Homefront: Thanksgiving Mantel

My mom and I have been eyeing these lovely Thanksgiving statues at Hobby Lobby for a few years now. She is so pretty! We have Cherokee in our blood, so we love little Native American touches here and there.

 A "mantel" doesn't have to be over a fireplace!

My mantel before. Pretty, and a little plain. I wanted to add more personalization. The orange glitter pumpkin is the jack-o-lantern from my Halloween display, just turned around. Thanksgiving decorating is really just borrowing from Halloween and adding a bit to it. The 'styling' began with the two paper wrapped pumpkins. I was going to spray paint them gold, but thought it would be too bold, so instead I lightly handpainted them a metallic gold color so details can still peek through.

  

Then, I took that gold paint to the wreath and the cute little pilgrim sign, just to add some glint. I always have some sort of artificial flowers and such laying around, so I made a quick little floral display. My tutorial on making quick and easy floral arrangements here.

 I recently taught a Thankful/Memory jar idea the other night. Tutorial HERE!

 

Of Animals and Crisp Fall Mornings

little fox prince print by this years girl

 My mother and I use to live in a little old house up on a wooded hill. We had a frequent feral cat (who I took care of medically) named Ernie, I loved that skinny, striped orange guy with a crazy long nose and huge, slanted and inquisitive, endearing blazing green eyes, I was so sad when he stopped coming around. We had a roadrunner who loved to run across the road every time we drove on it. And we really loved this little baby fox that came around at nights. He or she kept a safe distance, but would come and sit with me outside a few feet away. I lov how butterflies are seen as summery creatures, but on our wedding day, 7 years ago in October, is was the Butterfly festival.

There is finally a little chill in the air. A bit of an autumn crisp in this warm state of Texas. But I ever so much welcome it as I stood outside, arms crossed, watching a squirrel jump from our pecan tree to the roof of the house and ponder, now I will have to force my young children to wear clothes every day.

It's been busy around here. You are now looking at a child entertainer, Princess Layla and Cookie the Clown of my little Ever After Entertainment side project to be exact. And on top of that, my mother is moving in with us this weekend so she can have surgery and recovery on some cervical herniated disks. It will be a good fall, just a crazy one. But this is the season for crazy, isn't it?

Homefront: Fall Mantel

I'm joining up with Nester's Fall Mantel (Fantel) Linky Party today. Because I did this in a rush, I feel it's too cluttered, but that's alright, I will be changing it Halloween style in about week anyways. So be sure to visit back for that.

I'm not liking the bird, but I love the pine cones, mostly because we have collected them fresh from our new yard, and I've always wanted to do that. I plan to make a garland out of them, maybe for Christmas. This rosemary plant needs to be re-potted, but it smells so nice, and can't wait to use it in my roasted potatoes.

Opinion needed. The "window" mirror is actually black, I placed an empty shabby white frame in front. Should I leave the white frame there, or does the black frame look best? Thanks!

Inspired Wedding: Colorful Glass Vase and Flower Outdoor Wedding

I All Things Thrifty's cousin's wedding and had to share because it is so beautiful. They collected colorful glass jars and vases for months for the tables and filled them with fresh local flowers and ribbons of moss down the centers of the tables. The touch of the colorful craft butterflies were a sweet and whimsical touch.

The beautiful fabric garland used in the center of the canopy was handmade using embroidery hoops and torn fabric shreds. Directions to make your own included at the bottom of post.

(photos by Tanis Mosher)

Earthy Orange

natural birdhouses ~ Tamar Mogendorff

It's not a secret that I love the color orange. Many people think it is a bright, obnoxious, glaring color, but the rustic orange I love has an earthy, warm, muted but not quite shy or timid feel. It makes me feel like I am wearing a dose of color without putting myself out there too much. Stuck in a lovely but sometimes sterile white and creme color rut, clothing or decor wise? Try a soft hint of earthy and natural orange to add a tender punch. You just might like it. I added touches in my decor here in this post. Or, even more orange favs here.

 

oranges ~ talis (lots of great orange prints in her shop)

 

autumn paper baubles ~ tanya mac

 

felted wool acorns ~ lil fish studios

 

garland gloves ~ Anu Tuominen

peace shells ~ brief moments

My all time fav orange sweater, makes my boring outfits feel so much more pulled together, love how we are 'picking' acorns together, in the crisp fall weather (last year) so fitting for this post.

A Little Lovables Halloween

 the husband is not a fan of the spider and crow, ha!

I feel like my Halloween decorating is completed enough to show you now. I did have a few other cute little surprises, like a flock of birds flying in a v formation that I stamped to our central mirror... but it has already been smeared to an inky fog by my toddlers, and frankly, I'm just too tired to redo it.

 last year, on the ill fated mantle, blythe was a kitty, oh, where is my boa??

I tried to stay away from orange, and do more of an elegant black, white and creme theme like last year, but orange snuck in here somehow, so I just went with what I had. I tried to mix the harvest style with spooky without messing up the themes too much. I'm an all or nothin' kind of gal, so this harvest/Halloween mash up was a major step for me.

found this vintage brass owl family at a garage sale for $1 a few weeks ago!

For the pumpkin in a mirror project, those are from those child's foam decorating kits. While the boy had fun making his own, I thought I would do something a bit kooky-classy. I got this old frame from a garage sale last month and painted it white. It naturally distressed in that time from my lack of putting it anywhere safe.

 

I hot glued a black ribbon to the back (can easily be unpeeled later). Then I made my foam jack o lanterns. But oooo-wie... too dang orange for my sore eyes! So, I got some black ink (for stamping) dabbed it with a paper towel, removed the pumpkin faces and smeared the ink around, emphasizing it around the edges. I reapplied the faces, but wouldn't stick well to the ink, so I hot glued them on. Then, I hot glued the pumpkins to the ribbon! It fit perfectly in that little odd space in my display.

the only good thing about that desk, is using it as a vignette surface ;)

This is the pumpkin carriage thingy I adore that I painted! I added a light up jack o lantern inside, crystals, and a pocket watch. It did have little mice on it, but they disappeared somewhere. All I need is a glass slipper for a Cinderella display.

  I saved $6 on this. I really wanted the more expensive flowers, but settled for these, hey I'm trying! The vase I got at Goodwill and the bird and berries were all clearanced items. I can really jazz it up later after Halloween for more of the harvest look. You can see a making of the floral arrangments here:

And there is Frankenstein and his bride. The husband thinks they are too scary. I contemplated painting them a little shabby chic style to ease that scare factor? What do you think? Oh, and her head fell off. E6000 saved the day.

I love that pedestal pumpkin. It's glass and a clearance hobby lobby find. So cute and chic and no need to paint! Although, the pedestal part would look pretty nifty black... hmmm...

Another angle of my long counter top that is really useless except for knocking into it and getting heinous bruises. A junk collector too. I am pretty sure my decorations fall under the "junk" category as well. Sorry husband of mine!

This here shadow box I got from Viv's Whimsy Halloween swap. I love it! So cute, the velvety curtain with pom pom fringe and vintage image are so pretty. Oh, and that's a page from Twilight that skeleton is standing on :) Thanks Michelle from Chaos Cottage for making me this!!

The one I made her was a little ghosty fellow in chains with little flying black birds inside of a wooden coffin.

I thought I would show you some previous years Halloween costumes for your viewing pleasure.

 

Sonic boy as Mr. T. He loved it and so did everyone else! We used mascara for the 'do and I sewed clearance Homecoming chains and junk to a yellow terry cloth bib, so it was light and comfortable to wear.

Seriously, I threw all 3 of our outfits together in 15 minutes, as I was rushing out of the door to go to a Halloween party. Bad momma, I know. But, the boys loved being scarecrows! I wired a nest with eggs and a bird to the eldest and put hay things and feathers in their pockets and sprayed his hair all crazy like. Of course, we had to have red triangle noses and freckles!  The overalls I wore were my mom's from the 70's. I wore them for hippie day in high school during homecoming week. They have hippie patches on the bum, and a band one called "Up with People"  I know, funny stuff!

Well, this Halloween, we are going as candy corn (that would be me), Sonic the Hedgehog and his little red buddy, Knuckles, though the oldest is intent on his little bro being a witch. Weird! You can see more of how these costumes turned out here.