Please join Grandma G's for shopping with a twist on Friday June 10, 2009 as we present "SUMMER PORCH AND GARDEN"! Visit Make Mine Pink for a list of all participating boutiques!There's nothing more inviting than a summer porch and garden. It can be a source of shade when the temperature gets too warm, a place of shelter during a gentle summer rain, or just a place to sit with someone special on a lazy summer day. It can be a welcoming start your day with your favorite antique tea cup in hand or a front row seat to watch the sunset from the weathered oak rocker, that in it's day sat proudly in your grandmother's home.
A welcoming porch and garden can create a friendly entryway to your home. A welcome sign hand painted with pink roses perched against the railing or a lilac berry wreath with a scent as inviting as it looks, letting guests know that you're glad they're here before you've said a word. If entertaining guests, perhaps vintage chairs, refinished and made comfortable with dainty floral needlepoint cushions, or a white painted table set with a vintage lace-tablecloth like your mom and before her - grandmother used.
With the right accessories, a porch and garden can even become an extension of your home. For candlelit evenings, a candle inside a
topiary lantern casting a romantic glow. For lazy afternoons, a daisy metal basket filled with fresh cut flowers, a knitting project, or even as cliche as this sounds, a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade and a favorite books. Tucked in the corner, a vintage pink metal watering can kept handy to water the flowers in the window boxes while the lace curtains on the windows gently sway in the afternoon breeze. As much comfort as your home, with the right accessories.
You can add a cottage touch to your garden with decorations like ceramic garden mushrooms and inspiring garden plaques sprinkled with just the right amount of glitter. Tea cup bird feeders, handmade birdhouses, and antique iron birdbaths are all welcome sites for feathered friends. Remember to add a touch of whimsy just to make you smile - like a basket of flowers placed on a pink bicycle.
No matter what your summer days hold, a porch and garden can provide the ideal setting for friends, family and even a private retreat. Won't you join me for a cup of tea as we help you design your summer porch and garden.
Article written by: Joyce Lucas
Founder, Make Mine Pink
Photo Contribution 1: Camellia Cottage
Photo Contribution 2: Shabby Shan's Cottage
Shades of red, white or blue remind me of 4th of July parties, fireworks and special times with family and friends. Vintage aprons, adorned with red roses against what was once a vivid blue, now slightly worn with time. Blue and white checked linens - once grandmother's finest, still carrying traces of the 4th of July picnics I had as a child. Pale blue Depression glass against the finest white tablecloth, topped with a white milk glass vase and filled with the flowers of summer. On the wall, a white French farmhouse shelf displays white china hand painted with red and blue buds. Adding a little color to your table, shades of red, white and blue can turn any meal into a celebration. Blue and white Italian place settings against a red tablecloth. 
An angel food cake atop a favorite white cake stand, topped with fresh summer blueberries and strawberries. Red sugar-coated candies in a white candy dish hand painted with blue forget-me-nots. Hanging nearby, white and blue checked kitchen towels decorated with shiny red apples Placed somewhere you didn't expect, red, white and blue can create a burst of color in any corner. Red roses on canvas and hung on a freshly painted blue wall. A piece of broken china jewelry - tiny blue and red roses against pure white china. A white lace sun catcher, with a red and blue design, hanging in the window. In the guest bathroom, a blue tissue box holder painted with white and red flowers. Tucked into a corner of your purse, a blue hankie trimmed with red and embroidered with white daisies. And dangling from your wrist, a bracelet made of cinnabar, turquoise beads and bone. 
For a special touch of whimsy, plug in 4th of July light bulbs in red, white and blue. Use a white table runner with appliquéd blue rabbits and red rose buds. Display faux strawberries dipped in white chocolate placed in a blue cake box that looks pretty enough to eat. You can wear a soldered charm of red breasted robins against an azure sky, sprinkled with white German glass glitter or write on the white pages of a notebook decorated with red roses and blue ribbons. With shades of red, white and blue surrounding us, celebrations of life can happen any day!!
