More Fall Decorating

Here are some additional photos of my preparations for the party recently. The first photo shows my el cheapo fake pumpkins in their "before" state.

   

As you can see, they were not much to look at. But, they were so cheap that I had no trouble experimenting with them. Here's an "after" picture:

 

I had lots of fun with metallic acrylic paint, glue and torn book pages. On a few, I broke off the stem and glued a vintage button in its place. Some of them turned out better than others, so I may have to play around a little more. I think my favorites are the ones covered with book pages.

The wire basket is new: I found it at Walmart. The tag attached to a gourd is one I made from a small shipping tag. Shipping tags are so much fun to use! They are so inexpensive and available at any office supply store. Just a little ink and some stamps completely transform them into something special.

Last, but not least, I love the way the front porch turned out. I was inspired by a friend's display on her porch. She has a bench and had placed plants, pumpkins, and gourds on and below the bench. While I don't have a bench, I knew the key would be to have a variety of colors and textures at different heights. Thrift stores to the rescue! I found a small, backless wooden bench and a metal pot stand to help out. I already had a small decorative chair that had been sitting on the porch all summer (can you guess where I got it???).

I went to my favorite local garden center (yay Gertens!) and picked up pumpkins, gourds and mums. Here are the results:

Fall Decorating

There's nothing quite like a deadline to get me moving. Several weeks ago, I agreed to host a jewelry party in my home. This meant, of course, the obligatory cleaning of rooms nobody is going to see - just in case, you know!

It also meant that it was high time I decorated for fall. I don't have a lot of fall decorations, and they always seem a little pathetic to me. I decided that this year, I'd try to step it up a notch. If I were smart, I'd be thinking about this for a few weeks ahead, doing a little shopping here and there. But that's not the way we rock and roll around here. No, I did nothing until the week before the party, with the bulk of it left until the last couple of days.

During the week ahead, I started keeping my eyes open for things I could use. I did end up buying some things, but I was also able to utilize items from around my house. These pictures show what I did in my dining room.

I've got a metal corner stand with four shelves. One of these days I'm going to spray paint it black, but I didn't get that done this time. I left the top shelf the way it was and had fun arranging things on the other shelves. The next shelf down holds a yellow wire basket I bought a while ago at a thrift store. The cloth pumpkins were a craze I went through last fall. I added the "welcome" sign using Scrabble tiles.

The next shelf has some old and new items. The pumpkin at the back is a fake which I left as is. The pumpkin in the front is also fake; I glued torn strips from an old dictionary on it. The books are from a thrift store as is the nut grinder. The other things I've had for a while; they usually live somewhere else.

  

On the bottom shelf, I left the large yellow urn, but pushed it to the back. You can see more fake pumpkins and gourds in a wire basket I got at the dollar spot at Target. If you look closely, you can also see an old whisk broom peeking out - a recent thrift store find.

I've got some other pictures showing more about the fake pumpkins as well as the decorations in the kitchen and living room. For once, I'm quite happy with the way things turned out. And, best of all, now that the party is over I can enjoy these decorations for weeks to come!

Till next time...

Fabric Wristband

I've seen so many cute DIY fabric wristbands out in the blogosphere! I've been meaning to give it a try, so I pulled out some materials and got busy. I decided I wanted to use unbleached muslin with the end result being a white on white band. I cut three strips of muslin plenty long enough to go around my wrist.

I had a pile of random skinny strips and threads left from tearing muslin for another project. The shape reminded me of a rose, so I thought I'd make that the base of a flower.

Then it was off to the sewing machine, where I stitched the three strips together along the sides, leaving the frayed edges as they were. I stitched "channels" down the length of the band. Next I roughly stitched the tangles to one end of the band. Under the "flower" I tucked a strip of twill tape to act as a loop closure.

Next I added some ribbon and rickrack to the flower to make it more interesting. The flower center is made from twine glued to a cardstock circle. I chose a white button in the shape of a rose and stitched that in place.

Here is the final result - I'd show you the photo I took of my arm modelling it, but I was appalled at how wrinkled my arm looked in a closeup shot! You'll just have to imagine it and think kind thoughts about my elderly arms. ;)

Fun and easy-peasy!

Till next time...

A House Full of Memories

 I've had these photos for a while, waiting to decide how to use them. Normally, I don't write much for my scrapbook pages. I find that the photos themselves are enough to bring back the memories. In this case, so many things started popping into my mind that I decided to get them down on paper. Here is the journaling:

The last time I saw this house, Mike and I drove out there with Daddy Clyde. He stayed in the car while we took a look around outside and peered into the windows. When we returned to the car, Daddy Clyde commented that I’d never been turned away from that door before. That remark really hit home and I’ve thought about it many times since; I’m not likely to enter that house ever again.

I have so many memories that were made in this house. Memories of holidays and family visits. A broken chair and a twice-broken window. Delicious meals. Lizzie’s placemats under Nanny’s everyday plates and Fostoria glasses. Jelly served in glass bowls. The board games in the hall closet. The patio that became the “garden room”. The mesquite and pecan trees. Nanny’s rose garden. The metal and stone fence. Fossilized wood and driftwood. The big round coffee table with the fancy flower arrangement and candy dishes. The painted rock that sat by the front door. Artwork collected from around the globe. The pantry in the kitchen with the sliding door and the pencil sharpener inside (what a fun, cozy place!).  The boat that sat in the garage. Scorpions in the light fixtures – ewww! Fabric covered walls. Nanny’s heater in the back room and stacks of books for her to read. The two blue chairs.

I’m going to miss it.

Instant Rust

Generally, I tend to think of rust as something negative, caused by neglect or carelessness. In spite of that, I have a fondness for the look of a rusty patina - I just don't want to have to deal with nasty flaking metal or unsightly stains.

Enter instant rust! I saw an idea I wanted to try here. The blogger, Carolyn, cited this website as a source for the images she used. Although I had come across that site before, I'd never done more than a little browsing.  (All the images are available for free download). I decided to give her project a try, and downloaded this image. I printed it on our color printer and cut it to the size I needed for my can. Before doing any gluing, I dabbed some Adirondack Alcohol Ink in ginger to the top and bottom rims so the shiny silver metal wouldn't detract from the rusty paper.

I'm not a big fan of Mod Podge, which was recommended to glue the paper down. Instead I used Perfect Paper Adhesive which worked very well. Following the instructions on the blog, I brushed glue on the can in small sections, securing the paper as I went. I found that running my nails lightly along the can's grooves did the trick to get the paper down into those ridges. I overlapped the paper a little at the end, and brushed a small amount of the glue over the join to make it more secure.

Just for fun, I tied some rough twine around the finished can, and topped it with a flower I made. The outer part of the flower is made from a torn strip of unbleached muslin gathered with a rough running stitch. For the center, I punched a circle from a piece of cardstock. Next, again using the PPA and starting from the center of the circle, I glued the twine down, bringing the tail around to the back. I secured the center to the muslin with Diamond Glaze, a very strong adhesive. I also used the DG to attach the flower to the can. All done! Now I only have to decide whether I want to use it for pens and pencils or perhaps some artificial flowers.

Till next time!

Living and Active

You may remember a while back that I posted a preliminary sketch for a piece I planned to submit to Somerset Studio magazine. I did mail it in, but I haven't heard anything yet. I hope that means that it will be used in some way, but it may just be that they're still going to return it with a polite rejection letter.

This is the finished work and I'm pretty pleased with the result. I ended up cutting out the sketch rather than drawing a new one. I painted the "vine" with layers of color and set it aside. The background paper is a nice watercolor paper that stood up to lots of splashing and spraying. Once the vine was glued in place, I added the text from Hebrews that originally inspired me. That was printed on the computer and cut apart.

Next I selected portions from the prologue of John's gospel. I hand-wrote those around the edges of the vine. The Roman numerals along the edges represent the Ten Commandments.

The bottom layer is a canvas panel, painted a darker green and splashed about. The blue "ruffle" is plain old tissue paper that I painted with a wonderful acrylic paint made by Lumiere. Their paint is beautiful and remained flexible when dried. This allowed me to fold it into rough pleats and stitch it to the watercolor paper with my machine.

Apart from the pressure of making something I thought was worth submitting, this project was completely pleasurable. Of all the artsy or crafty things I've tried, messy painting is the most fun for me. I'll let you know what happens as soon as I hear anything.

Till next time!

Curious

For a long time, I've wanted to use this photo in a layout. I get tickled every time I look at it. I love her plump little arms, and her precious bald head. From the expression on her face, it appears that Norah has been "caught" doing something she shouldn't, but she was just idly opening and closing the cabinet door. She didn't even try to get anything inside - what a good girl!

This was one of those occasions when the whole family was together. There was no shortage of people willing to play with and hold the grandkids, and lots of game time and visiting for the grownups.

This page was incredibly easy to do. I found this beautiful paper with the black trim and stitched flourishes, so all I had to do was add the photo, the heart embellishment, and a title. It doesn't get much easier than that!

Till next time :)