sun prints : diy

Summertime is my personal fav time of year, so I decided it was time to re-cap one of my most popular all-time DIY projects, just in time for the summer SUN. 

The sunprints I made several years ago have decorated photo sets, furniture showrooms, and of course several different rooms + corners of my home. They are a fun craft to do with kids (of any age). It's like magic.

Here's the step-by-step HOW-TO:

Step 1 – Gather the items you need

- Sun Print paper (I got mine from here)
- An acrylic sheet (the Amazon sunprints come with one in the package)
- Cardboard or paper towel
- A tub of cool water (the kitchen sink will do)
- Interesting shapes + objects from nature (branches, shells, etc)

Step 2 – Arrange nature elements on a piece of sun paper out of the sunlight.

For best results, arrange your objects on the paper in a dark space indoors (I used a pantry closet).Direct sunlight causes quick exposure of the paper, so you want your elements arranged before you bring it outside.

Step 3 – Place an acrylic sheet (ie: plexiglass) on top to flatten and hold your items in place on the paper.
Once your items are placed on the paper, cover them with an acrylic sheet to keep them secure as you Use an acrylic sheet when making prints of flat or almost-flat objects to help sharpen the edges between blue and white in your print. Ambient sunlight outdoors will find its way underneath the edges of your objects if they are not pressed firmly to the paper, and you will get sun prints with blended contrasts.

Step 4 – Take your sun print composition outside and place it in direct sunlight for 2-5 minutes.
The areas of the paper exposed to the sun will fade from blue to white. When you see most of the color disappear from the paper, your print has been fully exposed. If no direct sunlight is available, don’t worry – just expose your print a little longer and wait for the same fading effect. Under cloud cover, the process will take 5-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the clouds.

Step 5 – Rinse your paper in cool water. Watch the white turn into blue and the blue turn into white.
It’s magical! To get the deepest blue, leave the paper in the water for a while: 1-5 minutes. 

Step 6 – Lay your sun print flatly on paper towel or cardboard and allow it to dry.
Putting it on something absorbent will help to avoid the formation of water spots by drawing the water away from the sun print paper. By the time the water has dried, you will have a vibrant blue sun print! 

(link here for the sun print paper from Amazon)...

It's the perfect DIY craft project for Summer. 

Read more of the how-to here. 

I hope you're enjoying the season! Comment below + share your favorite summer pastime.

xo

patti

summer garden party: diy plant wall + boho picnic

Fresh summer party ideas + inspiration are available in mass these days, but even with the inundation of images, there's always room for more, right? I mean, who doesn’t need some fun party-decor inspo? Maybe it’s a slightly different twist or tweak, a fresh take on a favorite color palette, or a new creative spin that draws you in. Today I'm sharing some recent party pics ( + hopefully inspiration) from my own backyard. 

As you may know, I am a photo stylist by trade. I work at photo studios and on location in the Carolinas. I style lifestyle vignettes for many home furnishings and decor clients, but when I had the chance this summer to style for real life, it couldn’t have been more fun. The occasion: my baby girl graduated from high school.  She had a definite vision for the party decor + cuisine ... so the plotting + planning began. We invited Aunt Pam (my twin sister + fellow photo stylist and designer Pam Stasney) to pin ideas and dream up our grand grad garden party plan.

First on Sofi's wish list was a plant wall of sorts to serve as a photo backdrop. And here's how it turned out...

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The original inspo came from this image (via 100 layer cake) ...

I had to do some digging to source the boxwood. I found the goods here and here on Amazon.
And found a simple diy how-to via Simple Stylings blog. I decided to do a large sign, 40" x 40" so all I had to order was this, 4 panels pre-attached. I had plywood cut to size at Lowe's and then stapled the boxwood panels to the wood, using a staple gun. ✔️First inspo realized.

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I had a vision too. I have long loved the natural canopies shaped by the wild greens in my backyard. I wanted to highlight that and create a boho-inspired picnic area. Of course I just found out that my husband almost whacked those wild vines away right before the party....so thankful he didn't. I had two palettes left over from a mulch delivery so I stacked them on top of one another and covered with a white sheet for the table.

For seating, I used random pillows for that bohemian vibe and hung pretty paper lanterns from the canopied branches. Pam embellished the white eyelet lanterns with pretty flower + succulent details.(find more pretty eyelet paper lanterns here and here.)

The funnest part was watching the boho-inspired area enjoyed by all of our guests, of all ages...

It was so inspiring to craft + style with my sister for my daughter. I usually style beautiful scenarios for advertising clients, so to create a pretty vignette for a personal moment and memory was special for me. We rallied the entire family to pull it all off.

...We created balloon garlands, painted pots, planted succulents, fluffed paper flowers (my brother-in-law was a star contributor), made beautiful ice cubes with edible flowers, created a special cake + cookie table (an Italian family tradition carried out beautifully by my sister-in-law), kabobed fruit and more... here are a few images to try and capture the mood of the garden grad soiree (see more pics on Instagram) ...

(link here to buy a pretty white pop-up canopy via Amazon)

We added pretty party details like these ice cubes. Pam made with a mix of edible flowers (found at Whole Foods), berries + mint leaves. Use these pretties for your next summer party, to chill wine or use in individual drinks for festive cocktails + mocktails.

(link here for party napkins and decor via Etsy)

Who can resist a pretty pink drink + pretty fresh eats + treats ?...

(link here to buy cupcake toppers via Etsy)

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I will share more links + how-to's soon. Just wanted to share these for now. Wishing you special moments of family connection + summer party fun.

xo

patti