 1! (Can you believe it’s July?)

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]A great reason to break out the #craft supplies! @Sarahdshotts @LtlFreeLibrary #RandomLoveLetter #summer #read [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Love Letter, Bangin’ Rackettes

Easy Peasy Breezy Vintage Hanky Bunting

June 15, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner 8 Comments

Haha. This is so simple it’s silly. Homemade bunting made from string or ribbon, teeny clothespins and vintage handkerchiefs (because everyone has a big stack, right?).

Right.

There’s just something about bunting and porches and summer. This vintage hanky bunting is cute for glamping or camping or decorating the barn for your next family reunion. Perfect for spiffing up your sidewalk lemonade stand or neighborhood porch party or vacation beach bonfire. Why let those vintage linens sit in a drawer all summer? They need to be clothesline, fresh-air, freeeeeee!

String up some ribbon or cord, pin up the handkerchiefs and there you have it. No sewing, because I don’t sew. Easy peasy breezy vintage hanky bunting.

As my blogger friend Jerusalem Greer calls it, homespun summer.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Easy peasy breezy #vintage hanky #bunting. #howto #homespunsummer [/tweetthis]

P.S. If by some odd coincidence you don’t have a drawer full of hankies, you can pick some up for a few dollars at flea markets everywhere. Or use craft paper. Or material scraps.

Musical Pairing:

Seals & Crofts, Summer Breeze

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.