My Fall To Do List

I can't believe this is the last weekend in September. With fall activities like football, apple orchards, and the cooler weather in full swing, I decided to make a Fall To do List of things related to my favorite time of the year. I found a couple of lists here and here that I used for inspiration then added some of my own.

1. Make apple cider donuts.
2. Day trip to Duluth, Minnesota and photograph the changing colors of the leaves and Lake Superior.
3. Visit a Pizza Farm.
4. Pick my own apples at a local Apple Orchard.
5. Make homemade apple butter and give it as gifts to friends and family.
6. Go to a Sip and Paint class.
7. Host a Baked Potato Bar.
8. Have a a Fall Craft night at my house.
9. Make Hot Chocolate from scratch.
10. Make ruffled lamp shades for my milk glass lamps.

What items are on your Fall To Do List? Comment below to share your list!

Have a fantastic weekend!
Bre

Fall Decor Inspiration: Part 1

I am looking forward to fall. I love the cool weather, sweaters, boots, pumpkins, and the falling leaves. I've been searching the Internet to find some DIY fall home decor inspiration. These are things that I would put in my house.

We've all seen the canning jar lid pumpkin, I particularly love this one the best from Yellow Bliss Road!



















Also this painted pumpkin from Seven Clown Circus. I'm sure the cinnamon sticks add the perfect fall scent to the house.

I love the different twist that twelveOeight did using sisal and twine! Isn't it the cutest!

Naptime Decorator is genius with this centerpiece! (Make sure to click on the link and look how she changed the centerpiece to correlate with the seasons! Genius, I tell you!) Something that is so simple, yet lovely!

Have you ever noticed how adding a wreath to your door can make your house look more inviting? I love making wreaths, but this is one that I haven't seen before. All You shows you how to make this awesome Acorn Wreath! I think this is something that I will have to try this fall! (Psst, there are instructions on their page!) I love the added touch the ribbon adds!

Gingerbread Snowflakes has a brilliant idea recycling mason jars and using leaves found in your yard. Add a little Mod Podge and boom! Simple, yet stunning on a cool fall night!

What are your favorite things about fall? Which project do you think you will try this fall?

- Bre

Craptastic Day...

Ever have one of those days where no matter what you do, whether you do it right or wrong, someone always has some rude, obnoxious remark? Well add that on to a gloomy, dreary Monday and you'll get my day! Whenever I have days like this I try to find some of my favorite beach photos and usually that makes me feel a little better by forgetting (even for a second) what a crappy day I've had. These are a couple of the photos that I went to today. I have posted the photos with the source.



 (http://www.powerplayrealty.com/pages/beach-block-homes-sale-avalon-nj)
 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sunset_at_Varkala_Beach_Kerala_India.jpg)


(http://www.art.com/products/p10054861-sa-i6213967/chairs-on-beach.htm?rfid=765667)









 (http://dbabetta.com/tag/beach/)

 
(http://sarahlaurence.com/blog/2007/07/reading-on-nantucket.html)


(http://poemsandnovels.blogspot.com/2010/05/summer-dreamin-nantucket.html)



When you have a bad day, what do you do turn that frown upside down? Leave a comment below and share with others!

-Bre

Getting off work early usually means shopping!

Today is my Friday! So after work I ran a bunch of errands which included Target, Kirkland's, and Michael's! Anyone who knows me knows I love all three of those stores. I knew I was bound to find something I could use to start decorating my house.

The first stop was Target for groceries and other stuff. Target has was seems to be 1/2 their store marked at 50% off (Christmas items) and this porcelain "bread bowl" happened to be one of the items that was 50% off! Score! I love the look of this bowl. It reminds me of either some kind of cool looking coral or a ropes. I didn't have anything that I could put in the bowl at home, except for possibly ornaments, but I wanted something a little different. So in the back of my mind I was trying to figure out what I could add to this bowl.

When I was at Michael's getting battery operated tea lights for the 3 lanterns I got at Kirkland's, I accidentally (er, I mean strategically) walked passed the nautical section and saw these really cool looking balls. There is one wrapped in twine, a couple covered in shells, and a couple more wrapped in blue/green rope. A light bulb went off in my head when I saw this and thought I could add them to the bowl!!

I decided to bring a table that I had used outside, inside to use at the top of the stairs to add some more beachy touches. I like the look with the wreath and the bowl together. But I eventually think I am going to hang up the wreath...

I love these little balls! They all scream BEACH and NAUTICAL to me!

-----------------------------------

My next awesome buy was these 3 lanterns. They have a really cool design on all 4 sides. These reminded me of the lanterns you see lining a sand walk-way to the beach. Instead of lining a walk way in the sand, I placed them on my stairs to add beachy feel.



I love the distressed look and the way the light reflects on the inside.





The detail on all 4 of the sides leaves an interesting shadow on the stairs.



Kye wanted to be in the picture too. Doesn't he look so handsome posing with the new lanterns?!

I love the app "TUBO" on my phone. It gives you a bunch of different options for the theme. Check it out here TUBO!



Cheap and Easy!

Cheap and Easy!

The crafts that I have been doing recently have all been something that anyone can do. They are fool proof! All you need for this particular craft is a circular wreath, white yarn, a star fish, and some twine.



Here is the breakdown on prices:
Wreath:      $2.99
Twine:        $2.49
Starfish:      $2.33 (This was sold in a 3 pack, so the total for all 3 was $6.99.)
Total          $7.81

(I already had the yarn, the hot glue gun, and the glue sticks.)

Instructions:
1. Don't take the plastic off of the wreath; if you already did, it's okay, it just might be a little messier.


Take your yarn and tie a knot around the wreath. Don't worry about the edges of the knot, they will get hidden when you start wrapping. Start wrapping around the wreath. I found it easier to have the yarn in a ball rather than attempting to stick the entire skein through the wreath. Continue wrapping until the entire wreath has been covered.

Once you have the entire wreath covered with yarn and it kind of looks something like this:


2. Take the twine and follow step 1 and cover the wreath. If you see that you have holes where they yarn is showing, don't worry about it right away. Once the wreath is covered you can go back around and fill in the spaces. Just be sure to make the 2nd layer as tight as the first one so you can't see the different layers. Once the twine is completely covering the wreath it should look like this:
There still are some spaces that you can see the yarn, but I kind of liked the look, but if you want it all covered, go for it!

The last part is adding accessories to your wreath. I'm sure if you know me at all, you know that I L.O.V.E. the beach, the ocean, and anything nautical. So I decided to add a simple starfish. I just took my hot glue gun and glued the crap out of it! I also wanted to make sure that the star fish would stay on, so I used some of my left over twine and tied a knot around it.

You can add anything you want to spruce your wreath up like flowers, shells or anything that would compliment your decor.

So here is the finished product. I am very happy how it turned out. Like I said above, it's super cheap and
simple!


You can wrap the wreath in felt, twine or yarn. I first got this idea after seeing a Christmas wreath in the gift shop at the Care Center where I work. I believed it was priced at over $20. I spent a little time attempting to figure out how to make something like that one. Their wreath was made with red and white yarn and had a red bow on top. You can make these wreaths for any occasion, Christmas, Easter, a wedding gift, 4th of July, a birthday present, Halloween... you get the idea! I plan on making more of these gorgeous wreaths, but adding flowers made of felt and I will post those too!

What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Want to buy one?

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

B

Round 2

Okay, I know the title is Round 2, but this should really be a prequel to the first ornaments posting. I made these ornaments before Thanksgiving, but haven't posted about them.

I don't know which ones I like best, the painted ones or the ones with the gems or the ones with the twine, or the ones with the shells... I love them all and have them all on my tree along with last years store bought ones. I hope to phase out the "old" ones and eventually have all homemade glass ornaments next year or the year after.

Here is a look at my store bought ornaments from Target:


Anyways, back to the new ornaments. I originally got the idea for Adornments, as Katie from the blog Bower Power calls them. Katie used the white ornaments, but when I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics, all I could find were the clear glass ornaments which turned out to be okay since I was able to use them for both of my projects! Whoo, go me!

I was able to find glass stones that are usually used to fill vases in various colors and shapes. I picked out bag with clear, opaque, and blue stones since I thought they would look a little more 'nautical.' These suckers were very heavy ones I got the entire ornament covered. I used a hot glue gun to attach the stones to the ornament, I also used hot glue to affix the ornament top, hopefully that will keep it from crashing to the ground. If it doesn't, there is always Gorilla Glue! (If I haven't mentioned it before, I love hot glue guns! I use it whenever I can and for whatever I can.) So this is what it turned out like:


The next design I wanted to try was to add different types of shells. I covered one in small shells. This one was a little bit tricky since the shells didn't have very much surface area to stick the glue to, but it still worked!
 

The next shell ornament I took a few bigger shells and glued them to the front in a fan pattern:


I also found twine at Jo-Ann's to attempt to wrap the ornament. I would have to say that this was the most difficult one to decorate. I started at the top by wrapping the twine around the neck on top and occasionally adding glue to make sure that the twine would stick. Every time I wrapped the twine around the front, the back would come loose and vice versa. But I continued to add more hot glue to make sure that the twine would stay put. As you can see there are some spaces between rows, but I am still happy with the way it turned out. The next time I make this kind, I think I will start on the bottom and see if it turns out differently.


The second twine ornament was the second easiest! All I did was take the top off and stuff the twine inside until I couldn't add more. I used one of the unused glue sticks to poke down the twine to make more room. I love the simplicity of this one, both in actual assembly and appearance.


This last ornament was by far the easiest! All I did was take the clear, round glass stones and stuck them in the ornament. I like the way the lights not only shine off of the ornament itself, but also the different stones inside too.


As with all my ornaments, I make sure to glue the tops on to make sure they don't fall off.

Well after 2 blog posts in 2 days, it looks like I need to go find a new project to work one! If anyone has an idea, comment below! Also, if anyone wants to give these as gifts, let me know. You pick the colors you want and I'll make it for you!

Until next time,
B

Ornaments.

I got the idea for doing these marble-like ornaments from a bunch of different blogs, but I think I first saw them on A Yellow Bicycle. No matter what colors you use, you can never get a duplicate nor go wrong, I think that is what I love about these. The colors I decided to use were Cream, Navy Blue, Brown, Silver, and Metallic Aluminum.

All you have to do it start out with clear glass ornaments like these:

 

1. Remove the top. Take your first color and drip it down the side like this:

2. Continue dripping your colors around the top like this:

and

 
and

 

3. When all your colors have been added, start swirling and tapping. Eventually it will start looking something like this:

 

4. You will be able to see the paint starting to swirl together inside:

5. Keep swirling and tapping occasionally adding more paint, if you need to, so it starts to look like the finished product:

I love how they turned out, but after letting them sit and dry over night, they have changed, colors have merged more and more paint dripped out. I love both ways, but after they dried they look a little less vibrant.

But, still an awesome new craft. If anyone is interested in giving these as Christmas gifts, let me know. We can discuss the details!



Brown, Cream, and Navy Blue.

Navy Blue, Silver, and Metallic Aluminum.



Cream and Brown.

Brown and Silver.