Creepy Crawly

I thought it would be fun to add a little "spook" to our pumpkin pirate. I found these little paper spiders at "Dollar Tree".  The boys and I just used a glue stick to adhere the spiders to the pumpkin.  I had to double coat the spiders to get them to stick down well. 

Now our little pumpkin pirate has some creepy crawlers to add a little extra spook!

Fun for Fall

Lately I have been having fun adding some touches of fall around the house.  I thought I would share some images.  Above is some branch clippings from my Japanese Maple tree. This year the leaves are beautiful shades of red and gold.  I used a glass milk jug for the arrangement and then pulled in some zebra pumpkins for fun.

 I put more of these branches in a vase on the table in the foyer.  I got this shot to show you both the table and my handmade fall wreath with the felt rosettes.

 

Hope you are enjoying the Fall season and having fun with your decor. 

A Post on Posts

Earlier this fall, my husband did a bit of sprucing up to the exterior of our house with paint.  The biggest improvement, by far, is our newly painted porch pickets.  When we bought our house the front porch railing looked like this.

The pickets and bottom rail were stained wood and the top rail and support posts were painted.  I never liked the two-toned looked, plus the wood was starting to show weathering (and not in a good way).  We were lucky that the previous home owner left plenty of exterior trim paint for us.  This ended up being a no cost DIY improvement!  My husband also had enough trim paint to put a fresh coat on our garage doors. 

Before the paint went on, there was a good coat of primer to seal the wood and prevent "bleed-through".   Once the primer dried it was time for the paint.

I like the way the cream paint contrasts with the brown brick on our house.  Before the stained wood just blended in with the brick.  This little spruce up really makes the porch feel fresh and clean.

If you noticed the hand laid paver stone pathway in the pictures above and want to know how it was done, you can click here.

Has anyone else been doing some fall sprucing up?

Blue Light Special

I picked up the lamp on my dresser many years ago at "TJ Maxx".  Lately I have been growing tired of the plain cream linen shade and thought it would be good to switch things up.  On a recent trip to "Lowes", I picked up a can of "silver fox" spray paint by Valspar.  I liked the fact that the "silver fox" paint was a soft blue with a nice subdued gray tone to it.    I thought this color would compliment the soft blues in the art hung above my dresser. As a side note, the art is an antique store find that my mother snatched up for my birthday several years ago.  The watercolor print features the river in the foreground and the Eiffel tower in the foggy distance.  I had the print re-framed with a non-glare glass and linen mat.

Well now that I have digressed, back to the lamp shade. It took three coats of spray paint for me to get good overall coverage.

I got a little sloppy with the paint and accidentally got some on the inside of the shade when I was trying to cover the rim.  My solution, was to commit to my mistake and paint both the exterior and interior of the shade.  Paint on a linen shade brings out the texture of the fabric and makes it appear a bit "chunky" and rough.  I am not sure that I love this side effect, but for now the color change makes me happy.  Who knows, if I  find another shade that I like better I can always switch it out later.  I am also considering adding some ribbon to the bottom and/or top rims.  I would love to find a nice black/white Greek key ribbon.  Any thoughts?  Add the ribbon or leave well enough alone?

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Laura

A Doggy Kerchief and a New Skirt

The Doggy Kerchief

A couple of months ago I made my first attempt to sew a skirt for myself.  I found some cute black and white fabric and a "sew easy" pattern for $1.  This week I used some of my left over skirt fabric to make a doggy kerchief for my sweet little dog, Cody.  Today I happened to be wearing my skirt while out walking Cody with his new kerchief.

The DIY skirt

Kerchief and Skirt together

 I certainly don't plan to coordinate all of my outfits with my dog; just using a little scrap fabric and having some fun!  What do you think?   Is this snazzy or too much?

--Laura--

If you like it, then you got to put a "Wreath" on it.

As you may have guessed the title of this post was inspired by song lyrics from Beyonce: sorry I couldn't resist the play on words.  Lately I have become obsessed with all things made from felt.  I have been "pinning" all kinds of felt projects lately.  You can check out all of my felt inspiration by clicking on my "Pinterest" board here.  The wreath above is inspired by a design I found in an Etsy shop via "Pinterest".  This wreath is very simple to make.  I purchased a pre-made grapevine wreath from "Michaels" for $4.99 and a handful of felt sheets (5/$1).  All in all this project was around $8 in material cost.

You simply make your felt rosettes by first cutting out a round circle.  I used a CD as a template.  After you cut out your circle, you fold it to find the center point and mark with a pencil.  Next you start at the edge and cut around in toward the center point.  You end up with a curly Q strip.  Take the center point and wrap it under the surrounding fabric creating a roll as you go. I would wrap a half turn, glue, then repeat.  Once you get to the end of your curly Q strip, you have a rosette.

I used cream, tan, and orange felt squares to create my autumn wreath.  This design can easily be tailored for all seasons and holidays with your color selections. 

I love the touch of fall this wreath adds to the entry.  It makes me crave pumpkin bread and apple cider.

Have a wonderful day.

--Laura--

Fall Finale

It is hard to believe it is already the first of October.  You can definitely feel the crisp cool of Fall in the evening air, but the days are still sweltering with heat.  I know the life of my outdoor plants is running  short, so I thought I would share a couple pictures to show how much they have grown.  Fall is truly nature's finale of foliage.  Summer plants overflow their pots and planting beds as the leaves start to turn to varying shades of gold, red, orange, and brown. 

June 2013

October 2013

June 2013

October 2013

June 2013

October 2013

Nature is truly amazing.  I was surprised that just four little zinnia plants, filled this flower bed with blooms.  Next year I hope to plant more flowers and a greater variety.  It isn't even winter yet, and already I am making plans for Spring planting.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Laura