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7.03.2020

festive 'foo foo faux food' for the fourth!

beach style, coastal style, color, color palettes, crafting, decorating, DIY, diy decorating, dollar store crafts, foofoo Faux Food, Fourth of July, junk makeover, re-purposing, red white and blue, summer, Sweet Sweater Scoops, thrifted, trash to treasure, vintage paper, sweater crafts, paper crafts
a miracle happened yesterday... a thrift store near us was OPEN!
so, masked up with sanitizing wipes in hand, Mom and i tiptoed through the door
and were welcomed by a cheerful young lady who was wiping down the register counter.
only one other person was in the store, so we felt quite safe.

and on the way to the back of the shop, 
where there are many many bookshelves filled with many many books 
- for just ten cents each, which is why we LOVE this thrift shop! - 
i spied a brand new roll of vintage crepe paper (probably from the 70's)
and my weakness for vintage paper ephemera began nagging at me. 
(spurred on by the fact that i haven't been out thrifting since February!)
yes, i bought it. i spent a whole TWENTY FIVE CENTS on it!

nope, i had NO IDEA what i was going to use it for. i just couldn't resist.

but then i came home, sat it on the sideboard in my studio,
 next to a few small bottles holding old paper flags.
and an idea for a 'fast, cheap, & easy' accent for the Fourth of July was born!

click through to see the details...

6.28.2020

diy fourth of july

beach style, coastal style, color, color palettes, DIY, diy decorating, entertaining, events, Fourth of July, outdoors, party, re-purposing, red white and blue, summer, Sweet Sweater Originals, up-cycling
Fourth of July weekend is coming up in just DAYS,
and no matter where or how you are celebrating
during this crazy quarantine you probably need some easy 'use what you have' ideas!

so i've pulled together all of the previous red, white & blue projects, ideas, & decor
that i've shared here at homewardFOUND since 2012
to inspire your patriotic celebrations!

continue reading to see them all...

6.25.2020

NEW! Sweet Sweater Pops!

DIY, Fourth of July, original designs, re-purposing, red white and blue, summer, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Pops, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, Sweet Sweater Scoops, Sweet Sweater Snowmen, foofoo Faux Food
so a funny thing happened while i was creating my last blog post...
i was typing in additional ideas for accessories that one might use
on one's own versions of my Sweet Sweater Sandbabies.
things like ball caps popped into my mind. and THAT led me down a rabbit hole...
it went something like this:

"yeah! ball caps! ball caps?! baseball! hot dogs! beer! popcorn! 
POPCORN??!! waaaaaiiiiiiiit a minute... i have...."
at which point i ran out of my studio to the garage, to the party supply bins,
where i found the paper and plastic popcorn containers i knew were in there.

i returned to my studio and dragged out the box with sweater remnants,
and there was a bag filled with wonky fuzzy yarn that is the color of UNbuttered popcorn.
my crazy brain puts two and two together and the result is those guys up above:
Sweet Sweater Pops!
Red, White, and Blue PATRIOTIC Pops.

and then the ideas REALLY started poppin'... continue reading to see!

6.22.2020

NEW! Sweet Sweater Sandbabies!

art, art class, beach style, color, coastal style, diy decorating, DIY, Disneyland, just for fun, re-purposing, summer, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, Sweet Sweater Pumpkins, thrifted, sweater crafts, summer home decor, diy home decor
in my last post, i shared my new 'sweet sweater kakamora'
along with a 'flashback' to a previously unseen 'sweet sweater sandbaby':
art, art class, beach style, color, coastal style, diy decorating, DIY, Disneyland, just for fun, re-purposing, summer, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, Sweet Sweater Pumpkins, thrifted, sweater crafts, summer home decor, diy home decor
and he was cute.... but he needed some color to fit into my studio/office decor!

so i grabbed some bright beach buckets, white beach hats,
one last tan sweater from my stash, and one tan chenille 'sweet sweater pumpkin'
and started playing around....
the happy result was these three adorable beach babies in colorful buckets!

oh, but wait... i didn't stop there! keep reading to see what happened NEXT!

6.18.2020

NEW sweet sweater summer decor!

art class, beach style, coastal style, crafting, decorating, diy decorating, junk makeover, just for fun, original designs, re-purposing, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Kakamora, thrifted, tiki style, tropical style, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, summer home decor, summer diy decor
yes, yes, i HAVE lost my everlovin' mind, thankyouverymuch!

last Christmas, in the midst of my flurry of decorating in our Happy HULAdays theme,
i created some last-minute decor using.... you guessed it.... sweaters.
one photo of that project was part of this post back in December,
but really, the idea was so fun that it needs a bit more exposure.

with my mind on tikis and tropical style for summer, 
it's time to put them in the spotlight -
PLUS another beachy sweater creation from a few years back!

...continue reading for a bit of summer-y sweater fun!

6.15.2020

metal chair = magnet board!

art, art class, color, color palettes, crafting, creative spaces, DIY, diy decorating, dollar store crafts, fast cheap and easy, furniture, junk makeover, just for fun, makeover, re-purposing, wall art
a spur-of-the-moment solution to a project i'd been considering took over my weekend!
making a change to the black metal chair in this photo has been on my mind,
but i wasn't sure about the method. or the outcome. mostly, the permanence of it.
so it's been 'on the back burner' for awhile. um... years.
then a solution presented itself - and in less than ten minutes, i had done it!

continue reading to see the final colorful outcome of this crazy-easy undertaking,
and hear a tale about the chair in this photo. it's been on a journey to get to me...

6.12.2020

tropical gift bag wall art

art, art class, boho style, color, crafting, DIY, diy decorating, dollar store crafts, gift wrapping, paper crafts, re-purposing, summer, tiki style, tropical style, up-cycling, wall art, tropical leaf wall art
along with the plethora of tikis i've been creating,
i've added some other tropical decor elements to our home for summer...
elements like this leafy wall art, made from a plastic gift / tote bag!

continue reading for the easiest art project ever...

6.09.2020

tiki garden markers

art, crafting, decorating, DIY, diy decorating, garden art, garden, just for fun, junk makeover, outdoors, painting, re-purposing, summer, tiki style, up-cycling, trash to treasure, painted tikis, tiki art
in March, we worked on the raised herb garden in the backyard,
ordering plants online from our local nursery - who offered curbside no-contact pickup of our order
during our state's 'Shelter at Home' quarantine.
social distance gardening - who knew??!

the garden needed some plant markers,
so i came up with a way to utilize an item that we have a plethora of around here.
and that worked great - for awhile.
but with the recent infusion of tiki decor in our yard,
those original plant markers just didn't fit anymore. so i gave them a makeover!

continue reading to see their old and utterly ridiculous (and FUN!) new look!

6.06.2020

repurposed tiki signs

art, beach style, color, Christmas Decor Themes, Christmas Decor, crafting, DIY, diy decorating, faux finish, garden art, junk makeover, makeover, outdoors, re-purposing, summer, tiki style, woodcrafts, painted signs, handpainted signs, tropical decor, tiki bar, tiki totem, giant scrabble tiles, colorful home decor, summer home decor, diy summer decor
these signs appeared in my past two posts... one for each recent project.
do they look familiar to you? they should - you've seen them before!
  i shared them LAST YEAR as part of our Happy HULAdays theme - but they didn't look like this.

when i wanted signs to accompany recent tiki projects in our backyard,
i knew these pieces would work perfectly... and with a little paint, they did!
it's just one more way i can decorate using what i already have here at home.
if i can use summer tiki decor at Christmastime,
then i can re-purpose my Christmas decor as summer decor!

continue reading to see the before & after shots (and find out a secret about them)...