So Much To Make: autumn

Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts

Friday, October 14, 2016

Home Tour: Fall and Halloween Decor

Happy Fall, Y'all!

I frequently get asked about my handmade fall decor, so I decided to share a few areas of my home and how the decorations came to be. I have a kid-friendly house, so nothing is fancy or expensive. I like decorating (especially handmade stuff), but I LOVE how excited my kids get when they see that I have added fun festivity to our home! It makes me smile, too. (:

MY SIDEBOARD

(pictured above), located in my dining room

Autumn Grasses. Purchased at JoAnn's, similar here and here.
BOO letters. I spray painted them with a warm white, then painted the rims gold. Find the letters here.
Chalkboard. Made using a second hand framed picture from Goodwill, using this tutorial.
Fabric Pumpkins. Handmade using this blog post.

DOOR WREATHS

Wreath form purchased at Joann's (similar here). After trying several kinds of forms, I now have a pretty strong opinion that the kind made of pressed, shaped straw wrapped in plastic is the most sturdy. Just my 2-cents.
Burlap and fabric flowers made using tutorial found here and here.
Feathers made from yarn and liquid starch. Tutorial found here.

FOYER

Floral pieces and Pumpkin from Joann's.
Thankful board: 1x4 wood, painted light brown, then sanded around edges to distress. Vinyl "thankful."
Sitting scarecrow: This was a hand-me-down from my mom. :)

DINING ROOM

Table: Tray and metallic balls from Pier One. Leaves from JoAnn's. Vintage lace table runner made according to this tutorial.
Mini mason jar floral arrangement: These are the Atlas Mason jars that Classico Pesto comes in. I always save them. They make excellent small drinking glasses for my kids, and they are adorable in decorating. I painted these with a warm white spray paint. Floral pieces are from JoAnn's.

FIREPLACE

Painting (of Colorado Rockies in Fall) available here.
Wool Ball Garland made using these.
Fall Feather Garland tutorial found here.
Letterboard is "The Poet" from Letterfolk.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Perfect! Whole Wheat Ginger Cookies

I chose the word "perfect" to describe these cookies for good reason. I can honestly say I wouldn't change a single thing about how these turned out. I made a second batch, just to be sure.

Lightly crispy edges and chewy, soft insides make these delicious (and because they are 100% whole wheat--nutritious!) cookies unsurpassed. This will be a new go-to recipe, especially during the fall and winter months when ginger, cinnamon and cloves smell so warm and comforting. You can unplug that scented wax warmer while making these babies. Your house will smell AMAZING!

One thing that is unique about this ginger cookie recipe, is it doesn't call for molasses. I love molasses cookies, but I don't always have it on hand. What I do always have around is maple syrup. I decided to put maple syrup in the recipe and couldn't be more pleased with the results!

Perfect Whole Wheat Ginger Cookies

Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (all-purpose works)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 egg

1/4 cup granulated sugar (for rolling)

Dash of ginger, cinnamon, cloves (for rolling)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray or line cookie sheets.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda salt and spices.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar. Add maple syrup and egg, beating well. Pour in flour mixture and stir well. Dough will be thick.

4. In a small bowl, stir granulated sugar with a dash of each of the spices. Using a medium cookie scoop or tablespoon, make 1-inch cookie dough balls. Roll each ball in sugar, and place 3 inches apart on cookie sheets.

5. Bake 9 minutes, or until very light brown on edges. Middles should rise, but still look un-done when you remove the cookies from the oven. Wait 2-3 minutes to remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. The cookies will flatten as they cool, and firm up so they hold together nicely. Store in an air-tight container.

Participating in these link-ups.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Fall Feather Garland

Living in the Pacific Northwest makes saying goodbye to summertime hard. What we are really saying is "Hi, Rain. You are here for the next 5 months (at least)."

I am embracing Autumn, though, and all that comes with it. I love the colors. I love opening my blinds more often to let the (somewhat cloudy) sunshine in! My birthday is in the fall. So is Halloween and Thanksgiving! And I love decorating my house with fall decor!

After putting together a wreath for my last post, Yarn Feather Tutorial, I decided to change out my Summer Flower Garland for a Fall Feather Garland! I am loving how it turned out!

I started by making a bunch of feathers using my tutorial. I decided to trim most of the feathers, but leaving some un-trimmed also looks great.

Each feather takes about 15-20 minutes. Put your feet up, put on some Netflix, and you'll have enough whipped out in no time! These represent about 2.5 hrs of work.

Here they are trimmed up. Sharp scissors are key.

I used gold craft paint on a few, and I sprayed them with an acrylic sealer (not essential, but I'd like these to last!). Finally, I bent their stems (which is a covered pipe cleaner, so easily bent), and attached them to some bakers twine. So easy!

Participating in these link-ups.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie

Did you know you can make a delicious pumpkin pie WITHOUT evaporated or sweetened condensed milk??

I have always made my pumpkin pies using the traditional recipe found on the back of the Libby's Pumpkin can. And it is a definite winner. But, this past Sunday I had a pie crust, eggs, sugar, spices, vanilla, a can of pumpkin, and NO canned milk. I did, however, have other forms of milk, among them: Sour Cream.

So I substituted sour cream for evaporated milk. I didn't do a straight substitution; because of the density of the sour cream, I used less of it.

This pie cooked up beautifully, and my family scarfed it down with nothing but praise for its texture and flavor! I LOVE when an experiment becomes a new recipe success!

Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie

Makes one 9-inch pie

Ingredients

1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat pumpkin and sour cream until smooth. Add sugar, spices, and vanilla, stirring well. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

3. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake 30-35 more minutes, until middle of pie is set (no longer liquid).

4. Cool completely before serving. Store in refrigerator.

Participating in these link-ups.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

4 Season Wreath

I have had wreath envy lately. A friend and neighbor of mine has had the cutest wreaths throughout the year, and so I finally asked her if she made them. She said she did, then she showed me her big, BRILLIANT secret. She has VELCRO on the wreath and changes out the flowers! I asked her if she would mind if I shared her genius on my blog, and she was gracious enough to allow me to.

What you'll need:

1 wreath form
sewing pins
1 skein of yarn (something that will go with each season/holiday you plan to do)
Flower making supplies: Felt / fabric; needle and thread; beads/buttons; fabric/hot glue
Velcro--preferably something close to the color of your yarn
hot glue gun and glue sticks

1. Tie a knot in one end of the yarn. Put a sewing pin through the knot and into the wreath form.

2. Wrap and wrap and wrap. Here's what I learned that sped this process up: (1) Wrap several loops around the form without trying to keep them close together, then stop every 10 or so loops and push them together; (2) As the skein starts getting more small, it will get looser. I would pull out several feet of yarn then wrap it around the center of the skein in tight loops. Then I held the wreath form between my knees and used both hands to wrap the yarn more quickly around and around.

3. Once you have covered the form, cut the yarn off and tie another knot in the end. Use another pin to secure it.

4. Hot-glue Velcro to the wreath where you will be placing flowers.

Now to make some flowers.I will share one tutorial for felt roses.

Here are some links to other flower tutorials:

Looped felt flowers from Infarrantly Creative

Circle petal flowers from The Fickle Pickle

Felt poinsettia tutorial from Stone Gable Blog

Rolled fabric flowers from Little + Lovely

I decided to share this rose tutorial for one reason: I avoid using hot-glue whenever possible, and the method of flower making I will show uses a needle and thread. Why go to the trouble, you ask? Isn't a hot-glue gun easier? I say NO. It is hot and messy. And using a glue gun to put something together that could be done with a needle and thread is asking for it to fall apart over time. A needle and thread is quick, clean, and secure. No glue clumps to pick at or hide.

1. Begin with a square-ish piece of felt. Round or scallop the edges.

2. Cut a swirl from the outside in. The larger you make the width of your cut, the deeper the rose will be. If you want a rose that is more wide and flat, make a skinnier swirl. This was a deep, small one.

3. Beginning at the center of the swirl, start a tight roll and work outward. **For the roses that I did a wavy/scalloped skinnier width cut, I started on the outside and worked inward with my rolling. Both ways work and achieve slightly different looks.

4. Continue rolling. Felt is great for these because it kind of sticks to itself as you go, so holding the rose in place as you work is easy.

5. Once it is all rolled up, turn it upside down. Using a needle and thread with a knot in the end, push through all layers of the base of the rose. On larger roses, I pushed through half of the layers to the middle first, then worked my way around.

6. Continue sewing back and forth through the bottom of the rose, working your way around the whole circle.

7. Tie off the bottom once it is as drawn in and secure as you want it.

8. Hot-glue (yes, it has it's purpose because it is a PAIN to sew through Velcro by hand) small squares of Velcro to the bottom of the flowers you make.

9. Arrange and re-arrange over and over again on your wreath!

I did a blanket stitch around some felt to make the leaves for this Spring/Summer wreath.

My neighbor let me borrow her Fall flowers to show this (I haven't made my own yet). Aren't they pretty? I was lucky they matched my yarn!

Participating in these link-ups.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Easy-Sew Pumpkins

I made these fun pumpkins last year (before I began this blog), but I decided I should share them anyway! I used a super tutorial found here on Positively Simple. Here a few little tips I learned while making these:

I found most my fabric on the discount table at JoAnn's. They had a bunch of decorator samples (about 16"x16") for $0.50 each. Score! So check there--I have seen those samples on sale often.
I played around with the pattern to get slightly different shaped pumpkins. On one pumpkin I made the teardrop shapes more wide, on another I made them more tall. I loved the simplicity of this design that allowed for tweaking here and there to get the shape you want.
Use needle nose pliers if you have trouble pulling the needle through the pumpkin center. I was frustrated until I figured out this little hack.
I skipped hot gluing the cinnamon stick. I tend to skip hot-glue whenever possible. I am usually disappointed with its durability in the long run. I liked the look of just the ribbon. (Obviously this is just my opinion. :))

I made two Dora pumpkins for my daughter to decorate her room with. She adores them!

I loved how the two-tone orange turned out on this one. Both of these fabrics were from the discounted samples swatches I found.

I did some simple embroidery on felt to make this leaf and stem. The stem is stuffed with a couple pieces of felt, then whip-stitched on the edge. I sewed them into the middle instead of hot-gluing.

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