Autumn Inspired Mantel

Autumn is my absolute favorite season.  I always say I come alive during this time of year.  I love the warm colors of the season, the pumpkins and gourds, the changing colors of the trees as they go dormant for the season, and the crispness in the air.  I love absolutely everything about this time of year!  I look forward to spiffing up my home when Autumn rolls around to make it feel warm and cozy as we approach cooler days outside and the nearing of the holiday season.  One of my favorite things to decorate for each season of the year is our fireplace mantel.  It is one of the first things you see as you enter our home.  Although I am not in love the rather simple mantel that came with our home, we hope to remodel it someday, I do my best to make it beautiful and inviting to all who enter our home.

Each year I try and change things up a bit from the previous year to keep things new, fresh, and fun.  Here is what I came up with for this year's Autumn mantel decor in our home:

One of my favorite items above our fireplace are the Lena Wall Vase hanging vases I purchased from Chiasso a few years ago.   They are unique, simple and classic in style, and so versatile.  I am also totally in love with the gorgeous feather wreath I found at Michael's.  I purchased the "Thankful Blessings" blocks last year at one of my favorite discount home decor stores, Home Goods.  If you have a Home Goods near you and you have never stopped in to one of their stores you have got to stop and check them out!  It is chock-full of so many great home and home decor items and all at amazing discounts.  Plus their inventory is ever changing, so every time you stop in you are likely to see a whole new set of goodies that you didn't see on your last visit.  It is the budget shoppers dream decorating store.  The beaded garland, pumpkins, gourds, and platter were all hand me downs from my mom, the woman who taught me to love decorating and gave me my creative genes.  I am always excited when she has hand me down decor because she ALWAYS has GREAT hand me down decor!

All and all I am really happy with the way  my mantel came together for the Autumn season.  I'm looking forward to seeing what I can come up with for Christmas this year.

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Autumn Floral Door Decor

Yesterday I attended a Stampin' Up workshop at a local consultant, Beverlee Morales', fabulous home and I was inspired by a DIY welcome sign she had hanging on her workshop door made using an old purse.  It was absolutely adorable.  I decided right then and there that I wanted to make something similar to hang on my door to decorate it up for the Fall.  So today I headed out to my local Hospice Thrift Shop in search of the perfect purse for my project.  Lucky me!  I found one that was just the right size,  perfect for this project and it was priced just right too.

Luckily I had an abundance of silk Fall floral stems and styrofoam already on hand for this project.  The only other thing I picked up to help me put the finishing touches on this project were two adorable little felt acorns that I found at my local JoAnn Fabric and Crafts, and the best part was they were 60% off the ticket price!

If you want to make your very own Autumn Floral Door Decor here are the supplies you will need:

• One small purse or clutch with a handle  (I prefer one that has a single shoulder strap, as well as a bag that has some structure to it so that it holds up a little better with the weight of the flowers and accessories.)

•  Autumn colored silk flower and leave stems of your choice

• Hanging Autumn themed ornaments or ribbon for a bow

• Styrofoam block (I got mine at the Dollar Tree.)

• Wire Cutters

Instructions:

If needed cut your styrofoam in half and fit the pieces tightly into the cavity of the purse.  Use wire cutters to cut off your floral stems at different lengths and place your silk flowers and leaves in to your purse as desired.  Finish off your project by attaching your Autumn themed ornament or by tying a beautiful bow onto the handle.  Hang on your door to welcome guests to your home with a sweet handmade touch of Autumn!

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Paper Crafting: Lil' Paper Pumpkins

I absolutely love Autumn.  It is without a doubt my favorite season.  I love everything about this time of the year: the sites; the sounds; the smells; the changing colors of the leaves on the trees; the fact that we are approaching the Christmas season, my other favorite time of year.  It seems like I awaken and become more energetic as cooler, crisp Autumn days approach.  Since August I have been pinning for cooler weather and the chance to have an excuse to put out some of my Autumn decorations.

This week I met with my little group of handmade card making friends for our monthly get-together.  Each month we have a theme and we each present and teach the others in the group how to make a card in that theme.  This month our theme was Fall or Holiday and we could make either a card or a little project that would take the same amount of time as a card.  Sometimes I am bad about waiting until the last minute to decide what I'm going to make and present to my group.  This month was no different, but I knew I had the desire to present something other than a card.  The night before card group I found myself search Google and Pinterest for project ideas.

NOTE: If you haven't heard of Pinterest check it out!  It's the most amazing little website filled with all kinds of cool, unique and beautiful things found on the Internet.  Basically you create your own virtual pin boards where you can pin the photos and links to all the cool ideas, awesome products, fabulous crafts, or delicious recipes you find on the big ol' web and keep them all easily in one place, plus you can  peak in on other people, follow them, and repin their great finds onto your boards.  Seriously, you will fall in love!

Anyway, back to my point.  In searching for ideas I came across this fabulous blog, Stamp-n-Design with Lynn Pratt and I came across the tutorial for these cute lil paper pumpkins.   They looked quick and easy to make and they are super cute so I decided to whip those up for my cardmaking group project.  In making mine i did end up using a few less strips of paper.  I chose to use 12 strips rather than the 16 that Lynn's tutorial suggested.  I tried it with the 16 first and it was just a bit too difficult for me to get my chubby little fingers between the layers to separate all of them.  I also decided to alter my paper design between a pattern and a solid and I added a Stampin' Up scallop circle to the top to hide the strips before tying the ribbon off.   Then I finished off by adhering two "leaves" punched from my Stampin' Up Blossom Petals Builder punch.

I absolutely loved how easy these were to make, and I can just imagine the possibilities using different patterns of paper and different lengths of paper.

I used mine as part of my Autumn mantel decor.  What do you think?

What season inspires you?  What do you love most about Autumn?  I would love to hear from you.

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Dec. 4, 2008 - December Joy Challenge Day 2

Tonight I found joy in finishing up a craft project I've been working on for my ScrapShare Secret Santa. How appropriate for this challenge, it just happens to be a Christmas themed "J-O-Y" altered letter wall hanging.

I love crafting, but it is not something I allow myself to do very often. I always look around my house and see all the everyday tasks that I am behind in and I usually end up talking myself out of getting involved in a craft project because there are more important tasks that need my attention and I know that crafting can become time consuming.

This type of thinking is something I've recently tried to change. Now that I have my own scrap & craft room set up, I have been trying more often to just allow myself "me time" and the opportunity to go in that room a little each week and work on projects that are fun. I know that being creative is something important in my life that I need to do for myself and my sanity. I love that I am able to give myself my needed me time more often now without feeling like I'm making bigger messes in my house now that I have my scrap & craft room. I finally have all of my craft and scrap supplies neatly organized and available in one spot in the house. I've been dreaming of that for years.

It took having new carpet installed in my house in July and having to completely move out all furniture and belongings that were touching carpet out of our house to get me motivated to turn my spare bedroom (formally our disaster of a storage area) into my scrap & craft room.

Now I can easily find all of my craft supplies in one quick glance. I didn't actually work on my altered "Joy" project in my scrap & craft room tonight, because I had it out in my dining room from working on it last week while my niece was crafting with me, however it was so nice to be sitting there working on my project and whenever I needed an item I could just run into my scrap room and find it right away without having to dig through disorganized bags or piles of stuff. It was so nice after I was finished tonight to be able to grab my supplies and walk in to that room knowing that had an organized place to put away each one of the items.

I love that I can walk down my hall and look in that room now with pride in the way it looks and be proud to realize that it is also functional now, rather than being a useless waste of space it once was filled with disorganized possessions and yard sale junk.

I find so much joy in having my own little space in the house that is all mine where I can go be creative as I make things for both myself and for others.

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