Today, June 21, 2023, is the official first day of summer this year. Are you looking for summer projects to work on? This page features suggestions for different summer themes and summer patterns to explore. Most of our patterns are free! Hope you’ll enjoy ’em. ((Plus I also included a few suggestions for some particularly lovely patterns that I think are worth paying for.)
Category: Seasonal Crafts
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Bird Themed Slimline Greeting Card for Spring
Bird Themed Card Making Idea: Make a DIY Slimline Card Featuring Bird Motifs 
Handmade Greeting Cards Made Using Papers by Graphic 45
Spring is a fantastic time to make greeting cards for your inner circle. The spring calendar includes diverse holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Passover, and Mother’s Day — but you don’t need a holiday or any other excuse to make a greeting card for someone you love. This Bird Themed Slimline Greeting Card is an example of an everyday, all-occasion card you can make to send to a friend in springtime, or for that matter, at any time you like. Of course, you can add an Easter or Mother’s Day sentiment to your card front to make this design holiday friendly and appropriate for whichever of the spring holidays you’d like to use it for.
Craft Supplies You’ll Need for Making a Similar Bird Themed Slimline Greeting Card for Spring
- Patterned Papers: You can use any patterned papers you like to make a greeting card. If you want your card to be bird themed and / or spring themed, you’ll want to choose papers featuring bird motifs and / or other spring-themed designs like flowers, clouds, rainbows, etc. I used Graphic 45 papers from the 8″x8″ “Time to Flourish” paper pad. The bird focal image is one of the cut-aparts from that collection. Unfortunately, the “Time to Flourish” 8″x8″ pad is now hard to find; however, the 12″x12″ version of the “Time to Flourish” collection was still available last time I checked, or you could go for the “Flower Market” collection, which is the latest similar spring-themed paper collection from the same manufacturer.
- Washi Tape: I used two different washi tape designs to create this card. One is a narrow-width washi tape that’s green with a shimmery, lustrous metallic silver design printed on it. The narrow green washi tape is by The Happy Planner. I also used a wider, subtly dotted washi tape by Doodlebug Design; this design is called “Lily White Swiss Dot”.
- Distress Oxide Inks: Inks are optional for this card making project, because you aren’t actually stamping. However, I like using inks in different colors to add emphasis to parts of my card designs, and sometimes also for adding extra colors to make a card design look more interesting. In this case, I inked around the bird focal image using Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide ink to make it stand out more from the card front. I also inked around the outside edge of the card using Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide ink.
- Narrow Ribbon: If you want to add a three-dimensional finishing touch to your card like the one pictured, cut a short length of narrow ribbon and tie it into a bow; then use a dot of liquid adhesive like Zip Dry Paper Glue or Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive to the back of the bow.
- Adhesive: Above, I already mentioned a couple of adhesives you could use for this project; if you use a liquid adhesive to put the entire card together, I recommend Zip Dry, because it doesn’t distort the paper and make it buckle as it dries, unlike some other liquid adhesives. I personally prefer to use dry adhesive for projects like this; I used Cherry Tape to put my card together. But you can use any paper friendly adhesive(s) you like.
Thanks so much for checking out my card making project. I really appreciate your interest!
Check Out More Craft Projects for Spring
Crochet a Basket in Spring Colors Using the Overlay Crochet Technique - Mother’s Day Craft Ideas
- How to Make a Basket: DIY Basket Making Ideas and Patterns
- Get Ready for Spring Cleaning With Crocheted Scrubbies and Dishcloths
Discover More Craft Projects Made Using Graphic 45 Papers and Supplies
May Garden Journal Pages for Discbound Planners Like Happy Planner, Arc or Tul - Garden Journal Pages for Happy Planner or Other Discbound Planners
- Happy Mother’s Day Card Making Project Idea With Graphic 45 Papers
- April Monthly Happy Planner Layout Featuring Graphic 45 Papers from the “Time to Flourish” Collection
Find More DIY Card Making Ideas
Happy Mother’s Day Card Featuring Graphic 45 Papers From the Time to Flourish Collection -
May Garden Journal Pages for the Happy Planner or Other Discbound Planners
May Garden Journal Pages for Discbound Planners Like Happy Planner, Arc or Tul; May Garden Journal Pages for Discbound Planners Like Happy Planner, Arc or Tul — Planner by The Happy Planner / Me & My Big Ideas; Patterned Papers by Graphic 45 
May Garden Journal Pages for Discbound Planners Like Happy Planner, Arc or Tul — Planner by The Happy Planner / Me & My Big Ideas; Patterned Papers by Graphic 45 Hello Crafty Friends!
Who’s planting a garden this year? I wish I were, but at the moment, I’m living in a place where anything except a balcony garden is impossible. That doesn’t stop me from dreaming about it, though.
When I am actively gardening, I make garden journal pages to track what I’ve done and to keep to do lists on what needs to be done next. If this topic is interesting to you, you’re invited to check out more of my garden journal pages and read more about my process for making them.
Do you keep a garden journal? If so, what do you track in it? What do your garden journal pages look like? The floor is open for comments, so please feel free to ask questions or share insights in the comments area below.
Thanks so much for visiting! We appreciate your presence here.
Posted By: Amy Solovay
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Setting the Table for Earth Day
Setting the Table for Earth Day 2023: Pictured here is a place setting featuring an upcycled napkin ring made from wire and pull tabs, plus a placemat you can crochet in organic cotton yarn for Earth Day or everyday. For those of you who didn’t know, today — Saturday, April 22, 2023 — is Earth Day. Happy Earth Day, everyone!
I’ve posted some lovely free patterns you can use for dressing up your Earth Day table, or any holiday table for that matter. Check ’em out!
Pull Tab Napkin Rings
This project calls for upcycling some pull tabs and transforming them into these beautiful napkin rings, which are pictured above. The instructions for these napkin rings are available online for free.
Earth Friendly Organic Cotton Placemats
Organic cotton yarn is grown using far less water than conventionally grown cotton does, and it is also easier on the environment because the farmers growing it do not spray their cotton fields with massive quantities of harmful, toxic pesticides. If you use the suggested organic cotton yarn for crocheting these placemats, they’re a fantastic, sustainable craft project for Earth Day.
Fabric Crochet Coasters
This thick, durable flower trivet is a protective surface you can use when you need to set down a hot dish or oversized coffee mug.
You can upcycle old textiles such as sheets, sarongs or clothing and transform them into rag balls to use for knitting or crocheting. There are countless environmentally friendly projects you can make using these rag balls; I have a whole list of them (plus links to free patterns) on my page about fabric crochet. Some of my favorite fabric crochet projects are coasters you can use for proudly setting the table on Earth Day. Check out these heart-shaped coasters for another fantastic project idea.
See Also:
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Get Ready for Spring Cleaning With Crocheted Scrubbies and Dishcloths
Easy Beginner’s Half Double Crochet Dishcloth — Free Pattern According to my planner, today is the first day of spring. You know what that means: Time for spring cleaning. Uggh.
I don’t much enjoy cleaning, although I sure love it when everything is clean. It’s hard to get motivated to start — but since I never need much prompting to get motivated to crochet, I thought I’d try making some projects that’ll help with the cleaning as well. Sometimes, it’s little things like soft, pretty dishcloths or innovative recycled scrubbies that can make all the difference in whether I ever actually motivate to clean anything.
Hey, whatever works, right?
Are you planning on doing any spring cleaning this year? If you’re going to get to work on it, you might as well have some cute crocheted dishcloths and fun crocheted scrubbies to make your tasks more
pleasantenjoyablebearable. If you must clean, (and of course you eventually must, right?) please do help yourself to any of our free patterns for crocheting these types of projects.
Check ‘Em Out:
- Pictured above is an easy, beginner-friendly half double crochet dishcloth pattern. This is a free pattern that is great for beginners to use for learning or practicing the half double crochet stitch, and it’s also a quick, easy and useful pattern for people of any crochet skill level to have on hand.
- How to crochet dishcloths and washcloths
- Kitchen crafts and kitchen crochet patterns
- More useful crochet patterns (If cleaning is not your thing, and if not who can blame you, this link takes you to our main directory featuring many other types of patterns.)
Happy spring cleaning, everyone! And happy crafting…
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Posted By: Amy Solovay