Lovely

click images to view sources

A great idea

Kathleen Frances over at Grosgrain is embellishing knits everyday this month.

 Hey, that's my recycled rosette cardigan!

What a neat and flattering surprise it was to see my photo in her post. :)  

Click the button below to see my tutorial.

Sounds fun right?! I might have to participate too. :) Transforming cardigans was something of an obsession of mine. You know about the rosette cardigan, and this girls hooded jacket, but somehow I kept most of the others to myself & forgot to post them.  I will for sure be checking Kathleen's blog a lot this month. Keep checking back here for more of my embellished knits. :)

Super easy leaf garland tutorial

For a while I have been wishing I had a garland of some kind to hang on the mantle.  I thought of making one out of paper or fabric but I wasn't really loving those ideas.  Then a few days ago I realized a garland with leaves would be perfect.  With no money to spend on a real looking fake one I looked to the dollar store to see if I could get away with a cheap one.  But I was disappointed with the leaves the dollar store had.  Then my daughter brought an armful of maple leaves into the house to make fairy stuff and it hit me, I could make one with real leaves.  That sounds so stupid like I hadn't ever though of that, I did, but because real leaves are so fragile and easily torn I was stumped.  Then the inspiration came to use straws! It sounds strange but you'll see what I mean.

This is a great last minute project, I made it in about twenty minutes. It turned out so pretty and adds that final touch the mantle really needed. I love it! If it lasts long enough I think I'll leave it up till Thanksgiving. The tutorial is below. :)

Here is what you need:

• straws
• leaves
• string
• tape
• scissors

The steps are pictured bellow.

here is is again

1.  cut straws into 3/4 inch pieces
2. tape straws onto back of leaves
3. run a string through straws

I told you it was super easy! :) This might even work with hot glue instead of tape, that way you can get the straw as high as possible on the leaf so they hang more vertical. My leaves tilt forward a tiny bit, I am still very happy with the way it turned out.

With two Halloween parties to prep (one at church and one here) I will probably not be posting till after Halloween. Witch is sad because I wanted to have shared my kids' Halloween costumes by now. Oh well, I'll post them in November I guess. Have a safe and happy Halloween everyone! :)

Edit: Today my leaf garland is very sad looking.  All of my leaves have curled up from drying out.  I thought that being hug up would make them stay fairly flat but no such luck. Unless you make it the day of your party, you will probably want to press your leaves before making this garland.

Halloween decorations

Welcome! Come on in, have a sip of cider, and take a look around at this years Halloween decorations.

My Halloween banner in the entryway greets all guests. The feather wreath I purchased at Christmas time last year is a perfect touch. I say perfect because is is perfect for this spot and also because it was 50 cents.
 Notice the hand crocheted spiderweb and the accumulation of figurines.  I had no idea I had so many.  Good thing I have a nook with exactly five spots. :)

 

The pedestal bowl filled with pumpkins and gourds is a favorite of mine. The mantle was unfinished till I added that. The masked busts are ready for a spooky party to be sure. Black beads adorn the chandelier and a dollar store crow makes it its perch.

Lastly I share the haunted mansion that my super talented girlfriend created from cereal boxes and masking tape. What a treasure.  I am so lucky to have it.

 

 Happy Halloween!!

Tribute to Fall

Gone are the warm autumn days where you sit outside all day.  It is supposed to snow tonight, and it has been raining all weekend.  Hopefully there still a few warm days left this year but I'm not counting on it.

This photo collage is my tribute to those warm autumn days.  I took all of these right from my front porch. :)

a fascination with fairies

If you walked by my house in the morning or late afternoon you would see a blonde little girl either lying in the grass staring at bark or taping leaves together. Her love for all things Harry Potter is not trumped, but put on the shelf for awhile while fairies consume her every free moment. When I have to put home-school on hold while I nurse the baby, she can be found building a fairyland in her room or drawing fairies in her sketchbook.

Pictured above are some of the things I have found lying around the yard.  The other day I found a pixie dust basket filled with glitter, made with leaves and washi tape.  It was so amazingly constructed, but sadly it was not around to be photographed. I assume it dried out and was crushed into dust. (Pixie dust perhaps?!) :(  It looked just like a real basket and if I were a fairy I so would have used that basket!  

When I was little I would lay down and stare into the grass looking at the world like a tiny fairy would have.  I would tape leaves to my dolls for clothes and I would even put the sprinkler on mist for an added effect. How fun it is to see her doing the same things I did as a kid. :)

Handmade Halloween invitations

When my printer stopped working earlier this month I was a little freaked out.  I'd had my heart set on printing out a bunch of my free printable ghost invitations I designed.  I thought and thought of what I could do instead but it was like my imagination was broken. All I could think of was ...beef...stew. (5 points to whoever knows that reference.)  Anyway, I wracked my brain and I just couldn't let go of the adorable idea of ghosts holding a flag banner.  So I went to my craft room got out my stamps, paint and paper and went to work.  What do you think?

I used my sewing machine to put it all together.

I am super happy with how they turned out. :)

I like to link up with these link parties.