summer bunting diy

I love me a cute bunting.  Can't, for the life of me, ever figure out where to hang them in my home, but I love them!  This one is especially great for summer.  Doesn't watermelon just scream summer?  Ahh...the sweetness that is the melon...  This sucker is really easy to make and fun, even if you don't quite know where to put it.  (:

What You Will Need:

1. Red paper

2. Green paper (I used cardstock)

3. Tape

4. Scissors and/or paper cutter

5. Black marker

6. Baker's twine

7. Glue stick

8. White(ish) paper

9. Pen or pencil 

What To Do:

1. Fold one sheet of green paper in half and draw out a triangle.  With paper still folded, cut along the line.  Using cut out triangle as a guide, fold other sheets of green paper and trace shape.

2. Once the triangles are all traced onto the green paper, cut them out.

3. Grab the red paper.  Fold each piece into equal thirds.  Using one of the green triangles as a template, trace the shape onto the red, folded paper.  The lines won't reach all the way to the top, that's okay!  Complete tracing onto all of the red paper.

4.  Cut off paper from where the lines end on the paper.  This will be the top of your triangles.  Then cut along traced lines and you'll have a bunch of red triangles to match your green.

5.  Using your handy, dandy glue stick, affix one red triangle directly on top of each green triangle, matching the points together.

6.  This is where a paper cutter is really handy, especially one with a ruler feature.  Cut 1/2-inch wide strips of the white paper.  You can vary the size all you want, for me this was a width that seemed to work proportionally.  Glue the white strips  across the seam of the red and green triangles.

7.  Trim off the ends of the white strips.  At this point, I realized I had too much green on top, so I trimmed about an inch off of each watermelon slice.

8.  With a marker, draw in the watermelon seeds randomly on each slice.  To hang, tape baker's twine to the back of the triangles about an inch down.  You can glue it on, I was just lazy and didn't want to deal with hot glue at the moment.  

Et voila!  Cute bunting for you! 

Where would you hang yours?  Use it for a picnic? Fourth of July party?  Or just hang it in your kitchen like me?  Happy crafting, friends!

snowmageddon

We're in the middle of another winter storm and I'm home reflecting on how a few short weeks after Atlanta was totally crippled by an inch of snow.  Today we're facing ice, which could be much, much worse, but the snow of two weeks ago was an adventure...

.....

It was a Tuesday morning like any other, with Mr. F and I both driving into the city for work.  The skies were clear with the threat of clouds on the horizon.  On the radio, the meteorologists prophesied the storm of the century.  Sturdy Midwestern stock that we are, we did not believe such dooms-dayers.

At 10, after only a few hours of work, reports of snow trickled in and a few schools that had not closed yet announced early closings.  My boss quickly grabbed her belongings and told me to call Mr. F and vacate the city as soon as possible.  We left around noon, confident that we were beating traffic.

We got home at 5.

I kid you not.  The snow amassed to an inch or snow, but the real crisis emerged from every commuter, of which there are many, evacuating at the same time.  Our trip home from downtown should usually only take us an hour or so.  Max.  It took us that long just to get on the freeway.  It was crazy!

The snow was beautiful and a real treat after being without it while in Cyprus.  But after four and a half hours in the car, avoiding death and standstills, we felt a lot like this...

source

Last weekend it was warm and sunny.  Go figure! No more ice, no more snow...  Such a strange place this Atlanta...

(To all you Midwesterners, I know how ridiculous this story sounds as you are literally buried in snow.  Hang in there! Spring is coming!  Soon?)

the pumpkin patch

First off, how is it fall already?! WHAT THE HECK?!  This year is just flying and I can't seem to keep on top of it!  Anyway...I saw this thing on Pinterest ages ago where someone had painted a plastic pumpkin from a garage sale.  The result was awesome and naturally, I have no idea where the link to said project is.  Not long after my Pinspiration, I was walking through the Dollar Tree where they were just putting out fall items.  On the top of the shelf was an ugly, nearly fluorescent orange pumpkin that claimed to be carvable.  I could care less about the carving factor, snagged, one, took it home, and decided to make it look like the rustic gourd I had seen on Pinterest.  The result surprised me and I'm wanting to make more!

Here's what you'll need:

plastic or papier-mâché pumpkin

craft paint

.5 inch to 1-inch flat paintbrush

painter's tape

1. I wanted the stem to be a different color, so I taped it off with painter's tape.  

2. That orange is MIGHTY bright, so I started with a base coat of beige paint and let it dry a bit.

3. Add contrasting colors.  Craft paint lends itself really well to blending, which I forgot. I wanted more of an impressionistic, splotchy look at the end.  I kept painting with various shades of green, brown, and yellow to give some high and lowlights.

4. The green was too green, so I went back to the beige after the dark coat had thoroughly dried.  I added it lightly to let some of the green peek out.  

5. After settling on the beige, I removed the painter's tape and browned up the stem. 

6.  With the dark stem, I added a few splotchy brown lowlights to the body of the pumpkin for a bit of texture.

This was a serious process of "by guess and by gosh" where I tried what worked for me.  There was a lot of blending, repainting, and some eventually shrugging and just going with it.  If you take this too seriously, it'll be a lot less fun.  

So, one more time...

...before...

...and after!

spring

Believe it or not, spring actually happened here in Floria.  I think it's about over, but the difference between now and a month ago is astounding.  While everything has been green since our arrival in February, buds are now sprouting everywhere and anywhere.  Dormant trees burst with blossoms, plants explode out of their pots, and life starts anew.  

Even though we've been living in Cyprus, a totally different climate than I grew up in, the flora of Central Florida totally bewilders me.  Where I planted wildflowers, hydrangeas, and hostas in the Midwest, here  I'm seeking out hardy succulents, gardenias, bougainvillea, and lantana.  It's so foreign to me and to my sensibilities, but I'm learning to love it and am savoring the tropical abundance.

cyprus monday: through the looking glass

Did I ever tell you that Mr. F lived in South America for a couple of years?  No? Well, he did!  He gets very nostalgic sometimes, remembering the people, the buildings, and all the rice and chicken.  Then he starts speaking purely in Spanish and I have no idea what's going on anymore.  Around this time of year, his nostalgia dwells on how strange it was being in the southern hemisphere, where fall is spring and winter, summer.  He never quite got accustomed to the idea of not just a warm but a hot Christmas.

While I have no southern hemisphere tales of my own, living here feels just as topsy turvy as I imagine  Mr. F's experiences in South America to have been.  While my friends and family back in the States begin shoveling their driveways, I am putting out pots of flowers on my patio.  The sun shines, and the whole island turns into the most glorious blanket of green, a far cry from the tufty down of a freshly fallen snow.  Fields of yellow wildflowers mark the distance between villages and lemon trees wilt under the weight of their fruit.  It is my favorite of all the seasons in Cyprus, when Mother Nature beckons you to see what she has created.


thanks to everyone who responded on facebook yesterday!  this post marks the beginning of the Cyprus Monday segment.  tune in on Mondays to catch glimpses of island scenery, how to navigate the grocery store, woes of the post office, and so much more from our time here in Cyprus.

making my own fall

If the season doesn't come to the island, the island must come to the season.

ode to the silhouette

I am not a scrapbooker.  My idea of scrapbooking involves colored pencils and illustrating  a would-be children's book.  My friend, however, is.  She's got some of the coolest gadgets and doohickeys this scrapbooking illiterate girl has ever seen!  Over the summer, she acquired a Silhouette machine.  She was excited.  I was confused.

Well, let me tell you, my confusion is gone.  That thing is the COOLEST!  She let me come over for hours the other day so we could let the machine cut out page after page of leaves for me to use for a party this weekend.  The only reason it took us hours is because we kept talking.  Lots.  It was fun.  She showed me a couple other projects she's working on with her new toy and I've about decided to move into her craft room.  It's so cool!

Anyway, with my bag of leaves in hand, I suddenly had ample ammunition for a fall project, not just table sprinkles.  Insert the fall garland. {Cue band with cheesy intro music.}  Since the leaves are made of scrapbook paper, all I had to do was run a few basic stitches with a needle and thread through each leaf and presto chango, we've got a garland!  I love me a garland..so much...

I decided to keep the stich loose so I can maybe use the leaves later and make a wreath out of them.  Options, options...  If you're not as indecisive as me and actually own one, I suggest running the leaves through a sewing machine for a more stable, but fluid, hold.

Now I'm just waiting for this party to be over so I can bring these leaves home, hang them, and pretend it's actually fall here and not 90-degrees.  sigh...  Might be time for another trip to the mountains.

pondering

Sitting here at the office with Mr. F tonight, it's hard to believe that fall could really be happening in other parts of the world.  It's still well over 90 during the days, but the nights are blissfully cool.  I caught myself today really wishing for the Cypriot winter to come.  Days just cool enough for sweaters and mountains covered in green grass.  The fact that I'm still wearing shorts day in and day out is rather perplexing.  Bring on the sweaters!

falling...

Were it not for my tall guy waiting for me on the island, I probably would have put up more of a fuss when I left Michigan.  Remember how I scheduled my time home for one very specific art fair?  As cultured as I pretend to be, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I really came home for the cider mill and more importantly, the cider mill donuts.

Just before I left Michigan, fall was making her annual debut.  This is unabashedly my favorite time of year. The leaves, the sweaters, the chill in the breeze that whispers of winter. I got to see the farmers' markets stuffed with tomatoes and mums.  There's something about mums in the fall that gets me every time...  There was a deplorable lack of cider due to droughts and lack of apples, but the breezes and donuts were available in abundance.

Life has been running on full gear since I've returned.  Amid our move, which is still ongoing, we've both been working, sifting through seven different time zones, dealing with car issues up the ying yang, handling more immigration issues, and juggling more things than I thought we could.  I am so looking forward to a few free Saturdays in October when I can kidnap Mr. F and whisk him away to the Troodos mountains of Cyprus.  We can hide from the boxes which I'm sure will still not be unpacked and escape to the cool mountain air that reminds me so much of home in the autumn.  We'll watch the leaves change and catch some souvlaki.  Not necessarily cider mill donuts, but hey, it's all Greek to me!

season's end

The first fruits of my favorite season.  So glad to be home to see autumn starting to make its debut.  It's just not the same without glorious trees changing color all around you...

a few things to get you through the weekend....

really loved this post about one family's journey in a new place.  It echoed many of my feelings about our time in Cyprus.

Wanting to make a planter like this for the new apartment.  It's just so cool!

Anyone else thinking about Christmas decorations yet? (Really love the snowflake...)

Found a guide for homemade mixes.  Do you like doing things from scratch or from the box?  After this last year, I'm a from scratch girl.

Loving absolutely everything about this quilt!

happy things

Sitting on the hill with Mr. F, imagining our future, eating döner kebab and watching the sunset.

Sunsets over freshly tilled fields.

Laughing.

Emails from Church members in Cyprus saying, "We can't wait to meet you!"

Realizing how much debt Mr. F and I have been able to pay off since we've been married.

Realizing that we were able to make such a huge dent whilst unemployed.

 

Döner kebab.  It's cheap. It's yummy.  It's replaced chicken nuggets in my life.

 

  

Dribbles of Greek yoghurt on Mr. F's sleepy face as he tries to eat döner kebab.

 

Harvest moons.

The need for sweaters and scarves now that the seasons have morphed.

Talking for hours about how good things are.

Mr. F playing music as he left for work this morning.

Knowing that we'll be with family again in eight days.

Knowing there's a 32 ounce fountain coke from Macadocious waiting for me in Amrika.

Dinner plans with friends.

  

 

 

Feeling like we're gonna be more than fine in Cyprus.