Touch of Fall

Sweetheart and I went on a bike ride this morning and I ran into some pinecones along the path.   I thought they would be a great addition to my self in the kitchen.   Then I thought fresh clippings would be a good too.  So when we got back from the ride I went straight into the back yard with scissors and a small basket in hand.  

The colors are perfect for my Fall shelf:

I added some to the living room table as well.   There are those dollar store pumpkins I was painting last night.  They look so much better in white:

I added some clippings to the front table too:

See how pretty the color of the clippings just blend in with the gold pumpkins?

And to my pumpkin in the hallway I added some glittered pumpkins to give it a little more color:

Those are the pumpkins as I was added color last night:

The front door also got a little bit of Fall added to it:

And I made a banner last year year to hang by the front door but all I could find was the four letters.   I used the same banner for Halloween, Valentine's day, Easter, 4th of July and Labor day.   I must have tossed it out because the actual burlap banner was nowhere to be found.  So, I just made another.  I had everything I needed:

There it is peeking out from the inside:

Simple, but I like it:

I know that it's not officially Fall until September 22nd.  But putting this stuff out just gives me a great sense of what's to come:  cooler weather, footballs, holidays, birthdays and a lot of fun stuff!

Thanksgiving crafting projects

To say this is a busy time of the year for us is an understatement.  Football, birthdays, holidays, work --  it all has us SO busy. Still, I make time to decorate our home with seasonal decor.  It's fun, it's cozy and at this point, it's become tradition.   When I asked Sweetheart if he thought I should bother with it, he looked surprised and said "you always do it, it's tradition".  So there you have it.  

The day after Halloween, I had Sweetheart pull out my Thanksgiving bins so that I could start putting out the fall/Thanksgiving stuff.  I spent last weekend working on a couple of quick projects and putting out most of the decor. 

One of the projects that I seem to be addicted to these days is wrapping yarn around white candles.  I tried it with the Halloween decor here.   I found the inspiration on Pinterest here.  It was super easy to do and the candles really do look great.  And the best part about it is that I can repurpose candles; I don't have to buy different color candles every time I want a change.   

For my Thanksgiving decor, I used a mustard colored yarn for the candles on the entrance way table:

And I used a burnt orange color for the candles on my pretend mantle:

I think they look great!

My other project was painting these acorns I bought at Target in January.  I found them on a clearance shelf.  I frequest the clearance shelves at the Target by my house and the one by where I work.  I always find the greatest things on clearance!  These acorns were regularly priced at $24.99 and I bought them for $1.99.   They sat in my craft room for nine months -- as most of my clearance items do -- until this past weekend when I was able to pull them out.  

I used a yellow mustard color (that I tend to be very much in love with at the time) and a brown color:

And this is the outcome:

I intended to post pictures of Thanksgiving tonight, however, I have another project in the works that interfered with my picture taking. We are expecting guests over the Christmas holiday so I'm painting the hallways to freshen them up and my painters tape and the ladder happened to make their way into nearly every picture I took! 

Maybe tomorrow......

Just a little bit of fall

The thought of putting out my holiday decor puts a pep in my step.  I absolutely love putting up seasonal decor.  Even though at the end of September I would be putting up all of the Halloween decor, I couldn't wait until then.  I decided to put out just a little bit of fall.  I'm considering this my pre-fall decor.  

As I walked into Hobby Lobby to pick up a few items I see this:

The picture doesn't do it justice, it's gorg!

Inspired by the burlap in their tree, I decided to make a mini banner of burlap flags.  I picked up some chipboard letters, some mini clothes pins:

I painted the letters, glued them to the flags and hung them on jute string.  Quick and easy but I think it looks really cute:

I also pulled out one of my fall wreaths from the garage:

 And I picked up a bunch of orange colored flowers for the vase on the entrance way table:

This little bit of fall should be enough to hold me over until the Halloween decor is out at the end of the month.  That's when the good stuff comes out.  First for Halloween, then Thanksgiving and then Christmas!

A Summer Wreath

I just realized I started writing this post on July 8th.  I wanted to show off the summer wreath that I had just crafted.  I had taken down all of my 4th of July decor and I was excited to put something new up.   Something that said "summer".  That was two months ago; and now summer is nearly over.  I guess time does fly when you're having fun.  And fun it was. 

July and August were filled with Arizona Diamondback baseball games, my older sister's birthday party, my Great niece being born, two pre-season Cardinal football games and a wonderfully relaxing stay-cation at a local resort.  Not to mention a very ambitious goal to meet at work that took up a lot of my time (and sanity).  Fun times.  By the way, my 2013 memory jar is really filling up. 

This weekend, I'll pull out a couple of fall decorations.  Sure, fall doesn't actually start until September 21st.  But since we don't get a cool down in Arizona until about mid October (if we are lucky) it's football season that marks the start of fall for me.  Yes, football season speaks all kinds of fall and I am SO ready for it!

So a few fall decorations for now because at the end of September I'll start getting my Halloween decor out....

Easter decor

It's that time again!  I spent the weekend putting out my Easter decor.   I absolutely love holiday decorating and Easter is one of my favorites!  (There are a LOT of pictures!)

The entrance way table always gets full attention.  Beaded candle wreaths, a bowl filled with colored eggs and wooden blocks that spell Easter:

Click to enlarge

I love the white pillars with the green candles:

 

I also hung an egg embellished wreath on the mirror over the entrance way table:

Here's the wreath to the front door:

 I hung the "Easter" sign on the door that leads out to the garage: 

I love this little tree with tiny ornaments:

I've had this cute duck for about seven years now:

I picked up these wooden Easter block letters on clearance at Hallmark a few years back:

I put the "spring" blocked letters on my make-believe mantle. I know it's not officially spring until March 20th, but we'll be looking at temperatures in the 80's next week so it will pretty much feel like Spring.

Mr and Mrs Bunny sit on the end table in the living room:

This bowl of colored eggs has three bunnies that hold up the bowl -- so cute!

This white bunny sits in one of the shelves of the media center:

I also put these little ceramic bunny houses on the shelves too:

On the shelf in the kitchen I added Easter Subway art to the frame and added a beaded swag:

I wrapped the white candle in the same ribbon that I used to make a bow on the swag:

This is what the cross has written on it:

This cute guy sits on the table and has colored eggs in the bowl:

I'm not sure where I got this plate, but I adore it!

Thanksgiving weekend

There was zero Black Friday activity at he PPD household.  Well, I take that back; an attempt was made.  On our way back from Tucson on Thanksgiving night, I had convinced Sweetheart to drop me off at Target so I could do some Black Friday shopping.   He was then going to pick me up hours later when I was done. Well I made it as far as the parking lot.  The store opened at 9pm and we got there about 9:45 -- the parking lot was the fullest I have EVER seen it.   As we drove to the front of the store where Sweetheart was going to drop me off, we found ourselves among erratically driving, maniac shoppers.  I decided to just head home.

So Friday, Saturday and Sunday was black Friday shopping free.  Instead what we did was put away all the Thanksgiving decor and put out ALL the Christmas decor.  We trimmed the tree, hung the outdoor Christmas lights, put up the Nativity scene and my Christmas Village.  It was a very ambitious plan that I put together on Thursday night on the ride home from Tucson.  Luckily, Sweetheart was on board and we got it all done.

All except the pictures which I'll post as soon as I can.  I have every Friday from now until January off and a few days in between.  I am so going to enjoy this wonderful holiday season!

Thanksgiving Style

Time for another tour.....

(Click to photo to enlarge)

I used the same wreath that I made in 2010 here and it's holding up pretty well.  Apparently, I was on a feather kick that year...

The entrance way table has Mr. and Mrs. Pilgrim, one of many around the house: 

I love the colors of Autumn with the glow of candles...

Pumpkins and pine cones add that touch of holiday charm:

On the coffee table, more pumpkins and pine cones to give a hint of Thanksgiving:

In the dining area, I added some Thanksgiving subway art, pine cones and berries:

Along with more pumpkins, candles and  a berry wreath:

Another set of pilgrims: 

A simple centerpiece of pumpkins and gourds:

 I made this a few years ago too.  I hung this one on the garage door:

More pilgrim people:

A splash of color here and there with these cute pumpkins:

In addition to my pilgrims, I have Indians too:

And again, since I don't have an actual mantle, I pretend:

Autumn leaves and candles makes for a very simple, yet warm (pretend) mantle. 

I love having an entire month of warm fall colors to really get us in the holiday mood. 

Next up:  CHRISTMAS!