Pumpkins and Pilgrims

I can not believe that Thanksgiving is two weeks away.  Actually, less than two weeks.  Unbelievable.

I think Thanksgiving decor is the easiest for me to put out.  It really requires very little effort because it's all pumpkins and pilgrims.  I just toss pumpkins and pilgrims everywhere.  By the way, my camera skills leave much to be desired.  What the heck?  Perhaps I should take a photography course or something because these pictures lack...light or focus...or something.   Right?   Well anyway, take a look at Thanksgiving in the Paw Prints household:

I took the "fall" banner that I made for the entrance way a few months ago and moved it to my fake mantle wall:

p.s.  the candles were only lit for the picture; I'm aware of the HUGE fire hazard I just created

I added Thanksgiving subway artwork to the frame in the hallway:

Here's a picture of my great neice.  She is the cutest little girl in the world!  This has nothing to do with Thanksgiving decor but I thought I would toss her cute little picture in because I can.  :)

 My pictures are out of order but I'm sure nobody cares.   These are the yarn wrapped candles:

More pumpkins:

Pilgrims and pumpkins:

Naboo, aka BooBoo Kitty, helping me take photos.....

This is a blurry picture of the sign I hung in entrance which is one of my favorite signs.  It reads:  With Grace Surround Us.  I really keep this out year round, I just move it around.

See what I mean?  More pumpkins:

I added some Thanksgiving subway art to the shelf in the kitchen too:

Pumpkins in the hallway:

Pilgrims in the living room:

Oh...what's that you say?  Balloons that Sweetheart gave me for my birthday.  Gift cards were attached to the balloons.  Oh yes, my favorite type of gift!

Pumpkins and such on the table:

Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins.  All colors and sizes...

Grievous is constantly knocking these over with his big nose when he sniffs them

The entrance way table always gets the holiday makeover.  I'm pretty sure it loves it as much as I do.  I'm just saying.

p.s.  I almost forgot to include the picture with the 2.5 foot Darth Vader that I got at Costco.  Yes, Sweetheart and I were so excited when we saw him, he immediately went into the cart.   No, we are not 12 years old; we just enjoy having a Sith Lord in our living room.

Enjoy your holiday.   I hope it's filled with lots of turkey, football, family and love.

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......

Halloween time!

(click on picture to enlarge)

It's that time again!  This is my favorite time of year!  

I love October:  the weather starts to cool, football season is in full swing and I get three consecutive months of seasonal decorating.  What more could a girl ask for?

I spent a lot of time on Pinterest in search of inspiration and ideas.  There's so much great stuff out there!  

This is what I came up with.  

Picture overload up ahead......

I love these witch shoes!  They are my favorite!

So far everything is a repeat, just placed in a different place than the past years.  Well almost.  I love these guys on the media center:

I love this one only because I love the picture of me and Sweetheart in San Francisco:

This is the same "fall" banner I posted last month.  I just flipped it over and added the BOO, a spider and some spider webs:

This is what I was most excited about.  My pretend mantle got a Pinterest inspired look:

The only new decor I bought this year was the black bats.
They were 60% off at Joanne's.  The frames I took from the guest room (Target clearance items).  I used my Cricket and scrap book paper for the letters in the frames.  The candles are white candles that I wrapped in yarn.  That's an idea I took from Pinterest.  An idea that I love.  These white candles were buried in the back of the linen closet because I rarely have need to put white candles out.  Now these candles will be out for the next few months, all dressed up for the next holiday! 

Cute, yes?

I had so much fun putting everything together!

I just love Halloween!

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!

Lists

I make a list for everything.  Mostly because I am a control freak and have this need to be completely organized.  All the time.  I even make a list of  topics that I need to start lists for.  Wait...does that make sense?  It does to me.  I've always been a list maker.   As a matter of fact I think my list making obsession is annoying to those who do not make lists.  Case in point:  my younger sister.  Ever since we were young girls, she mocked my list making.   Not much has changed, she still rolls her eyes at me when I start a new list in her presence.

My two favorite apps for list making are the ones that come automatically loaded onto the iPhone that I access through iCloud.  There is the "Reminder" list.  The reminder list allows me to set actual reminders with alerts (which I love) and I also use it to keep basic lists.   I have a list for EVERYTHING on my Reminder app.  I have a list for:  grocery, Target, Sprouts, Costco, Ulta, Coupons, Beauty supplies, Projects, Books, etc.  The list goes on and on.  What I love most about it is that I can update my list from my desktop, iPhone or iPad.    When I'm at work I can pull my list on my desktop, when I'm at home I can use my iPad and when  I'm out and about I access my list on my iPhone.

Here's the Reminder List.  I like that I can click on the box and the item is removed from the active list and moved to a "completed" list.  So if I accidentally click the wrong box, I can find it in the "completed" area (it's sorted by date) and move it back.

 My other favorite on iCloud is Notes.  Notes looks like a yellow legal pad.  I use this list for projects and for when I need to take detailed notes.  Like when I'm out shopping and I want to do price comparisons or when I am brainstorming ideas:

Yes, I make a schedule for when I plan on putting out my holiday decor

Speaking of lists......

While I was at work today I had a panic attack because I realized I didn't have a list put together for all that was about to start.  September through December is a very busy time of the year for us.   We have Cardinals football games (including tailgating), family birthdays (seven total within a two month period), Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas decor, handcrafted Christmas cards and what ever else gets tossed at us.  On top of that, we are expecting out of town guests in early December so we have a guest bedroom that I am redecorating.   So I immediately started a list of things I needed to start lists on. 

When I got home, I took my list of lists (stay with me, it will start to make sense soon) and created a book to keep me organized.  Organization will be critical these next few months so I needed to make sure I was prepared.   I know this sounds weird, but this is how my brain works.  I've said it before, it's not easy being me.  And although I am normally all about electronic lists, sometimes I need to go old school. 

My topics are:  Guest Room, Visit To Do, Tailgate, Christmas and Weekend:

What is alarming to some is that I always keep these supplies on hand in case of an emergency.

In the Guest Room section I'll be able to keep ideas (that I usually get out of magazines), receipts (so I stay on budget), checklists so I get everything I need.  Basically, everything I'll need to have a successful outcome:

In my Visit To Do section, I can keep a checklist of items we need to take care of before our guests arrive. Tailgating warrants a section because tailgating is no joke.  There's a slew of things that need to happen to make sure the tailgate is smooth.  The Christmas section will include shopping lists, decor and card making, parties, etc.  Weekly will handle what needs to be done on a weekly basis to keep the household running smoothly through this very anticipated hectic time.  I feel that being organized during the chaos will allow us to still enjoy the moment.  Which is really what it's all about, yes?

Luckily, Sweetheart is a list maker so I don't drive him completely crazy with this.  At least not all the time.  Well, I'm off to make another list.

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....

A Little Red, White & Blue

I (finally) had a chance to pull out my 4th of July decor this weekend.  Not a lot, just enough to put us in the mood.  :)


I don't remember where I got the Uncle Sam figurines but I love them.  I placed one on shelf in the kitchen along with some 4th of July subway art that I printed years ago:

click to enlarge

This is the entrance way table.  I bought the 4th of July themed tea lights on clearance at Joanne's.  The clerk told me they are too pretty to burn.  I have to agree -- I won't light them.  They are just too adorable:

.

It's possible I went overboard with the Red, White and Blue.  I found this in my 4th of July bin.  I'm certain I bought it on clearance years ago.  I don't think I've ever put it out before.  When Sweetheart saw it, he said it looked very "picnic":

Here's some more Uncle Sams:

This is a picture of Me and Sweetheart in San Francisco.  Alcatraz is in the background; it was a very cold and windy day!

I took these photos early this morning when there was plenty of sunlight coming in.  I couldn't use the flash because there was too much light in the house, yet the pictures look dull. ?

 

Looking forward to celebrating Independence Day with Sweetheart!