My Simple, {mostly} Natural, Fall Mantel

Decorating my mantel this fall took me forever!  I don't even know how many blog posts I've read about mantels, decorating pumpkins, creating the best look, etc., etc., etc.  Don't get me wrong, I loved reading through all of the creative ideas I found, but it left me feeling a bit overwhelmed and curious as to how I could get a mantel that I liked without spending a ton of money.

My first idea was to paint some Dollar store pumpkins with a crackle glaze finish.  This was an ultimate fail!  The pumpkins are not crackly in the least!  Thankfully I got all of those supplies on sale or with coupons, so now I have the paint and crackle to tackle another project down the road.  Does anyone have any tips on how to do this correctly?  I followed the instructions on the bottles.

Anyway, since that didn't pan out, I raided my cabinets and pantry for another idea.  When we moved into our last apartment, whoever had lived there previously left quite a few things behind.  Our rental company didn't want the stuff, so we were able to hang onto it.  Among some of the loot were 3 skinny vases.  I found them during this raid of the cabinets, along with several bags of pecans {in the shell} that I had purchased on sale at the beginning of September.  These would be the perfect natural look I was going for!  Throw in 3 small pumpkins from the grocery store, two white candles wrapped in jute, some sticks from the woods, and I had my fall mantel!

I love it!  It's simple, natural, easy, symmetrical {which I like} and doesn't detract from the colors already in my room.

What's on your fall mantel?

Felt Flower & Burlap Wreath

Several weeks ago I woke up one morning and decided we needed to purchase some fall crafting supplies.  A few hours later, the girls and I were out the door to visit just about every craft store in town.  I'm pleased to say that I didn't spend a ton of money, but did come home with some ideas and supplies for fall projects.  One such project was a wreath for the front door.

You may remember this wreath that I made for 4th of July

In case you're new here, I simply wrapped some burlap around a foam wreath form and attached fabric rosettes with safety pins.  You can read about it here.  Since I had used safety pins instead of glue, I simply detached the rosettes and had a blank slate to work with.

I found some felt squares at JoAnn's in these shades

They aren't the traditional 'fall' colors, but I liked the blue with the pumpkin orange color, and since my home is decorated with a lot of blues, I wanted that to tie in with my front door decor.

I found a tutorial here for making felt flowers and followed the instructions.  Basically, you cut a circle out of felt and continue to cut in a spiral form until you reach the end of the circle.  

You end up with a long strand of felt and this becomes your flower.  

The center of the flower should look like this

Gather the center in and then continue wrapping the felt around itself, tightly, to form a flower shape.

this is the underside of the flower

Once you reach the end it should look like this:

The great thing about these is that they don't have to be perfect.  See that extra bit of felt sticking up?  Well, once you finish the flower, you can simply cut off these imperfections to make it look better.

I used three different colors of felt and cut different sized circles (the bigger the circle the bigger the flower) until I had the amount I wanted.  

Now for the glue gun!  I placed a little bit of glue in random spots on the felt to make it hold together.  Then, I cut a piece of felt big enough to cover the entire back of the flower.

Then, I applied some hot glue to the flower.

Pressing tightly, I attached the piece of felt to the back and trimmed it to size.

I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted the flowers to look, so I just placed them on top of the wreath until I found what I wanted, and then took a picture so I would remember.

As I was looking for some more glue sticks to finish the project, I came across some brown yarn, so I decided to use it as well.  I just wrapped it around the wreath and sort of made an 'x' with it in different spots.

Instead of attaching the flowers with safety pins this time, I decided to go ahead and just glue them on.  Hopefully I won't have the heat issue I did over the summer, which caused my wreath to fall apart.

Here it is on the door and I love it!

Linking to:
Not Just a Housewife
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Sweet Little Gals'

Creamy Caramel Fruit Dip

Fall officially begins in just two days, so that means lots of fall recipes to come, some decorating and enjoying my favorite time of year!  I first made this dip about two years ago for my older sister's baby shower and loved it.  It's not your typical sticky caramel dip (although I love that kind too), so it feels a bit lighter and perhaps healthier.  You could use it for all kinds of fruit, but being traditional, I just prefer to use it for apple slices.

This recipe comes from the amazing lady who catered our wedding, and I've never been disappointed by anything she's made!  When I came across the recipe in the cookbook from my parents' church, I knew it would be great when I saw that she had submitted it.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Creamy Caramel Fruit Dip
Printable Version

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1 (4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon juice

In a medium size mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and brown sugar with an electric mixer until creamy.  Add the sour cream, milk, pudding mix, vanilla and lemon juice, beating well after each addition.  Chill, covered, until ready to serve.  Yield: approximately 4 cups.

The original recipe calls for reduced fat cream cheese and sour cream, but I just used the full fat versions, so perhaps my twist is not as healthy as hers.

source: A New Taste of our Heritage (church cookbook)

Mini Pumpkin Place Card Holders

Fall is just around the corner and I can't wait!   This year I decided to tackle some fall crafts, so I'll be sharing those with you in the weeks to come.  When I couldn't sleep one night, I came up with this idea and I like how it turned out.

Want to know how to make them?

Supplies:

-Styrofoam balls (I used 2-inch size)
-Orange Glitter Paint (I used the new Martha Stewart multi-surface glitter paint in fire opal)
-Foam Brush
-Wooden Circles
-Brown Spray Paint
-Bobby Pins


1. Paint the styrofoam balls using the foam brush to gently dab the paint in place.  I tried first by squeezing the paint directly onto the ball, but found it worked better to dip the brush in the paint and dab.

2.  While the balls are drying, lay the wooden craft circles on newspaper and spray paint.  Once dry, flip over and paint the other side, making sure to cover the edges as well.  Why use these?  Stryofoam is pretty light, so these help the pumpkins to stay in place when they're finished.

3.  Once the pumpkins are dry, gently push down on the top to create a flat surface on the bottom of the ball. Then, using your thumb, gently push on the top of the ball to create a flatter top.

4.  Place a glob of hot glue in the center of the wooden circle and press the ball down to attach.

5.  Insert a bobby pin (open side up) into the top of the pumpkin.

6. Make place cards or buffet labels and insert into the bobby pin.

I'm not a big Halloween person, but these would look really cute with a jack o' lantern face painted on them, maybe like this: