Fall Hurricane Vases

I found this cute and inexpensive DIY project on Pinterest for a Fall hurricane decoration.  These Hurricanes were put together by Amanda Jane Brown (she also has more fun ideas on her blog for Hurricanes).

I really liked the look and felt they would look great on my Kitchen Counter.  I found my Hurricanes at Tai Pan and happened to go on a day when they were 50% off.  Such a simple yet fun project.

Fall Porch Garland

Garland has hung from our porch each fall since we purchased our first home.  My mother had given me a large grapevine garland so I put it to use.  I soaked it and then stretched it across our cute little bungalow porch.  I then added leaf garland, sunflowers, and plastic gourds to it (my husband drilled all the holes needed in the gourds to attach them).

Over the next eight years I added more leaves and flowers to the garland.  It has always been the first decoration to go out each fall.

The only pictures I have of the original garland (October 2004):

Since our move, I have found our new porch is much longer than our previous one, and so I have made new garland for it.  I truly missed putting it out last year, but we had just moved in and unpacking kept us busy. I never had the time to make a new one.  This year I decided it would be my one new piece of fall decoration.  I found some smaller grapevine garland on ebay, then waited until Michael's had fall leaf garlands on sale for 50% off.  Then I picked up the gourds at Hobby Lobby once they started their 50% off fall decor sale. 

I kept the garland more simple this year.  I wrapped the grapevine in leaves, used raffia left over from my sister's wedding decorations, and secured it to the vine.  I then added pumpkins.  My Husband installed the hanging hooks on the front porch so I could hang our new fall garland.  He then asked if I was going to put garland around the door, unfortunately not this year, but maybe in the future.  My Husband loved the leaf colors I picked and really thought it complemented the color of our home.

Here is the new Garland:

With the porch complete I decided to re-purpose the old garland.  I stripped it down into individual pieces.  Next, I rummaged through more left over supplies from my sister's fall reception.  My Mom gave me

all the leftover stuff, or stuff that she didn't have a use for.   I added it to the grapevine garland (which I had to trim down a bit to fit my mantle).  I then added the new garland to my mantel and it looks wonderful.   I'm now in the mood for a romantic cuddle with my Honey next to the fireplace on a brisk fall evening. 

1st Day of Fall

I cannot believe that fall is already here.  The past 6 months, better yet the past year has flown by so quickly for me.  Fall makes me think of of the beautiful leaves that are starting to change.  It also made me think of the fun pillow case dresses I made for my girls a couple of years ago along with fall bows.  A friend of mine wanted to learn how to sew, and so we headed to the fabric store and picked up some fall fabric to make each of our girls (my 2 and her 2) some fall dresses.  I felt that the pillowcase dress would be a great 1st project.  It was so much fun to pick out the fabric for each of our girls and then to start the process of making them.  We talked and laughed had so much fun.  All 4 of the dresses turned out fabulous and my girls have been able to wear them each fall for the past 2 years.  Now that I have 3 girls and the oldest has outgrown her dress (luckily the 2nd oldest has grown into the 1st) I will have to make new dresses or skirts this year for my oldest and youngest and a matching tie for my little guy. Hopefully I can talk my friend into once again sewing some fun fall things together.

Triple Shabby White and Pink Headband

My Baby Girl has a shabby pink dress with a white eyelet sweater, so I wanted to make the perfect headband for it.  I tried making it with pink shabby flowers, but it seemed to much with the pink dress.  I then did a triple shabby grouping in white and then added a pink and white ribbon flower.  It was the perfect match.

$8

Shabby White Baby Headbands

Over a couple of months, I had a couple of friends having baby girls.  So I made some Shabby White Baby Headbands for their new baby's.  I find that White is always a good color to have (my girls have worn out many white bows).

Each Headband was made slightly different.  The Ribbon flowers were made with different size ribbons and the Rhinestone buttons are also different.

Emotions = Lots of Beautiful New Bows

Here are all the fun things I have been working on over the past week with many more in the works.

I find that at times I am an emotional Crafter.  When my emotions are high, I tend to make lots of over-the-top bows.  I also relieve stress by sewing, crocheting, and sometimes working on wood crafts.  Recently it has been bows and headbands and boy have I been making and working on lots of new ones.  My emotions have been running overboard the past few weeks and so I have been able to put it all into making lots of beautiful new things for my girls and others.