Fall Front Porch

Better late than never, right? 

I finally got my front porch done for fall. In part I was waiting for a good deal on mums. When I finally found them originally $12.99 marked down to $4.00, I snatched them up!

The items here came mostly from my local grocery store.

I filled the spaces in the pots with small gourds and apples.

I'm in love with the fun "enchanted" pumpkins you can find.

I put one of the pots in this decorative bucket.

The "Give Thanks" sign was on of the very first tutorials I shared on my blog!

OK, so now I'm ready for fall! How about you?

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At the Picket Fence
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Southern Hospitality
Tatertots and Jello
Its Overflowing
Too Much Time
Between naps on the porch
Thrifty Decor Chick

Chalkboard Thanks

I have been crushing on all of those cool chalkboards with the great writing for a while now. I've never seen a tutorial but was determined to figure them out!

I decided to try the same method I use for sign making, but with chalk. Like this tutorial for two years ago.

It really wasn't that difficult! {It just looks that way}

Of course mine sign is quite a simple one, but not bad for my first try.

So if you want to try to do this to here's what you do!

First choose your chalkboard {mine was a crummy piece of art from Goodwill that I painted over}, then print out your sign in your favorite font.

On the back of your font, shade it with chalk.

Turn your paper over and trace the letters with pencil or pen onto your chalkboard.

As you can see it gets a little messy so you will have to use your finger or a Q-tip to take off the excess. Then fill in the letters.

And that's it! Now you have a beautiful sign that makes your 'handwriting' rock! ;)

Not bad! 

Thanks for stopping by!

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Blinging out Pumpkins

I'm fresh off the plane from a trip to Maine. I had a great weekend celebrating the life of my grandpa and spending time with family. The only thing that would have been better would have been if my husband and 4 kids could have come. Oh wait, I'd be lying if I didn't say it was kind of nice going by myself. :) But I did REALLY miss them! ;) I am so inspired by the life of my grandparents who live{d} a life of frugality and are so content with the little things. {I am sure my Gram invented "reduce, reuse and recycle"} :)

Before I left I decided to bling up some pumpkins to fall-ify things around here!

This was a simple project to do, but the sequins were a little time consuming.

If you want to make some, here's what you'll need:

• Sequins
• Craft Glue
• Scotch duct tape
• 
  

I decided to use the duct tape because it sticks better to the pumpkin than washi tape would. The only drawback is that it was too wide. It was pretty simple to just cut the tape in half all the way up than wrap your pumpkin. Easy peasy!

Next lets talk about the sequins. In my mind I thought that some dressmaker pins would be the perfect thing to push into the center of each sequin. In theory this sounds great. Reality was that after 47 bent pins {ok maybe 4-7} I decided that this wasn't the way to go! I ended up using craft glue. This worked well as long as you don't use too much and there are no over zealous little fingers who want to touch before they dry. 

Thanks for stopping by!

The Lettered Cottage
Tatertots and Jello
Its Overflowing
At the Picket Fence

Fall Table Collage

I'm not one to create a fancy tablescape for dinner. 

In fact, if you come over to eat with us I will probably just put the pan I cooked the meal in on a hot pad in the middle of the table. So there!

However, the creative in me can't help but put a little something together just for fun.

So here is what I am calling my 'fall table collage'. Its just a collection of fall items from around my house, and is easy to do if you want to add some fall color to your table. 

The only thing that would make this better is an old rustic tray......I think I'll be on the lookout for one!

I love all of the textures of fall. Here's another tablescape idea that I put together last fall and I only included items that I found in my backyard. Free ideas are the best! ;)

Happy Fall! And don't feel bad if I don't have a fancy table when you come over! ;)

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Centsational Girl

The Dressing Room

I'm a re-arranger. 

I admit it.

Unless I'm in love with a set up, things get moved around often.

It used to drive my husband nuts because he could never find anything. {Ok it probably still drives him nuts!}

So when my son came to me and said he wanted to rearrange his room you'd better bet I jumped all over that! 

Last year I shared their room redo. Today I'm going to share the dressing room we created. There is a little alcove in their room that we sectioned off with curtains from IKEA. Inside we put their dressers {both from IKEA as well} to create this dressing room. I kept it a surprise for them. I must watch too much HGTV because I was all about wanting to capture the big reveal! {Dork, I know!}

If you want to see how it was before check out this link here.

First, here's their reaction:

Now here's their space:

Their art wall was made with guitar strings hung from small nails. The art is clipped on with small clothespins spray painted black. This is my favorite part of their room!

Do your boys have junk? You know all of those bits and pieces of junk they think are treasures? Here I decided to elevate the status of the junk and put it all in a clear bowl for his dresser {topped with his viking hat he made with grandpa for a 3rd grade project}.

The thing I love about rearranging is that it makes everything seem new and exciting again. We all need a little shake up every now and again. So shake things up and keep your family on their toes! ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

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Tatertots and Jello

Fall at Our House

  This is another of those hodge podge posts I've done before. So much has gone on lately and things have been a bit crazy that rather than parcel some of these events out I'm going to lump them all together! Kay?

Lets start with some of the fall decor, that way, if that's all you came for, you don't need to check out the rest. Thoughtful of me, I know! ;)

I have to say first off that it is so hard to decorate a fireplace that has a TV above it. Can I get an 'amen' on this?! And don't get me started on that cable box! But, we don't live in a show house, this is real life, and yes we have a cable box. {I'm trying some self-talk here~it may or may not be working}.

  My favorite fall decor item is this chevron pumpkin I made last year. This really was an easy project. Check out the tutorial here if you want to make one for yourself.

And then, these cuties are growing up! Where does the time go? If you are a young mom and life is just hard right now, I'm telling you, it will change, and soon! I hate to admit this but my first day off from work when all the kids were in school I was at the grocery store and started crying when I saw these younger moms with their little "helpers". I don't have one anymore! {Or at least not between the hours of 7:30-3:30!}

This past week my grandpa passed away. He was an amazing man who overcame so many odds {through his faith in Christ Jesus}. He was the kind of guy who could make anything out of anything. He and my gram lived in Alaska for many years and hunted and fished for their meat. They were very self sustaining people and used everything they had. I like to say that they invented "reduce, reuse, and recycle" because that was just their life. My gram is still a go-getter and at 90 was up on her roof fixing shingles this summer. I am excited to fly out there this weekend to celebrate my grandpa's life and see my extended family. I have one or two more posts to share with you this week but things may be sparse for a week or so. {If you think of my hubby you might say a prayer for him while I'm away! He's an amazing dad, but 4 days with 4 kids and a puppy is a bit much for anybody!} ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

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Thrifty Decor Chick