DIY Country Décor For the 4th of July

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It’s hard for me to believe that the 4th of July is nearly here.  I’m hoping for a warm and sunny day with lot’s of good food and drink, along with a clear and starry night complete with fireworks and a roaring campfire to finish it off. 

To help make this Independence Day more festive I made this simple garland.  This decoration can be custom made to fit around any votive holder. 

If you’d like the instructions on how to make this decoration then click here.   I made a similar version (minus the buttons) for Valentine’s Day.  The only difference between the two is that the 4th of July garland has color coordinated buttons between every piece of material and the Valentine’s Day garland does not.

How do you want to celebrate your 4th this year?  Remember, if you aren’t hosting this years 4th celebration this would make a great hostess gift!

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Country Cute Valentine’s Day Garland

When I was in  high school, Valentine’s Day was centered around a huge carnation sale.   Every girl would anxiously watch to see who got the most red (I love you), pink (I like you), and white (just friends) carnations on that day.

Sadly, if I ever got a carnation it was from my mother who knew the toll the day usually took on me.  It wasn’t easy watching  some of the girls receive so many flowers that they needed a floral van to get them all home. 

Having gone through the pains of realizing I was never going to be one of those girls who needed a floral van, I am amazingly still a romantic at heart.   Lately, I have been aching to make a rich, chocolate dessert as a trial run for this years Valentine’s Day celebration.  However, I’ve also been trying to be good and avoid extra calories so I’ve limited myself to creating a non-fattening Valentine’s Day projects instead.  Please stick with me – one of these days my willpower will break and I will produce something much more irresistible than paper heart garland.  I promise!

For this project I used my Cricut. 

To make this project you will need:

Six – 4” hearts (as shown) cut from card stock

Six – 1” hearts (as shown) cut from a pretty print paper

Six – small strips of paper folded in half (glue on the back of each heart to string the rick rack through)

Six small buttons (you can use the same color, or mix and match like I did)

A Valentine’s theme stamp

Ink Pad

Embroidery thread

Thick needle

Rick Rack

Glue

Instructions:

Glue the small 1” hearts to the larger 4 “hearts.  Sew the buttons onto the 1” hearts.  Glue the small strips of paper to the backs of each 4” heart.  Stamp your 4” hearts last so you avoid smudging the ink.  Let everything dry thoroughly and string the hearts on a piece of rick rack that’s been cut to your desired length.

Are you a romantic?  Do you enjoy celebrating Valentine’s Day?

Cinnamon Rolls, or Kanelbulle

Did you know cinnamon buns (kanelbulle) originated in Sweden?  The Swedish even celebrate cinnamon roll day on October 4th.  Since I missed that celebration I’m proclaiming today, March 16th, cinnamon roll day in our house.

Hey, any excuse to make cinnamon rolls works for me.  How about you?

Honestly, I didn’t know this until I did a little research before writing this post.  I love knowing where foods originate from, or at least see who claims its origin first.

I’m thinking Sweden would be a  pretty good place to visit.   I love Swedish meatballs, cinnamon rolls, and Smörgåsbords.

I made these rolls as a project I’ve been (secretly) working on.  See below!

If you could visit another country, other than the one you live in, where would you want to go?  If you’re a traveler, where is your favorite travel destination?

The recipe for these cinnamon rolls is featured in my recently released cookbook;  In the sweet of it.  The e-book version is very affordable.  It offers 90 pages of my favorite recipes and full-page photos to drool over, all for the low price of $4.99!