Fall Decorating {Mantle}

Hello and happy Monday!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Mine had a rocky start with a sick baby, but got better and better throughout the weekend. 

Last night I finally finished up my mantle!  I had taken down the Halloween stuff at the beginning of the month but struggled with this look until now.  :)

The staple on the mantle throughout the fall is the berry garland.  It is full of red, orange, and yellow berries and I stuff it a little more with fall leaves, and small pumpkins and gourds.  Then I pulled out this antique window pane (which has been sitting in my garage since I bought it a few years ago) and hung a beautiful fall wreath from the top with an orange ribbon. 

On either side of the window pane, sit chocolate pumpkins (see side note below), glass beaded pumpkins, and sunflowers.

Side note:  Do you ever feel like you share crafty brain waves with someone?  :)  Sometimes I'm hunting around blogland and see a project that is exactly what I had envisioned making or someone will leave a comment, "I was just going to make that!"  It goes to show you that great minds think alike!  I think Michele, from The Scrap Shoppe, and I were sharing crafty brain waves when we both decided to spray paint pumpkins brown!  Check out her's HERE.  She turned her brown pumpkin into a fall vase.

I decided to give these guys a coat of spray paint because they were cream and got lost against the creamy wall.  I wanted something dark and appropriate for fall so brown was the way to go (plus I already had a can from spray painting Kason's nursery furniture).  Then I dressed each one up with an orange ribbon.

Coming up this week:  Sutch an Inspiration, my fall credenza, and our Christmas card! :)  Have a fantastic week!

Pumpkin Pillow and Garland

Hello there!  Another Monday is here and guess what!  I have not one, but TWO super, duper EEK Weeks fall crafts to share with you today!  Prepare to fall in love with these fall crafts because they are too cute!

Let's start with a no sew pumpkin pillow.  You will need:  a brown pillow (mine is store bought because I don't have a sewing machine :)), doilies, green felt, craft paint (combination of orange, yellow, red, and brown), textile medium, spray adhesive, wax paper, a hot glue gun, and jute.

Start my mixing your paint colors until you get the perfect orange for your pumpkins, add the textile medium, and water to the paint.  Dip each of the doilies into the dye, wring them out, and lay them on a sheet of wax paper to dry.  When they are completely dry, toss them into the dryer to heat set the paint.

While the doilies are drying, make the stems for the pumpkins using jute.  Make a zig zag with the jute and put a line of hot glue across the bottom to keep it together.  I used a straight pin to help hold it together while I was gluing.

Cut out heart-shaped felt leaves and arrange the pieces on the pillow.

Spray the back of each piece with spray adhesive and put onto the pillowcase.  Take a sheet of wax paper and lay it over the pieces.  Press down around all of the edges to ensure a strong bond.  You could use hot glue for the stems and the leaves if you want to.

Hot glue a piece of jute onto one of the pumpkins.

Make a loop with the jute and glue down.  Repeat this a few times to create the curly, twirly vines.

Toss on your sofa and enjoy!

Now for the equally adorable garland.  You will need dyed doilies, jute, hot glue gun, material for stems (either bark, felt, or jute), and materials for leaves (either silk leaves or felt).

Dye the doilies using the same technique as above and allow them to dry.  When dry, thread the jute through each doily.  Hot glue a stem to the top of each one. I had these great little birch wood chips from a wood chip Christmas tree that fell apart, but you could use brown felt or make jute stems like we did for the pillow.

Now add leaves and curly, twirly vines to the pumpkins.  You can make them all the same or do each one a little differently.

I think adding a few leaves onto the vine is a fun, 3-D touch.

 

Hang the garland and LOVE it!

Didn't these doily pumpkins turn out so insanely cute?!  I can picture these on a canvas too.  They would make fantastic fall art!  The doilies for the garland were bought at the Dollar Tree in packs of two, so it was a very affordable project!  I am adoring my new fall decor!

I hope I've inspired you to create some doily pumpkins! :)  If you do, let me know!  I'd love to feature you!

I'm linking up to these fantastic parties! 





See you tomorrow for another installment of TO DO Tuesday! :)