A Bit of Crafting & Halloweening!

Hey everyone!  Hope you've all been having a great week!  I'm sure those of you with children, are into the big countdown until it's time to go trick-or-treating tonight.  They are probably already bouncing off the walls with excitement, so just imagine how it will be later on tonight after a few jolts of sugar!  I have loved Halloween since my own kiddos were little.  I was not allowed to go trick-or-treating as a kid, so I have truly lived vicariously through our own kiddos, grandchildren, and a neighborhood full of children.  It's such a fun-time to just be silly!

Well, in my last post, I said I would share some info about the pompom wreath on my pantry door.  Now, you might want to get out a paper & pen, because this is pretty difficult & lengthy -- NOT!  So here goes........

The Wreath

Foundation of the wreath

I used a styrofoam form, wrapped it with burlap ribbon, and then......

Used these pompom makers that I bought at JoAnn's -- with coupons, of course -- to make a bunch of cute little pompoms in different sizes, using leftover yarn in different colors.  I know, you were all prepared for a difficult something or other, weren't you?  Well, if you want it to be a bit harder, you can make pompoms by hand, but these were super-super easy!  

And because I had pompoms on the brain, I went crazy making these little cutie pies......

For my Little Miss and Littliest Miss for their Christmas Tree.  I got this idea from the very talented Jaime @Raising Up Rubies.

This framed print was one that I picked up at Michaels' many years ago.  I had just grown tired of it, which is why I hung my "word for the year" banner over it.  Anyway, while cleaning out some very old patterns (I mean like 20+ years old), I came up with this idea......

I mod-podged some pattern pieces to a sheet of poster board that I cut to fit the frame, and I also printed out some pictures of some vintagey-looking sewing room scenes, button cards (I added my own buttons for some depth), scissors, tape measure, etc. and mod podged those over the pattern pieces.  The old "picture of wood" frame got some paint-love to brighten it up.

Ta-da!  I think it turned out pretty nice, and is perfect for this area of my Momma Cave.

This bright little piece of sunshine is one of those myriad of ideas that just pop into my head.  I was inspired by all of the fun things I've seen other bloggers do with book pages.  I started out with just a cardboard triangle shape, added one layer of just book page leaves (draw your own or look on Pinterest for countless leaf patterns), then I pulled several scrapbook cardstock pages for some additional leaves & pops of color.  I also glued some book pages to some of the cardstock pages, cut them out and bent them slightly down the middle to add more dimension.

To finish it off, I tied some ribbons into simple little bows, glued them randomly all over the little swag, and added a few jewels here and there.  I used a wreath hanger to hang it over the door to my 

Momma Cave.  I think it turned out super-cute!

I've been crushing over all the cute sweater pumpkins that have been popping up everywhere, so I found a sweater at GW and got busy.  I made 2 of these little cuties just from the cowl neck of the sweater.  I added a cute little stem that I had saved from one of last year's real pumpkins -- I used a bit of Rub'n Buff Gold Leaf just for fun.  I also used one of my leaf patterns to cut out 2 leaf shapes from turquoise felt & glued them together with a piece of wire in the middle to add some "bendability!"  This little project was so easy and so much fun & turned out so cute!

Now, as much as I love Halloween, I don't have too many "Halloweenie" decorations and definitely non of the creepy crawly, spiders and eyeballs stuff -- I'll leave that to those of you with children who love all that guts and ghoulishness stuff.  For the most part, mine are very tame & all are VERY old, but I thought I would share a few pics of where I have them displayed.

Next to my kitchen sink

Hearth room game table

The "witch is in" and watching over the foyer from the entry table !

Laundry room door

Door from laundry room to garage.

I made this quilted wall-hanging several years ago, and what better place to display it than in the most utilitarian room in our home -- makes me smile even while I'm doing laundry!

So there you have it!  Just wanted to let you know what I've been up to, lest you think that all I do is sit around eating bonbons, watching TV & blogging......teehee!  I hope you enjoyed your visit and, please come again soon.  You are always welcome here!

I sometimes like to party with these lovely bloggers:

Monday

Cindy at Dwellings--The Heart of Your Home for Amaze Me Monday

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Mondays

Tuesday

Maria Elena at Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Inspire Me Tuesday

Leslie at House on the Way for Twirl & Take a Bow

Mary Beth at Cupcakes and Crinoline for Project Inspired

Wednesday

Suzy at Worthing Court for The Scoop

Karin at The Style Sisters for Centerpiece Wednesday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Before and After Wednesday

Thursday

Kelly at Live Laugh Rowe for Live Laugh Linky Party

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home

Pamela at From My Front Porch to Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday

Friday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Anything Blue Friday

Jody & Stan at Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays 

Amanda at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading

Cha...cha...cha...Changes!

Hey everyone!  Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend, full of Fallishness!  As the title of this post may indicate, I've been making some "changes," otherwise known as "tweaking."  I do believe that tweaking is part of the genetic makeup of a blogger, don't you?  I think it's especially true if you are one of the ones....ahem, like me, who is an early-bird seasonal decorator.  Not every room or vignette got changed but a few things did, and I thought I'd share.

Let's start in the dining room.

This was the first look where I layered a burlap runner over my drop cloth tablecloth & then added some leaf-shaped placemats on top of the burlap.  This was me trying to keep it simple.  Ha....that never works!

The next thing I tried was removing the tablecloth, adding a ruffle to the burlap runner & topping it with my Fall pashmina.  Everything else stayed the same.  This seemed way too busy for me, and everything kind of got lost in the folds and colors of the pashmina.

Okay.....I'm happy with this.  I removed the pashmina & just kept the burlap runner.  The wrought iron bowl got moved to the china cabinet, and I brought in a silver tray.  Maybe I really like this because it has the turquoise color I'm so nuts about.  The 3 urns use to be green, but I painted them with "Cascade" chalk paint & added a little Rub'nBuff gold leaf.  Even the little squirrels got a bit of the gold leaf to make them show up better.  I was so happy to find this beautiful wheat when I was at our favorite little market last week.

This burlap ruffle was sold like this at Michaels, and I was happy there was a bit of contrast between

the two burlaps.

I've had these little squirrels for a couple of years, and they have always seemed too dark to me.  Just a bit of Rub'nBuff in Gold Leaf really brought them to life.

I just took some greenery clippings and some bits & baubs of a Fall swag to surround the faux candles that now sit inside these urns.

Next we will move into the kitchen.

I've used this wreath for the last couple of years, and while I still like it, I really wanted something with some turquoise in it.  Never fear, this wreath got repurposed to my outside front entrance.

Since I've been seeing lots of fun things being done with pompoms, I decided to try my hand at creating a pompom wreath.  It coordinates perfectly with my aprons, mitts and towels.  It may come down for Christmas, but I'm thinking it will probably go right back up after the first of the year! 

Don't pompoms just make you smile?  They do me!

 I'll be doing a post later this week about some of the crafting I've been doing, and will share how this wreath went together.  Super-easy!

I had so many comments about my little tool caddy, and while it did get moved (as you will soon see), it only went as far as my craft room.

I found all of these fun pumpkins, gourds and squash at the same market where I got the wheat.  I had already purchased the galvanized tray, so I knew immediately what I wanted to do!

I just love all of these wonderful shapes piled up in the galvanized tray.  I simply took a greenery swag and made a nest in the bottom and started layering in the rest.

One more change, and not exactly a little change, is this..........

Momma got a new ride!  Ordinarily I wouldn't share something like this because it seems a little ostentatious, but it's been 11 years since we've had a new car!  Since we plan on making some cross-country trips to see our youngest grands on the east coast, we thought it was time to upgrade.  We've been looking since early July -- yes, we were that very strange couple who were out walking around the dealerships and test-driving car after car when it was 110 degrees here.  I cannot even tell you how many different makes and models we checked out -- we are nothing if not thorough!  Our old car was a Toyota Camry XLE and had served us very well over the years, so we finally made the decision to buy another one.  It's really fun that we waited long enough for Toyota to finally make a style change (there had hardly been any changes in the past 11 years) and give it a more sporty look.  Our old Camry was white, and this baby is Blizzard Pearl.  We are so excited, and there is nothing like that "new car smell!"

Thanks so much for stopping by, and please know that you are always welcome here!

I sometimes like to party with these lovely bloggers:

Monday

Cindy at Dwellings--The Heart of Your Home for Amaze Me Monday

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Mondays

Tuesday

Maria Elena at Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Inspire Me Tuesday

Leslie at House on the Way for Twirl & Take a Bow

Mary Beth at Cupcakes and Crinoline for Project Inspired

Wednesday

Suzy at Worthing Court for The Scoop

Karin at The Style Sisters for Centerpiece Wednesday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Before and After Wednesday

Thursday

Kelly at Live Laugh Rowe for Live Laugh Linky Party

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home

Pamela at From My Front Porch to Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday

Friday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Anything Blue Friday

Jody & Stan at Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays 

Amanda at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading

Touched by the Brush!

Hey everyone!  I hope y'all been having a great weekend and enjoying some Fall weather.  These desert-dwelllers have been having awesome mornings and evenings, still a bit warm during the middle of the day, but nothing to complain about.  At least this "hot weather induced whiner" has been able to pack those "whines" away for the next 8 months or so......YAY!

I've been doing some crafting and small project painting, and I would like to share a few of those painting projects with you today.  I'll share some of the crafting another day.  I have recently discovered chalk paint.  I know many of you have been on the "ASCP bandwagon" for some time now, but that brand just seemed way too expensive to me for the small projects that I wanted to do.  So I got so excited while browsing the aisles of JoAnn's one day and found these:

I started out with just these 2 colors & clear wax, but have since added several more.  With JoAnn's great coupons, I've never paid more than $4 for a jar, and a little definitely goes a long way with this paint.  I haven't had to prime or sand any surface that I've used this paint on.....love it!

Soooo......here are a few projects that have gotten a new look.

My little thrifted tool caddy went from this to......

This!  

I found this ugly little wooden box at Ross and gave it a new look and........

A new purpose!

This green pumpkin was a cheap find at Ross about ten years ago.  It had several bumps

and lumps, but got a new life.......

Here on the coffee table in our sitting room.  I added a bit of Antique Gold Rub'n Buff to accent

the ribs.

This very orange pumpkin went from this to......

This, using some black chalkboard paint.

I just added a few chalk motifs for more interest.

I have 2 of this size print & 2 smaller ones that were Kirkland purchases several years ago.  The gaudy gold frames were not gaudy when we purchased them, and they looked very nice in the bedroom of our former house.  In this house, we hung them in the master bath, and they really were not too bad.  However, in my current quest to add some turquoise throughout our home, they all....... 

Met with the brush!

Orange and turquoise has become one of my favorite color-combos!

This is a resin tray that is literally 40+ years old, and while pretty, I was tired of it.

The candle holder and fruits met up with the same fate as the tray!  I was happy with how this turned out, but it was a bit too white for me in this room, so I added some......

Antiquing Wax and a few touches of Antique Gold Rub'n Buff.  I like it better now.

This tray was a BHG fall item from Walmart a number of years ago.

Painting it has made it a piece that I can use throughout the year.  I love it here on my china cabinet holding my sweet MIL's teacups.

Now, how about some real cuteness -- no paint involved.

The cutest little apple pickers ever!

Cannot believe Littliest Miss has started pre-school!  Don't you just love the little chalkboard

and especially what's written on the bottom?  

Sniff, sniff.....Nanna was blubbering, too, when I saw this!

Little Miss looking so grown-up!  My sweet DIL has used the little chalkboard to record each "first day" of school since pre-school -- such a cute tradition!

Thank you so much for popping in for a visit!  You are always welcome here.

I sometimes like to party with these lovely bloggers:

Monday

Cindy at Dwellings--The Heart of Your Home for Amaze Me Monday

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Mondays

Tuesday

Maria Elena at Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Inspire Me Tuesday

Leslie at House on the Way for Twirl & Take a Bow

Mary Beth at Cupcakes and Crinoline for Project Inspired

Wednesday

Suzy at Worthing Court for The Scoop

Karin at The Style Sisters for Centerpiece Wednesday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Before and After Wednesday

Thursday

Kelly at Live Laugh Rowe for Live Laugh Linky Party

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home

Pamela at From My Front Porch to Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday

Friday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Anything Blue Friday

Jody & Stan at Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays 

Amanda at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading

Saturday

Natasha at Natasha in OZ for Say G'Day Saturday Party