MAPLESTONE

Table of content

• June was busy just like May! My oldest grandson D drove up for a week. I miss him & it was great to see him. 
• My middle grandson 'J' is here for the whole summer. It's fun having a 12 year old around! 
• Our granddaughter 'S' (9yrs) lives in the neighboring town,  she comes to visit but gets bored, lol. She doesn’t understand why her brother 'J' doesn't want to spend 24/7 with her, lol! She will learn eventually (we hope).

• Finally all the dirt saved from the driveway extension, sidewalk and side patio is spread and grass seed is down and starting to grow, Yes! Trying to keep the fur babies out has been 'oh so fun' (sarcasm).

• My garden is doing good but not as well as years past!

• I've started working on garden ideas for next year! 

• Cottages and Bungalows has an article on Homemade Bug Repellent for your outdoor summer fun
• Do you follow Cindy of @windowboxcottage she's so sweet and her home is so beautiful! If you don't have instagram you can check her home out HERE

• Not much to talk about besides groceries,  I don't think you want to hear about that. Except this pineapple cream cake, it was so moist & delicious! Bought it from a local store Pate's Farm Market.

• Something New Sunday
  
• Taquito Casserole
  
• Spring & Summer Wreath | Design 4
  
• Did You Know | Flag Etiquette
  
• Reuse It | Tiki torches to Solar lighting
  
• Reuse It | Gothic Fence Finial Flag Holder
• What I've Read | June²⁰²⁴

● A Year of Puttery Treats (June chapter)

Welcome to A Year of Puttery Treats. One gorgeous, life-enhancing little something to do for each of the 365 days in the year.

Housekeeping you see, can be terribly dull. A monotonous round of chasing dirt and moving objects that we should seek to enhance with the kind of decorative little to-do’s that gladden the heart and help to bring both order and authenticity in to our homes.

While the treats vary from the pretty to the silly, the fragrant and the celebratory, they are each designed to remind us that keeping house is about more than getting busy with a vacuum and a duster and should instead be about enhancing the lives of those that live in our homes. In reflecting the soul of the Mistress of the house and marking the lives of those she shares it with, puttery treats are quite the most lovely way to ritualise life within our own four walls and more than that to celebrate the art of homemaking and bring joy to domesticity.

In a Year of Puttery treats you will find seasonal tasks and little to-dos for annual holidays and national celebrations. You will discover ways to journal your days and create a living museum of family life. You will find tiny pampering treats and scrubby housekeeping tips, and in the midst of it all, right there in the heart of your home you will find yourself…

● Patina Style, Patina Living, Patina Farms & Patina Homes

Patina Style: The Giannettis have developed a home design style that embraces age, patina, weathered and worn surfaces, and rough surfaces. Patina Style is a color palette, a romance with subtlety, an attraction to natural materials and architectural details. It is at once old-world, contemporary, and mildly industrial. Patina Style gives insight into materials choices, methods and treatments that result in spaces that celebrate beauty in the old, the imperfect, the slightly roughed-up.

Patina Farm: When Brooke and Steve Giannetti decided to leave their suburban Santa Monica home to build a new life on a farm, they looked into themselves, and traveled to Belgium and France, for inspiration. Brooke’s inviting prose combines with 200 photographs and Steve’s architectural drawings to show their inspirations, their materials selections, and the enviable result of their team effort and creativity: an idyllic farm in California’s Ojai Valley. We see every corner of the family home, guesthouse, lush gardens, and delightful animal quarters.

Patina Living: An intimate look at life on Patina Farm enjoying the interplay of rustic and modern European farmhouse charm―including the sheds, outbuildings and well-designed gardens where the Giannetti's entertain and enjoy their miniature goats, sheep and donkeys, the chickens and ducks, and dogs. In addition to the home, charming sheds and outbuildings in the Patina landscape are inspiration for a beautiful life in the popular Patina Style.

Patina Homes: Steve Giannetti’s architectural designs springboard from his image of ultimate beauty— a place where modern, classical and industrial elements merge to create a unique style with a modern sense of space and emotion drawn from history. His materials palette consists of wood, metal, and stone. His color palette is a chalky patina. Twelve varied homes—ranging from a modern desert glass box and a beachfront contemporary to a historic East Coast farmhouse and a Provencal-style home in California—show how Steve has used these themes to solve unique architectural challenges. Steve has collaborated with his wife, Brooke, as well as other designers on the various interiors.

• Gothic style fence finials 
• Drill + bit (bit is the size of dowel on flags)
• 2in 4×4 block of wood (to make taller)
• Paint or stain (optional) 
• Wood glue 
• Sandpaper 
• 5 small American Flag 
• Clamp
• Nail + nail gun 

Assembly: 

1. Make sure your drill bit is of similar in size (not smaller) to the dowel of the flag. 
2. Mark where the holes are to go. I have 5, 1 center top, 1 in each of the 4 sides.
3. Drill holes on sides at a 60⁰ (degree) angle, about halfway down. Insert a flag to verify that it's neither too small or too big. 
4. If you've got any rough spots after drilling the holes sand little.
5. Attach the base (4×4×2) with glue and clamp,  or nails
6. Once dry paint or stain. 

The Idea:

I see Shelby!

Supplies: 

• Tiki lights w/metal post
• Solar landscape lights
• Dowel rod
• Belt sander 
• Screwdriver 
• Pipe cutter 
• Small hand saw
• File
• Small screws

(If you're placing your torches in a pot, like I did; you'll need the following supplies) 

• Quick dry cement
• Empty jars (dry roasted peanut jars work great)
• A few empty water bottles 
• X-large flower pots
• Soil
• Plants (I have hostas in the ones shown) 

Assemble: 

• Remove canister 
• Remove canister holder 

• Measure hole, if dowel is too small go up one size.
•  If the larger dowel is too big use the belt sander to make it a snug fit in the post & base of the light.

• Insert dowel
• Add light then secure with small screw.

Use in flower pots 

1. Grab your jar and a metal rod similar in diameter to the post for the tiki light. 
2. Trace around the rod in the center of the jars lid.
3. Cut out hole

1. Next fill the jar with Quick set cement 
2. Insert metal rod and allow to dry
3. Once set remove rod, screw on lid, then insert light 

Use in Flower Pots 

1. Grab your xx-large flower pot
2. Place jar in flower pot
3. Throw in some empty water bottles (it takes up space so you don't use as much soil)
4. Then add your soil and plants. 

There you have revamped tiki lights! Granted they don't keep the mosquitoes away but they look pretty and you don't have to worry about a flame.

What do you think? 

Supplies: 

• 1 Magnolia leaf wreath, 20in

• 1 Fern wreath , 20in

• 4 black or green zipties
• Ribbon of choice 
• Floral wire (optional) for bow
• This wreath holder (optional) 
• Small eagle flagpole finial (optional) 
• Tin shears (optional) to cut wreath holder 
• Glue (optional) if using finial & holder
• Magnetic wreath holders
• Drill (optional) 
• Glue (optional)

ASSEMBLE: 

1. Do not fluff Magnolia wreath. You need it flat.
2. Place 2nd wreath face down, then place Magnolia wreath face down on top of second wreath, making sure they're aligned
3. Very carefully add zipties, tighten each ziptie, make sure your wreaths are even, and secure.
4. Turn over, fluff, add bow using floral wire and hang

With Wreath Holder: 

☆☆ We have a storm door, so the wreath holder had to be cut in order to fit properly. If you have a regular front door omit cutting the holder. ☆☆

• Hang wreath on holder. Hang holder over storm door to determine where to cut and mark.
• Remove holder and wreath. Using Tin snips to cut on mark.
• Next drill a hole,  for the magnetic hook, in holder. 

• Hang wreath on holder.  Tie bow onto candle cup  arm.
• Then glue finial into candle cup.

And there you have a simple wreath for Spring and Summer!