Nailed It - EasyFall Decor

So, as you all know, I'm super excited for the weather to cool down (which, is slowly happening here in Vegas) and I've been working on some new fun projects for the house. Since I don't like to do Halloween decor till October, I wanted to get some 'fall' color going and after making my Fall Blocks I wanted to add a few more touches to the table in our foyer.

My original intention had been to do a 'Pumpkin Shadow Box' along the lines of my Butterfly Shadow Box that I had done for Little P's room. But do you think I could find a basic pumpkin punch out there? Nope. Nada. No way. They were all Halloween-ized. Which is fine, but wasn't going to work for what I wanted. Even my crafty friends couldn't help. (I'm seriously thinking of writing to Martha to ask her why she didn't do one this year - I mean, really, how hard could it be?)

So, back to the drawing board. Fortunately, while I was roaming Michaels wondering why it was so hard to find a pumpkin punch, I came across their clearance racks and found two 5" x 7" white photo frames - and bingo! An idea was born. I grabbed those babies, paid for them and headed home.

With a little left over scrap book paper, some fall leaves that were left over from a project Little P and I had done and about five minutes of my time, I had these:

How cute, right?

Not what I had wanted to do, but they actually work out better, as they balance the table nicely. Inspiration can strike in the strangest ways, can't it?

So, for $4 and about five minutes of my time, what do you think? Did I 'nail it'?

K

(and my apologies for the quality of the photo's for the last couple of posts. I put away the photo studio when I needed all the room on the table and have just been way too lazy to pull it out again. I promise the next one I will make an effort and take some better pictures.)

'Nailed It' - Fall Blocks

I'm really looking forward to the cooler weather - and I mean REALLY. It's time for sweaters and boots, for frosty mornings and sitting by the fire. Being able to have a hot drink and not break out in a sweat while doing so... you get the picture.

I am so ready for it to be Fall, that I've been working on decor for the house that's all 'fall-esque'. This week I worked on my fall blocks. So, looking for a little inspiration, I went to my 'go-to' for all things crafty, Pinterest. But this time round, I couldn't find quite what I was looking for. Determined not to give up, I went to my backup plan, Google, and there I found these:

(Credit - Matthews Fine Art)

And these:

(Credit - Crazy Craft Bugs)

Which I really liked but thought there was just a little too much going on for me. So taking these as inspiration, I made these:

And can I just tell you how much I just love these? They turned out so well, I'm thinking I will make another set for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. And they were super easy to make. Scrap book paper, Mod Podge, brown paint, some pre-cut blocks and a few scrap book embellishments and voila! Fall blocks!!

So, what says you, oh wonderful readers. Did I 'nail them' or what?

K

'Nailed It' - DIY Pumpkin Decor

I know it's only just September, and here in Las Vegas it's still hotter than hell, but I am so looking forward to Fall and the cooler weather that I couldn't help but start to think about fun Fall decor. While I was killing some time the other day waiting for Little P to go to sleep, I found this on Pinterest:

(credit - Shanty 2 Chic)

and I just loved how clean and classic the white pumpkins looked. I'm not a huge fan of putting flowers on things (just a wee bit too girly for me) but I loved the concept and figured I could do something like this.

Now, granted, her post is from Fall last year, which might have something to do with the fact that when I went to find faux pumpkins at Walmart (like she did) I had no luck as they still had the back to school stuff out. *sigh*. And you know me, I'm all for the 'instant gratification', so on a whim, I swung by the Dollar Tree and wouldn't you know it, there right at the door where faux pumpkins just sitting there waiting for me. Happy with my huge $3 purchase, I headed home (after a slight detour to the park to let Little P run around and catch up with some of my wonderful Mommy friends) and I started to plan out how I wanted to do this - you know me though, I don't ever really plan these things, just kind of 'feel it out' (which might explain why they don't always work out).

So, will M was napping, Little P and I went outside to paint the pumpkins. I had grand ideas of spray painting them, but quickly found out that the styrofoam didn't like the paint (or vice versa) and the pumpkins wound up looking like bundt cakes with icing on them (cool, but not exactly the look I was shooting for).

(See? My fake bundt cake)

Fortunately, I had a back up plan, and out comes the white acrylic paint, which, thankfully went on a lot easier and covered the orange so much better (in hindsight, if I had of thought to lightly sand the pumpkins, the spray paint may have worked better - oh well, live and learn).

(After one coat of acrylic - it took two to cover up the orange)

(And of course, if Mommy was painting, Little P had to be too)

Once they were dry, I wanted to 'glam' them up a touch, and having some of Martha Stewart's glitter paint on hand from a previous craft, I went to town painting them with the gold glitter paint. 

(All 'glitter-fied' - picture doesn't do it justice though)

As they were drying, I thought, 'Wouldn't they be cute if they spelt something?'. And of course, having three of them, I immediately went downstairs, dug through my craft stash and found the wooden letters that were left over from my 'Personalized Canvas', grabbed some black paint and before you knew it, I had 'BOO' painted and ready to attach.

(Ta-Da!)

So for a grand total of $3 and a quiet afternoon at home, I think they turned out okay. Now I just have to find somewhere fun to put them (after my birthday of course).

So, even though I went in a slightly different direction, what do you think? Did I 'nail it'?

Till next time, remember, glitter makes everything better!

K