Put a little “Spring” in your (Boot) Step!

10 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment

by seasonalhome in SPRING! Tags: bandana, boot, boot embelishment, boots

Peeking into The Seasonal Home’s closet…. here’s an idea for channeling your inner country girl to take your boots into Spring. Tie 1 or 2 bandanas around them to match/coordinate with your cute cotton dresses this spring!

Spring Garden Project

10 Feb 2012 1 Comment

by seasonalhome in Home, Outdoor Designs, SPRING!, SUMMER Tags: adhesive, bowl, cup, Decoration, floral, Flower, Garden, glass, Handmade, homemade, plate, saucer, vase, votive

Do you have some mis-matched plates, saucers, bowls, cups or votive cups tucked way in the back of your cabinets? Or, maybe you have a chipped or cracked plate that you inherited from a relative and just can’t throw away? Even if you don’t have any of these items, you can still enjoy the following project, I saw at my local garden shop, by shopping for the ingredients at thrift stores or garage sales and the end result will be an adorable keepsake for your garden.

When looking for the ingredients to make these flowers, the best combination is typically a dinner-size plate, bowl, tea cup, votive cup, old vase or salt-cellar. Tap into your own style & creativity, however, keep in mind that coordinating colors makes for the best & most attractive combination. Also consider colored glass (as one of the pieces) to create the most artistic drama in the sunlight.

Sometimes, people drill holes in the center of each ingredient and then bolt them together, however, it is much easier to glue each of the ingredients together using a weatherproof, clear adhesive called GE silicone II for Windows & Doors. The flowers above were professionally made and the artist went to the trouble of crafting green metal leaves to weld onto a green metal stem, but that is totally beyond my own capability and I’m guessing yours as well. So my solution is to purchase re bar (available at hardware stores) and spray paint it green. I also love the ease (shown in photo on right) of gluing a small, straight-sided vase to the back plate of your flower (upside down) so your creation can be easily propped on top of your newly green, re bar stem before placing it in the garden.

Some helpful hints:

ONLY work in a well-ventilated area (like outside)
Protect your work surface
Have a cloth rag handy to wipe any excess glue, especially off of you (lol)
Practice first! Put your combinations together, before gluing, until you are happy with the completed flower look you create
As you place your combinations together, use chalk, a pencil or masking tape to mark around the outside of each area where the glue will attach, so you won’t have to re-position the pieces
Apply the adhesive to the back of each piece, at the highest, protruding point
Press each piece gently & firmly in place and wait at least 10-15 minutes between placements for the silicone adhesive to set up. If it doesn’t set up in apx. 10-15 minutes, it may be old and you should return it to the store.
Wait 48 hours before placing the finished flower in the garden. Use this time to spray paint your re bar green!
Consider using several different lengths of re bar to create different flower heights in your garden

Below are some closeups, you can click on to see a larger view and more detail. Hopefully, they will inspire your own creations… they certainly inspired me!

Enjoy the Creativity!

Eileen

2 quick ideas for your Super Bowl party

30 Jan 2012 1 Comment

by seasonalhome in SUPER BOWL Tags: 46, Decorating, food, Football, game, Giants, hamburger, Idea, meal, NBC, New England, New York, Patriots, Prize, score, Super Bowl, superbowl, touchdown, winner, XLVI

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s that time of year again!

Time for creative commercials, face-painted fans and superstar half-time entertainment… and oh yeah, a championship game – SUPER BOWL XVLI! And if you’re planning a get together for the big game, I have a couple of ideas to make the party more interesting….

CREATIVE FOOD

Why not “streeeeeetch” out the your burger patties (when making them) to create a football shape. Also, cut long & short, thin slices of (thick-cut) pepper jack cheese and have them ready to pop on top of your burger near the end of the grilling process. The upside – it will save a few calories (using less cheese), create the look of a football and a highly-flavored cheese has more punch, so less will be more, in this case. Consider some raw almonds as one of the side dishes… they’re football shaped and healthy! Also, instead of lettuce to top off the burger, offer your guests leaf spinach. It will be healthier and also put the grid-IRON on your burger ( get it? lol).

ADD YOUR OWN COMPETITION

click to enlarge

Finally, why not throw a little healthy competition into the party mix? If you don’t already own them, head to the store because many of them (esp. party stores) already have Easter decorations out, so you’ll probably have no problem finding “football-shaped” plastic eggs. They’re inexpensive ($2 for a bag of them), so they’d be the perfect storage container for your guests to place their game winning score prediction. To make it easy, set out 2 separate bowls and label one for the Patriots and one for the Giants. Set these out with some slips of paper and a pen at the beginning or end of the food table so each of your guests can write down their name and what they predict to be the winner’s score. Instruct them to then, place their prediction in a football egg, close it and drop it in the bowl of who they predict to be the winner. Finally, have them also (anonymously) write down their “score” prediction on a nearby pad of paper (under their winning team’s name) for everyone to see, so there are no duplicate predictions for either team. At the end of the game, open the eggs in the winning team’s bowl to determine who came the closest to their final score, without going over, and have a prize (restaurant gift certificate would be perfect!) for the winner.

Good luck to both the New England Patriots and New York Giants; it looks to be a great game! [kickoff is Sunday, February 5, 2012 @ 6:30 p.m. on NBC]

And while you’re here, don’t forget to check out my other easy, YUMMY recipes under the RECIPES tab, located in the top tool bar of this page.

Enjoy the Creativity… and the game!

Eileen

A Cozy Valentine’s Day

26 Jan 2012 5 Comments

by seasonalhome in VALENTINE'S Day Tags: Cupid, Decor, Decorating, Decorations, Heart, Idea, Kiss, Love, ST. VAlentine's DAy, Tree, Valentine, VALENTINE'S Day, Wreath

[CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO SEE A LARGER VIEW]

So many places are still chilly during the Valentine’s Day season, so here is a cozy spot to curl up with a book, magazine or on the lap of your sweetheart. And if you compare these photos to The Seasonal Home’s 2011 Christmas photos, you’ll notice that many Christmas decorations were re-purposed to create our Valentine’s Day scene, including:

White Christmas Tree, White Christmas Wreath. 3 Red Glitter Cones, and a Planter (tree is in) has been spray painted white.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Enjoy the Creativity!

Eileen

Early Valentine gift to Mother Nature

06 Jan 2012 6 Comments

by seasonalhome in Outdoor Designs, VALENTINE'S Day Tags: bird, bird feed, Birds, birdseed, Christmas Tree, feed the birds, food, Frazier Fir, meal, Nature, Ornament, peanut butter, Recycle, Repurpose, St. Valentine, ST. VAlentine's DAy, Valentine, Winter

[click on photos, for larger view]

During Christmas, I purchased a small, inexpensive Frazier Fir tree to place inside a beautiful winter sled-tree stand given to me by one of my clients. I loved the idea of having a fresh tree on The Seasonal Home’s front porch (close to the front door) so I can enjoy a wonderful pine smell each time I pass by.

It just so happened that I placed the tree in front of the kitchen window and one day, while doing the dishes, I noticed a sweet bird, who landed in my fir tree to rest. I would have been thrilled if my feathered visitor had stayed long enough for me to take a photo, but as quick as it landed… it was gone. I immediately started thinking about ways I could encourage more birds to visit the tree (it’s just too wonderful to recycle yet!), but it wasn’t until I was about to throw out a stale loaf of bread that the solution came to me… fill my tree with welcome winter bird treats!

Even though I’m still filtering my way through organizing holiday decorations, my thoughts are already heading towards St. Valentine’s Day. And based on the huge amount of visitors, to my site, who are searching for Valentine, St. Patrick’s Day & Easter ideas, I must not be alone in that thought process (lol)! Anyway, those thoughts gave me the idea to pull out my Valentine cookie cutter and use it to create several winter birdie (treat) ornaments to hang on my tree.

So, after gathering my jar of peanut butter, a roll of thin ribbon, my container of bird seed and the loaf of stale bread, I was ready to go into production. First, I used my cookie cutter to create heart-shaped pieces of bread. Next, I spread peanut butter on one side (of each piece) and using a toothpick, poked a hole in the center of the top/middle of each side of the heart. Now, it was time to feed the ribbon through the 2 holes and tie a knot. (HINT): I found that the bread dries out quickly, so it would be best to create the 2 holes & feed the ribbon through, as soon as you’ve spread the peanut butter. The last step is to dip the side of the bread with peanut butter on it into a plate of bird seed and your ornaments are complete and ready to hang!

I hope lots of feathered friends visit my tree of winter treats and allow me the privilege of photographing their beauty, in exchange.

Enjoy the Creativity!

Eileen

Transition your Christmas tree into a NEW YEAR’S Celebration tree

30 Dec 2011 8 Comments

by seasonalhome in NEW YEARS! Tags: celebrate, celebration, Decorate, Decoration, New Year, New Year tree, New Year's Eve, New Years, Party

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[click on any photo for a larger view]

It’s time to decorate for our New Year’s Eve party and I saw an opportunity to change one of my Christmas trees into a New Year’s Celebration Tree – to add a new twist to our party!

If you checked out my 2011 Holiday photos (http://seasonalhome.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/christmas-2011/), you probably noticed the “Pepperminty” flat-back, white, wall tree in my kitchen. I also shared the directions for making my creative tree skirt/box in another post (http://seasonalhome.wordpress.com/2011/11/26/unique-christmas-tree-skirt-ideas/).

I began by removing all of the red & white decorations from the tree and pulling out my tree skirt/box to re-wrap it, using black wrapping paper. Next, I used one 11″ x 14″ black & one 11″ x 14″ white foam sheets. Out of the white foam sheet, I cut a large triangle out of the white and 2 small triangles to create the chest & collar area of a tuxedo shirt. Out of the black foam sheet, I cut 3 circles (for the shirt buttons) and 1 bow tie shape. The fact that they were self-adhesive made assembling these pieces super easy and adhering it to my box a no-brainer! All I had to do then is re-slide my “tuxedo” box back into position under the tree.

I created a black top hat by also wrapping a circle and rectangle of poster board with black gift wrap and adding self-adhesive “2012″ letters and some silver tinsel garland. This would be even easier if you happen to have black poster board, of course.

Finally, I added black, frosted white, gold (onion shape) and silver glittery ornaments as well as HAPPY NEW YEAR light covers, crystal starbursts and clock-face ornaments to the tree and my New Year’s decoration was complete.

Some other decorations you might consider adding:

Crossed plastic champagne stems (tie them together with shiny ribbon and add gold basket filler (inside the flutes) to simulate champagne
Balloons
Party Blowers and Poppers
Metallic star sprays
“Happy New Year” banners (place these on the tree like you would ribbon)

Here’s the finished product… I hope this idea saves you some time AND money so you can enjoy your New Year’s celebration! Don’t forget to check out my other New Year celebrating ideas under the NEW YEARS! category (in the right hand column of this page). Also consider adding a surprise or inspirational sentiment inside each balloon for your guests to pop and enjoy at the end of the evening (thank you Gina!).

Enjoy the Creativity!

Eileen

New Year’s Tradition

28 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment

by seasonalhome in NEW YEARS! Tags: Activity, family, Family Tradition, Jay Leno, New Year, New Year's Eve, New Years, Ron Howard, Tradition

As evidenced, by my book, I absolutely “heart” family traditions. This post is about someone “famous” who also appears to enjoy celebrating, with family traditions.

If I had to name a person in Hollywood that I admire, it would definitely be RON HOWARD. I’ve been watching and enjoying his career my entire life. But, I don’t think I admired him any more than after I saw an interview he did with Jay Leno right after Christmas 2010. During the interview, Ron discussed his (grown) family’s New Year’s tradition where they create a small bon fire (you could also use a portable fire pit) to sit around.

They each write down something negative (in their life… maybe a bad habit or memory) and throw it into the fire, in a ceremonial gesture to rid themselves of it. Below is a video link to www.Hulu.com if you’d like to check out the actual interview with Ron Howard and Jay Leno (there’s a short commercial first, unfortunately, but the video will begin immediately after that). It’s short and pretty funny, so I think you’ll enjoy the giggle.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Eileen

Last Minute Christmas Decorating Ideas

21 Dec 2011 1 Comment

by seasonalhome in CHRISTMAS! Tags: Candy, Candy Cane, Candy decorating idea, Christmas Candy decoration, CHRISTMAS!, Gumball, Handmade, homemade, outdoor candy, outdoor christmas decoration, plastic wrapped candy, wrapped candy

[click on any photo to see a larger view]

Are you finding that shopping, card sending and party-attending has left you with very little time to create holiday magic in your home? Then, here are a few ideas you can try.

Ribbon is definitely your friend, in a pinch. Below are a few photos (I took in a store) that demonstrate that idea perfectly, and they highlight both indoor & outdoor items. Obviously, stores can’t afford to completely switch out merchandise for each holiday season, so they learned a long time ago that adding (holiday-appropriate) ribbon to an everyday object creates an instant holiday feeling!

Don’t have any ribbon handy? Head outside and trim some greenery from the garden. You can add that to anything – OR – simply place ornament balls on top of candle holders or in any container, like I did in this bowl -

The ribbon idea also works great for outdoor decorating –

And finally, here’s a cute outdoor “CANDY” idea. There is something special about gumballs, so I rolled out a (apx.) 2 ft. length of plastic wrap and placed a ball at one end, in the center (I found these leftover last year at Michael’s Craft store… I don’t think anyone knew what to do with them… lol). Next, I rolled the ball & plastic wrap forward. I cut an apx. 12″ length of ribbon and tied a single knot around the plastic wrap, at each end of the ball. I took some additional ribbon and created 3 loops, then placed the center of the loops in the center of the tied length of ribbon and tied a 2nd single knot to secure the loops. This created a bow on each end, which I fluffed and finished by trimming the excess plastic wrap on each end.

Below is the finished look. I used them in my goat cart in the front yard.

Enjoy the Creativity!

Eileen

Christmas 2011

11 Dec 2011 3 Comments

by seasonalhome in CHRISTMAS! Tags: Candy, chocolate, CHRISTMAS!, Decor, Decorating, Decorating Ideas, Decorations, Elf, Garland, Gingerbread, Gumdrop, Holiday, ideas, penguin, Peppermint, Santa, Star, Tree, Whimsical, Wreath

[click on any photo for a larger view & click the BACK arrow to return to this page]

The Seasonal Home is ready for Christmas 2011!! Check out the musical video tour under the VIDEO section above and if you like my style, feel free to check out my DVD under the SHOP section (above). I hope my creativity inspires some new decorating ideas for you this year and in the future. Enjoy ….