Really Thankful

Things are crazy busy here with family and the holiday but I want you to know that I care about you. I hope you don't mind a little re-post from last year. It's a quick little craft that you can make for Thanksgiving or modify it for Christmas.

I thought it might be fun to make a little sign of the season, a visual reminder of what we need to be thinking. I started with little manilla tags and then added strips of fall colored scrapbook paper to the bottom. I wanted an aged look, so I took out my craft stain and rubbed it around the edges. (You professional scrapbookers would have probably used a different product.) When I was finished, I didn't really like the look. Luckily, the stain is water based so I gently rubbed a wet towel over the entire tag to even out the stain. Now I had the aged look I was after. You could probably achieve this same look by staining the tags with tea or coffee, if you have it.
(The left side is the "after" look) I added some self adhesive scrapbook letters. I couldn't find any in black, so I bought some blue ones and spray painted them before taking them off the page. At this point, I could have used ribbon to string all the tags together to make a cute banner, but I had other plans.

I cut a piece of 6" wide wood and a piece of trim molding to the length I needed. I painted the wood black and the trim red. Once dry, I did a second coat of the opposite colors. Then I sanded both pieces to reveal the original paint. I glued the trim molding onto the wood and then used painters tape to make a straight edge for placing the tags. I adhered the tags using spray adhesive. For the final touch I nailed furniture tacks into the tag holes.

The finished sign looks like this:

A Little Christmas Craft

How about a little Christmas craft today?All you need is a dozen clothespins, an embroidery hoop, wide ribbon, scrapbook paper, mod podge and a hot glue gun.Simply cut the scrapbook paper into strips wide enough to cover the top of the clothespin. Apply the paper to the pin using mod podge. If you'd like, you can sand and distress the edges of the paper.Hot glue the clothes pins onto the hoop varying the direction.
Tie on the ribbon to hang the hoop.Now you have a pretty little display for those Christmas cards that will soon be arriving in your mailbox.

Fall From Me

I am so thrilled to find out that I am not alone in my effort to hold on to fall as long as possible. So for those of you who are still enjoying the signs of fall here's a few more from my house to yours.***REMEMBER, YOU ONLY HAVE UNTIL SATURDAY NIGHT
TO ENTER TO WIN THE BELVEDERE DESIGNS GIVE AWAY!!!***

Holdin' On

While many in the retail industry and blog world are rushing into Christmas decorating I am holding on dearly to fall.

I love the fall! I enjoy taking down the scary Halloween decor and replacing it with

the bounties of the season.

A few years back I bought these pumpkins. I grew tired of their color almost immediately.
They looked old and dirty.
This year I decided to change their appearance.
I desired the muted green of the real pumpkins I adore.
I sprayed them leafy green. Then washed them with a greenish white.I love their new makeover! They're the perfect bright spot of color in
my little pumpkin patch.

***If you haven't already entered the Belvedere Design giveaway,
Now's your chance!***

A Last Trick and a Treat

I know that it's one day before Halloween, but if you're like me, you're tweaking things until it's time to take them down. So I thought I'd share one last trick using these bags of skeleton garland I bought at the dollar store a while back. I could never find a place for them and then it occurred to me that maybe it was because they needed a bit of a makeover---a silver spray paint makeover.With a few decorative ornament hangers and my army of silver skeletons in hand I proceeded to the dining room.They're just the spooktacular accessory that my chandelier needed.I was so pleased with their gory to glam makeover that I gave a larger dollar store skeleton the same treatment. But while the paint was still wet I sprinkled on a little glitter. Tied with a bow he guards this shelf perfectly.
Be sure to visit on Monday. I have a wonderful treat in store---an exciting giveaway!

Spookified!

Let The Spooking Begin!

Altered Reading

I bought a couple of old books at the thrift store to add to my Halloween decorations, but they needed a little altering.One book's cover was beginning to separate.Which made it very easy to rip the entire cover off and I didn't have to feel guilty for damaging a book (that's the teacher in me).I sanded the spine a bit to achieve a more worn look. Then wrapped it with jute twine. Next I cut and frayed a piece of burlap and used a permanent marker for printing a title. Now I have the perfect addition for my mad scientist's shelf!I was attracted to the second book because of the cover's textural pattern. I removed the label on front using a little water and a scraper.A cotton swab and some fingernail polish remover worked for taking off the wording on the spine.I added a new title using a paint pen and permanent marker.It's the perfect addition to my Halloween library.And it looks fantastic on my witchy inspired entry table!

P.S.
I am humbled to announce that I am
the Friday Feature over at A Little Tipsy.
Thank you Michelle for the opportunity.
It was fun!

Let's Pretend

As a child I loved to play pretend! It was one characteristic of childhood that I did not want to leave behind. I find myself many, many years later, still playing pretend when I decorate, especially for Halloween.
Wouldn't it be fun to have my huge dining room shelf look like it was part of a mad scientist's lab? It would need stacks and stacks of old books, a skull or two---happy skulls would be best. Of course it could use the old brown bottles from the thrift store complete with the labels I purchased last year at the dollar store.A couple of old looking lanterns would be perfect. A few scary little pumpkins. And to make it complete, an old crow and a rat. I suppose some spider webs strewn across would also look eerie, but I prefer to pretend that this mad scientist still works in this lab.........she's the one who is giddy and doing the happy dance because her imagination looks even better in real life!

Mantle Evolution

One of the many wonders of blogging is being able to look back at photos to see how my style has evolved. In 2007 I was trying to work up the nerve to start a blog. Halloween was the first holiday with my new digital camera so I documented my decorations. Even though I used pretty much the same items to decorate with in the last three years, there are still subtle differences. I like that! I like to feel that my decorating style is constantly evolving---if only slightly.
I thought it might be fun to share photos of my family room mantle with you from the past three years.

Halloween 2007Halloween 2008Halloween 2009

This year I added the haunted castle that I bought at the thrift store months ago for two dollars. But now that I've looked at the last two years decorations, I remember using those branchy looking things. I think I need to go into my "inventory room" and find where I put those. Aren't old photos wonderful?

A good photo is better than
a good memory any day!