Dancing with the Daffodils

 to me, spring is heralded by daffodils blooming

so i can't think of a better way to kick off the spring season here on HOMEWARDfound

 daffodils have always been my favorite flower...

it all started when i first saw the Disney cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland as a child:

the happy goofy silly 'daffy-o-dills' just made me smile!

 and every spring since, the nodding, bouncing, golden heads of narcissus

have been my spring flower of choice.
[image source]

when we moved from Southern California up to Seattle years ago,

we drove up to the Skagit Valley, North of Seattle, in March. 

as we crossed the river and drove in to the farmland,

 i saw a sight that quite literally took my breath away:

Fields of Golden Daffodils

 i was completely surrounded by
hundreds of acres filled with nodding, swaying, happy daffodil blooms!

i had never seen anything like that before... and i was in my own little heaven.
in april, those same fields are home to hundreds of acres of tulips, for the world-famous Tulip Festival.

but to me, the daffodils are the stars...

I wandered lonely as as a cloud

    That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

    A host of golden daffodils,

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

    And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretched in never-ending line

    Along the margin of the bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

    Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: --

A poet could not but be gay

    In such a jocund company!

I gazed, and gazed, but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie

    In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

    Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

 ~ William Wordsworth

whether you get them at a farmstand, a garden center, the grocer, or your own yard,

a bunch of daffodils is a simple and inexpensive way to bring spring home
even before spring gets here! 

 

Heartfelt Thanks

thank you all for playing along for the past month,

visiting the HOMEWARDfound blog, facebook page, pinterest boards, and HOMEtalk posts!

the countdown is over...

but you can still catch up on all 31 posts - just click here!

[ and stay tuned.... SPRING IS COMING! ]

tout de suite

Welcome to Day 29!

imagine if the shelves shown in yesterday's post were in a kitchen, instead of in my office.
 you could create a quick little display tout de suite*
just by raiding the kitchen cabinets & drawers:

 cake pans, cupcake wrappers & box, cookie cutters, and a few edible goodies
become decor items! easy. or, rather...

[*tout de suite ]
which is one of the most common expressions in the French language,
and is just one of several ways to say "right away, immediately."

now what if you grabbed a little bit more from the kitchen,
and pulled together a candy bar beneath those shelves?

it might look a lil' something like this:

the best part? 
the candy AND darling 'cookies on a stick' ALL came from the dollar store
and the glass vases & candleholders came from thrift shops!

This is a simple, easy idea for a family-time Valentine's Day dessert
that your kids are sure to love

* leftover Christmas candycanes fit the color scheme and fill up a huge vase

* smaller lidded jars hold cheap but cute dollar store candies,

and a tiny butter dome holds some jellied fruits wrapped in red & white wrappers

 * decorated cookies-on-a-stick stand in a cup lined with doilies

* dotted wrapping paper forms the base of the decor

* an overturned custard dish acts as a pedestal for a cupcake
[and a flattened cupcake paper forms a colorful 'saucer' beneath it]
* small red glass heart plates stand inside raised candleholders, secured with hard wrapped candies

several other ideas from HOMEWARDfound are shown above:

wrapped glass vases [view post here]

bakers' twine tags [view tutorial here]

shared online:
2016: one project closer | creativity unleashed link party
 

All Together Now...

Welcome to Day 28!

this Valentine Vignette  

sits above my desk, and is the first thing i see when i walk into the office.

it's a small space that benefits from very little 'tweaking'

by adding new elements each season / month, along with just a touch of color.

you probably have a windowsill, or an entry table
that is the first thing you see when you walk into your home or kitchen...
it's a perfect place to create a seasonal vignette!

elements like the white ironstone pitchers & mini bowls and the white silk tulips 

are used almost all year long.

the simple addition of some aluminum heart-shaped cake pans

[picked up for 25 CENTS each at a thrift shop],

the L-O-V-E letter tiles, 

and the red & white striped hearts and cupcake papers

makes this arrangement say 'Valentine's Day'.

the photo above brings together two previous ideas from HOMEWARDfound:

 gift tags and hearts, cut from an old box [ see tutorial here ]

and

giant letter tiles [ see tutorial here ]

Stop the Presses!

Welcome to Day 27!

i had a completely different post ready for today...

then i went to Barnes & Noble yesterday, and spied something SO FABULOUS

that it is just too good NOT to share!

i don't know why they do it, 

but Barnes & Noble offers reprints of the original 

1800's - 1900's Sears, Roebuck & Company catalogs!

yes, the same ones that used to be dropped with a THUMP onto your porch each summer,

just in time to pick out 'back to school' clothes and dream over toys for Christmas. 

i spied that volume on the sales shelf and grabbed my phone to take a shot to share

[while an older gentleman on the same aisle looked at me suspiciously...]

inside the book are hundreds of pages with thousands of vintage images 

and words in antique typography

that would be PERFECT for paper crafts! 

do you create collages? mixed media art? 

are you like me and wrap everything that's boring in paper of the vintage variety?

this is just a fabulous solution that saves you the time and trouble

of rooting through boxes in barns, antique stores and thrift shops 

to find old magazines for your projects.

those paper crafts shown in yesterday's PARTY post? 

you could totally make that stuff with these catalog pages - instead of sheet music.
for any holiday or season!

a Sweet Treat Party!

Welcome to Day 26!

the photos in this post are from a retail display that i created

one Valentine's Day in a vintage boutique... 

i was inspired by my own 8th birthday party

[one of my favorites, and i remember it in great detail!]

from the pink streamers overhead to the kitchen setting,

and the strawberry 'ice cream' to the pink 'cake',

[some of my original 'FooFooFauxFood'TM designs]

so i had a lot of fun putting this together!

first, here's a look at the whole 'party':

 

second, some of the details:

 * a pink child's skirt is the lampshade cover, with a sweet ribbon bow to hold it in place.

     *  'ice cream' in bowls is made from chenille bedspreads and topped with fuzzy white yarn
 * 'ice cream cones' are Christmas ornaments in vintage paper cones with crepe paper ruffles

* party hat is a dollar store purchase, dolled up with vintage papers & ribbons

 * 'bon bons' are tiny Christmas ornaments in cupcake liners

 * stacked glass plate, casserole lid, and footed bowls create a pedestal to hold the bon bons

 * round notepads with pink design look like cookies on a cookie sheet in the open vintage oven

 * the 'cake' is a round tin, covered in chenille from a bedspread and a lace doily

 * sweet favor flags (and banner on back wall) are made from sheet music and stickers

 * this photo [up in my February banner image and used a few times in other posts]

was taken in this display setup, too...

the chair hung on the wall, to the right and above the white vintage stove.

shared online:

project inspire{d} | cupcakes and crinoline

Happy Weekend!

now go create somethin' !

Think Outside the Box!

back in November, i was rummaging through my Mom's holiday decor stash,

 and i found a bunch of old ornaments inside

a Miller's Outpost box, shown in the photo above

ok, i'm REALLY going to date myself here by saying that 'back in the day', 

Millers was THE place to shop for cool clothes.

it was like H&M or Abercrombie are today. it was COOL.

but looking at this old, faded, tired-looking 25-year-old box, you'd never know that.

i decided that even though [or maybe especially because] it was OLD, 

this survivor of a Millers Outpost box had some redeeming qualities

[not the least of which is the faded vintage paper color]

and needed to be re-purposed into something else.

well, i couldn't figure out a single thing to make out of it at Christmas...

but shortly afterward, i had a brainstorm:

those red stripes would be perfect on hearts & tags in February!

continue reading for not one but TWO 'Fast, Cheap & Easy' tutorials:

how to turn a shirt box into gift tags and hearts!
[and shirt boxes are FREE with a purchase from department stores,
so even if you don't need one, get one as craft supplies! ]

continue reading for the tutorial...