I have always thought of myself as someone who likes July well enough, the weather is nice & I feel pleasantly suspended in the middle of summer (vs, say, August during which I am generally too hot & have the feeling of inexorably & untidily sliding towards the end of anything lazy for the next three seasons), but BOY does two weeks of kids being sick plus another few days of me being zombiefied by headache take a big chunk out of the summertime fun.
In between being variously ill, though, we did my favorite craft of the summer so far, which was painting a rock neighborhood for my father's birthday. It's a little hard to see in this shot, but my girl did a house, a butterfly, & a flower, my boy did a house & car, & I did a couple of houses & a tree.
I also had a good time making decorations for my dad's party -- he's our only summer birthday & this year I decided to have some fun with the summertime picnic theme. Party flags to go around our picnic umbrella (I just threaded them along the umbrella's ribs & they stayed just fine), a huge stack of big cloth napkins (21"x21", messy picnic size), matching tablecloths for all of the different tables we hauled onto the deck. Oh, plus, rocks with party flags painted on to hold down the tablecloths. I love painting rocks, turns out.
I also love having an excuse to put on an elaborate ice cream sundae bar. I made hot fudge, caramel sauce, & strawberry sauce, plus brownies to put under everything. I would recommend any of the recipes I've linked, especially the brownies, which were delicious & the exact right chewiness for a sundae.
And, in between everything, I've been getting ready for a craft show I've got coming up at the Henry on August 9. More details as it gets closer!