DIY Summer Tote

Thank you for visiting. I now have a new home at www.countrypeony.com. I hope you will find me there.

Lilly Pulitzer is all about beautiful florals and vibrant colors. My kind of designer! So I was very excited to jump into the next edition of the Style Soiree! - Link Party Summer Series, featuring Lilly Pulitzer. Last month, when Kate Spade was showcased I featured my DIY gold polka dot shirt.

I still don't have the perfect summer tote, so I was inspired by Lilly Pulitzer to create one. I was drawn to Lilly's First Impression print for my tote.

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Today I am linking up at Our Fifth House, Pinterest Told Me To, Rain on a Tin Roof, Southern State of Mind, and Effortless Style to showcase my very simple DIY Lilly Pulitzer inspired summer tote.

This project is what I feel every project should be. It was very much like summer, because it was fun, easy, and allowed me to be free with my approach. I didn't want the lines and colors to be perfect. I wanted to create a free-flowing, watercolor-look like much of Lilly's prints.

For this project, you will need: a canvas tote (I purchased mine at Michaels for $3.99), stencil, stencil brushes, paintbrush, acrylic craft paint, and cardboard to place inside the tote to prevent paint from seeping through (I used leftover packing foam).  



After you iron the canvas and free it of any wrinkles, place your cardboard or any flat surface inside the canvas so that paint doesn't seep through.

You can choose to have a design or you can roll with it. As I mentioned above, I was very free with my process. So I placed my first stencil down, and applied the paint with a flat stencil paintbrush. 

I continued to apply stenciled flowers in open spaces on my bag. Once I was happy with the look and amount of flowers, I started to paint color in between the flowers. I wanted to leave some white in areas, so I wasn't very heavy with my paint approach.

You can decide to stop here. However, I added some light pink inside the flowers to give them more texture. I also added leaves by using two shades of green and white paint. Once one side was complete and fully dry, I turned the bag over and repeated the process on the opposite side. 

Hope you enjoy creating your own bag, and I hope you are enjoying the summer months.  

Homemade Crock Pickles

Thank you for visiting. I now have a new home at www.countrypeony.com. I hope you will find me there.

I would like to apologize for my absence. I was very busy with work last week. I hope your week has started off on the right note.

The smells and tastes of today's homemade recipe remind me of sweet summertime, just as much as squash does. I recently showed you how to make homemade dill pickles. Today, I will show you a much simpler and faster process that will  lead to homemade crock pickles. They are the perfect addition to any summer soiree, and they make wonderful gifts.  

For this recipe, you will need: water (I used 6 cups of water), pickling/canning salt (I used 1/4 cup of salt), white distilled vinegar (I used 1/2 cup of vinegar), recycled mason jars (I used 2 mason jar quarts), dill (I used 2 sprigs), onions, garlic clove (I used 1 garlic clove), cucumbers, and grape leaves (this ingredient is optional).  

Like many hand-me-down recipes, the measurements are not exact. So please feel free to experiment with your ingredients to get the desired taste that you want. 

After you sterilize your jars and clean your vegetables thoroughly, you will need to prepare your cucumbers. Start by cutting the ends off of each cucumber so that your mixture can disperse evenly into the cucumber. Since I used larger cucumbers, I cut mine into spears. 

Next, you will peel the skin off of garlic, and cut the onions up.

From here, you will place the jar on its side, so that you can stack the cucumbers into the jar tightly. Then you will top your jar off with garlic, onions, and dill. 

In a separate bowl you will add your water, salt, and vinegar together. For two quarts of pickles, I used 6 cups of water, 1/4 cup of pickling/canning salt, and 1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar. I had plenty of mixture left over.  

Once all ingredients are added to a large bowl, you can start to stir the mixture with a fork. Continue to stir until the salt has dissolved.

Now you will pour the water, salt, and white distilled vinegar mixture into the quarts and over the cucumbers. 

Then cover your filled jars with cotton towels, and set aside at room temperature for about 3 days. 

After the third day, you can test your pickles. If they are the desired texture and taste, then label them and place them in the refrigerator. These pickles can last for several months in the refrigerator, but I guarantee you that they won't last that long. :)

I hope you have enjoyed this simple, yet very delicious pickle recipe. Have you ever made crock pickles? If yes, was your process the same or different from mine?