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.

Origami Butterfly Wreath

I am so ready to welcome Spring warmth and sunshine. Bring on bright colors and bright days! We have had the sun peek out a handful of times in the past week, and it gave me the itch to make this new, bright butterfly wreath.  

Origami butterflies are one of the most easy origami folds to do. Once you make a couple, you will have it down. I used origami paper, but any square-shaped, foldable paper will work. I found this excellent picture tutorial from Simple Joys. I also made a video tutorial to share here:

Once your butterflies are made (I made 18 of varied sizes), you will need:

• 1 foam wreath form (I show how to make one from foam insulating tubing here).
• Fabric, yarn or ribbon to wrap the wreath
• Sewing pins (I had pearlized headed ones on hand, flat headed pins would be great)
• Pom-pom trim, ribbon, or other embellishments, if desired

1. Wrap the foam wreath tightly in your desired textile and secure with a sewing pin. 

2. Arrange origami butterflies, securing them with hidden sewing pins (see pictures below).

3. Add other trim if desired, also using pins to secure.

So easy, right??

 Here you see where I pinned the butterflies to the wreath.

Pins are only visible from this angle because I want to show how I they are pinned. They are well-hidden looking at the wreath from the front.

 With the varieties of paper out there, the possibilities for creative color combinations and themes are endless! I'd love to see what you come up with!

Participating in these link-ups. 

Yarn Feather Tutorial

I recently saw some gorgeous handmade feathers on Pinterest and decided I HAD to learn how to make them! It was time to change out my 4 Season Wreath, and feathers were my big idea for fall. 

 I learned from this excellent tutorial at Infarrantly Creative, but also came up with some additional ideas during the creative process that added to the ease of this exciting craft! I am thrilled to share! 

Here are the main items you'll need: 

• Pipe Cleaners (in colors that correspond to your yarn); Mine are 12 inches long.
• Glue stick (the kind used in school--not hot glue)
• Yarn, embroidery thread, baker's twine, or other thin, flexible string
• Liquid Starch (I found mine at my grocery store in the laundry detergent aisle--cost $3-$4)
• Good scissors
• Craft paint (optional)
• Not pictured: Shallow tray for soaking (I used a disposable lasagne pan lid), Cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil/ gallon zipper bags

1. Take a pipe cleaner in a color corresponding to the yarn you are using. Coat one end and a couple inches of it with the glue stick. I used some scrap paper under me to protect my workspace from stickiness.

2. Beginning at the glue end, wrap yarn tightly and closely around the pipe cleaner. When you get past the glued area, add a few more inches of glue, and continue wrapping. 

3. Once the pipe cleaner is all wrapped in yarn, cut off the end, and add a dab of glue to hold the tail in place.  Set this aside.

4.  Cut about 12 feet (needn't measure--basically a LONG piece) of yarn. Fold it in half, then fold the doubled length in half again. Continue folding it in half until the length of the bunch of thread is about 8 inches (give or take an inch).

 5. Cut the folded edges off to make several equal-sized pieces of thread.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to get 60-80 pieces of yarn the same length.

7. Now take the covered pipe cleaner and secure the end of it that doesn't have tail (the end you began covering) with something heavy (I used a weight).  Beginning at the other end, tie a single knot around the pipe cleaner, placing the knot in the middle of the piece of thread. Repeat this with the rest of the yarn, tying each knot right under the preceding one. 

8. I wanted long feathers, so I only left about 3 inches of stem.  I was pleasantly surprised how quickly the tying went. Each feather only took about 15 minutes to tie. 

Here are my three incomplete feathers for this project. The white one is made with baker's twine. The other two are acrylic yarn.

9. Pour some liquid starch in a flat, shallow container. Set each feather in the liquid one at at time, pressing down to make sure all the yarn is immersed.  Remove from liquid and gently squeeze excess (but don't wring out).  Once you have soaked each feather, pour leftover starch back into the bottle to save for future use.  You can clean up the soaking container in your kitchen sink with warm soapy water. 

10. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil or heavy, smooth plastic (I used zipper storage bags, but will use aluminum foil next time).  Form the feathers into the shapes you desire. Be particular here because once the dry, they can't be re-shaped without re-soaking them. 

11. Place the cookie sheet in a warm (170 degree F) oven.  Don't go hotter this (you don't want to melt the acrylic thread or plastic bags). I let mine "cook" for 15 minutes at a time, then turned the oven off and left them in the oven with it off.  Drying time will vary--yarn takes longer than twine-- but using the oven is MUCH faster than waiting on the feathers to air-dry.  The oven method will take 2-4 hrs. Air drying will take 24-48 hrs.  

12. Once feathers are dry and stiff, you can trim them to the shape you desire. Use strong, sharp scissors to get through the stiffened yarn. I trimmed the blue and brown feathers, but left the white one as is. I liked the shaggy look of it for my project.

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13.  Acrylic craft paint can be added to the feathers.  I LOVED this part of the process. I have all kinds of projects swimming around in my head to make feathers and paint them now!

Adding a final coat of acrylic sealer is optional, but will improve the longevity of the feathers, especially if you are using them in an outdoor setting. 

I added the feathers to my 4-Season Wreath (tutorial found here). I wanted a new look for fall, and I am LOVING it!

Participating in these link-ups. 

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.