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I try to decorate our front door according to the seasons and holidays but sometimes it doesn’t happen. Just last month I wanted to change the spring front door basket for something patriotic for Memorial Day and never got around to it.

I wasn’t going to let the 4th of July come and go without some red, white and blue on the front door so I decided to do an easy American flag display using my trusty hanging basket. 

Add a bit of red, white and blue to your front door with this easy American flag display using a hanging basket, floral foam and flags.

This is a quick and easy craft (typical for me) and it only cost $1 a piece for 14 flags. 

Supplies for American Flag Display for the Front Door

  • hanging basket (World Market)
  • floral foam
  • 13, 12×18 American flags (I got mine at Walmart)
  • utility knife

Add a bit of patriotic flair to your front door with this easy American flag display using a hanging basket, floral foam and flags.

As always, with the crafts I do, I went into this without a plan. I started by placing the flags here and there in the basket to see what I wanted to do. Once I took a look, I decided that I wanted to place them at different levels so you could see them all. In order to do that, I had to cut down the sticks of a few of the flags. 

Add a bit of red, white and blue to your front door with this quick and easy American flag display using a hanging basket and flags.

It’s a pretty big basket so I ended up using 13 of the 14 flags (I didn’t want to use too many 😉 ). It took a few minutes to get them placed just so, but the floral foam helped to keep them in place.

Add a bit of red, white and blue to your front door with this quick and easy American flag display using a hanging basket and flags.

Once the flags were placed, I tried a red and white ribbon around the basket. It was ok but I decided that simpler was best. The focus is the flags, as it should be. 

Add a bit of red, white and blue to your front door with this quick and easy American flag display using a hanging basket, floral foam and flags.

It’s definitely a large display but I think that if I would have gone any smaller with the flags, they would have gotten lost in the basket.

Once 4th of July and Labor Day have passed, I’ll remove the flags and store them away until next year. That’s why I love this basket. It’s so versatile and easy to change with the seasons.
Add a bit of red, white and blue to your front door with this easy American flag display in a hanging basket.

Thanks so much for stopping in!

This hanging basket gets a ton of use. Check out a few different ways that I’ve used it for different seasons.

Make this easy summer front door basket in just a few minutes with faux hydrangeas.Summer Front Door Basket

Make this pretty forsythia basket to add a bit of spring to your front door.

Spring Forsythia Front Door Basket

 

You can also find me at Between Naps on the Porch, Worthing Court, Savvy Southern Style, French Country Cottage

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In my last post I shared my new kitchen light and hinted about the one last project I had for this space. It’s a DIY wood sign that is hanging over my kitchen sink and I think it’s the perfect finishing touch for my space. 

A couple of supplies and a few minutes are all you need to make this easy DIY wood sign for the kitchen or any room in your home.

I’ve known that I wanted to hang something in this spot since we moved in and I’ve been searching, but haven’t found anything that fit.

A few supplies and a few minutes are all you need to make this easy DIY wood sign for the kitchen or any space in your home.

One day it hit me…”Helllloooo? Aren’t you all about DIY?” 

“Why yes…yes, I am!”

I could make my own and get the perfect size. 

It just so happened that I had one last piece of barn wood left in my stash. I hadn’t used it for any other projects because it was badly warped and falling apart. I thought I’d give it a shot and, if it didn’t work because the condition of the wood, I would get another piece and try again. 

DIY Wood Sign for the Kitchen

Supplies to make a DIY wood sign

  • piece of wood cut to size (I used old barn wood)
  • stencil (or make your own)
  • paint
  • brush
  • sandpaper
  • picture hangers

I would usually go DIY all the way but there were a few issues to deal with that lead me to break down and buy a stencil.

The first problem was that the wood was rough and flaky with a very uneven surface. I did try to use individual stencils that I already had but, because of the condition of the wood, I couldn’t get them straight. I also have very shaky hands so doing any of it freehand was just not going to work.

So I bit the bullet and I bought a stencil on Etsy. There’s a ton of sellers who offer these and most will customize them to the size you need.

DIY Wood Sign for the Kitchen

Once I had my customized stencil, my sign came together very quickly. 

I centered the stencil, using some painter’s tape to keep everything straight, and started to paint.

It took 11 minutes to do the whole thing. That’s it! 

After I was done painting, I carefully removed the stencil and let the paint dry. 

Once dry, I went over some of the letters with fine sand paper, just to give it more of a rustic look.

Then I added the picture hangers and hung it up.

A couple of supplies are all you need to make this easy DIY wood sign for the kitchen or any room in your home.

So easy! A couple of supplies and a few minutes are all you need to make this rustic DIY wood sign for the kitchen or any space in your home.

I wasn’t sure how my sign would hang with the board being warped, but I think it’s ok. After all, it’s supposed to be rustic, right?

So easy! A couple of supplies and a few minutes are all you need to make this rustic DIY wood sign for the kitchen or any room in your home.

So easy! A couple of supplies are all you need to make this rustic DIY wood sign for the kitchen or any room in your home.

Now that the DIY wood sign is hung, I can officially call the kitchen done. 

What kind of project are you working on right now?

 

Check out a couple more projects I’ve completed to put this space together.

DIY open shelving in the kitchen using barn wood and inexpensive shelf brackets.

DIY Open Shelving in the Kitchen

Painting window frames black to give a space rustic farmhouse charm.

Painted Black Window Frames

 

You can also find me at Between Naps on the Porch, A Stroll Thru Life, Worthing Court, Savvy Southern Style, French Country Cottage

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We used to enjoy the tradition of dyeing Easter eggs with our girls when they were growing up. Without fail, the Saturday before Easter we would grab our store bought kit and all sit down for an hour of dip dyeing fun. 

The girls are out on their own now so it’s been years since we dyed Easter eggs. I’ve missed our tradition of dyeing eggs, so this year I set out to do a dozen just for fun. No store bought kit for me this time though, I wanted to try doing it the natural way. Years ago I’d read about using red cabbage to dye eggs, so I picked up a large head and a dozen white eggs from the grocery store and got cooking.

Coloring Easter eggs a beautiful robin's egg blue with red cabbage. It's one of those easy and inexpensive DIY ideas for decorating dyed eggs naturally. | Chatfield Court

There are so many foods and spices that you can use to dye eggs but I was going for simple, and I really wanted robin’s egg blue Easter eggs, so I just went with red cabbage this time.

Natural Dye Supplies for Easter Eggs

  • large head red cabbage
  • dozen hard boiled eggs
  • 4 cups water
  • 2 tbsp. white vinegar
  • pinch baking soda (optional)

The first step is to make the hard boiled eggs. Everybody has their own tried-and-true method of doing this so we won’t cover that this time.

While the eggs were cooking, I prepared the red cabbage by chopping it up and putting it in a large pot with 4 cups of water. 

Dye Easter eggs naturally with red cabbage | Chatfield Court

I brought the water to a boil and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

How to dye Easter eggs naturally with red cabbage | Chatfield Court

After 15 minutes, I took it off the stove and let it cool. Once it was cool, I strained out all of the cabbage so I was only left with liquid.

Next I added 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to the strained liquid. 

Two glasses were filled with dye, and I was ready to color my Easter eggs.

How to dye Easter eggs naturally with red cabbage and vinegar | Chatfield Court

I’d never done Easter eggs this way before so I did a bit of testing to see how long the eggs needed to stay in the dye. In using red cabbage, I found that it takes a while for the eggs to turn color. My eggs were left in the dye for as little as 30 minutes and for as long as 12 hours to get different shades of blue. 

How to color Easter eggs a beautiful robin's egg blue with red cabbage. It's one of those easy and inexpensive DIY ideas for decorating dyed eggs naturally. | Chatfield Court I loved the variation in color I got and the robin’s egg blue was just what I was going for. The hubs had never heard of dying eggs with red cabbage so he was amazed that they turned blue. 

How you can color Easter eggs a beautiful robin's egg blue with red cabbage. It's one of those easy and inexpensive DIY ideas for decorating dyed eggs naturally. | Chatfield CourtTips on how you can color Easter eggs a beautiful robin's egg blue with red cabbage. It's one of those easy and inexpensive DIY ideas for decorating dyed eggs naturally. | Chatfield CourtBecause I can’t leave well enough alone, I did a little experiment with baking soda. I’d read somewhere online that adding a pinch will help the egg turn color faster and will change the intensity of the color.

You can see the difference in the color of the dye in the glasses. The glass on the left, with the lighter liquid, has no baking soda in it and the glass on the right, which is darker, had a pinch or two of baking soda. 

Dye Easter eggs naturally with red cabbage and vinegar | Chatfield CourtI kept one egg in each glass for the same amount of time but didn’t see any difference in the color. Either way, they are beautiful.. 

I’m so glad I spent the time to dye a dozen eggs. It brought back wonderful memories of Easter’s with our girls. 

How to color Easter eggs a beautiful robin's egg blue with a head of red cabbage. It's one of those easy and inexpensive DIY ideas for decorating dyed eggs naturally. | Chatfield Court

Have you ever used food to dye Easter eggs?

Thanks so much for stopping in. I hope you have a great week.

Happy Easter!!!

 

Check out these other easy spring crafts …

An easy but pretty spring forsythia front door basket to brighten up the entrance of your home. | Chatfield Court

Spring Forsythia Front Door Basket

DIY chalk painted mason jars turned spring planter for your kitchen window | Chatfield Court. DIY Spring Mason Jar Planters

 

You can also find me at Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, A Stroll Thru Life, Worthing Court, Savvy Southern Style, French Country Cottage

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This time last year decorating for spring was the farthest thing from my mind. We were busy packing up our house and getting ready for our big move from Illinois to North Carolina so I wasn’t able to do any spring decorating. This year though, we are more settled. We’re enjoying life in our little stone cottage and I’m excited to get the house decorated for our first spring.

Wow! This cute spring front door basket, made from bunches of faux forsythia, is so pretty and it's a super easy DIY craft project. It just took minutes to do | Chatfield Court

I’ve already busted out some of my spring pillows and I have been enjoying the pretty spring blooms I’ve gotten from the store, but my front door was looking sad.

I took the basket I had filled with greens off the door after Christmas thinking that I’d hang something else up, but that never happened. I thought about hanging the wreath I made a few years ago, but couldn’t find it in the moving mess in the basement, so I pulled out the basket again. This time around it would be the spring front door basket of my dreams.

Just kidding…

I just wanted something that looked spring-y and was easy to do.  

Usually, I keep it simple when I do something like this and I stuck with that same idea this time. On a quick trip to Hobby Lobby, I picked up a few spring stems and I was ready to create. 

Quick and Easy Spring Front Door Basket | Chatfield Court

Supplies

  • Basket
  • 6 forsythia branches
  • 1  leafy green stem
  • wire cutters
  • jute rope
  • floral foam (optional)

I try to pick out realistic looking stems, or as close to realistic as possible, without spending a fortune. I liked the middle group the best (the 2 with the light brown stems) but they were pricey so I only got 2 and went with a cheaper bunch to mix in. In all, with the 50% off, I spent under $20 for all of the stems and I can use them again for something else. 

Since it was already in there, I made use of the floral foam in the bottom of the basket. I could easily do this without it so if you don’t want to buy it, or don’t have any, you can still successfully build your spring basket. 

Quick and Easy Spring Front Door Basket | Chatfield Court

No pictures of the next part because my method is a trade secret.

Not really…

I just used my wire cutters to shorten the stems and shoved them in. I know…very technical and it took years of practice. 😉

Once all of the stems were in, I just moved them around until I liked the way they looked. Seriously, that’s it.

With my flowers in place, I wanted some kind of bow on the basket. My first thought was to use burlap, but I couldn’t find it (remember the mess in the basement I talked about earlier?) so I went with what I could find…jute rope.

Not my first choice but it’s rustic and quirky and a little different, just like me. 

I made a couple of loops around the basket, 2 bows (because 2 are better than 1) and my basket is done. 

Love it! This cute spring front door basket, made from bunches of faux forsythia, is so pretty and it's a super easy DIY craft project. It just took minutes to do | Chatfield Court

This basket is pretty big so we can only hang it on the screen door. It will be protected under the cover porch so it won’t get hit with any weather. 

Awesome! This cute spring front door basket, made from bunches of faux forsythia, is so pretty and it's a super easy DIY craft project. It just took minutes to do | Chatfield Court

I love how my spring front door basket looks and it really brightens up my front porch. Now I feel like I’m ready for spring, if only our weather would cooperate. 

This spring front door basket, made from bunches of faux forsythia, is so pretty and it's a super easy DIY craft project. It just took minutes to do | Chatfield Court

Have you pulled any of your spring stuff out yet?

As always, thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you have a great week!

Check out these other easy DIY spring projects

DIY Spring Mason Jars

How to Make a Burlap Bow

 

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