Fall has always been my favorite season! Cool weather, pumpkins, sweaters, boots, pretty leaves, my birthday, halloween costumes, gourds...you get the picture! One thing I love to do in the fall is decorate!!! It was so fun this year because I got all of my inspiration from Pinterest!!
First, I made these little candle holders that were SO easy and inexpensive to make.
I got the glass vase for about $7 and the candle for about $2.50 at Michaels (they know me at that store because I'm there so much...it's kind of embarassing). Anyways, then I went to Kroger and got a bag of split green peas and a bag of popcorn kernels (took me forever to find these...they were with the popcorn...duh). Then I went The Dollar Tree and got a bag of red kidney beans (you can get these at Kroger too, obviously). The rest pretty much self explanatory. Pour 3/4 of the bag of peas in the bottom of the vase, add a layer of kidney beans, then top it off with a layer of corn! Add the candle and voila!!! I bet you didn't know you had it in ya!
After I finished this one I had some of everything leftover so I made this little one for my kitchen. I got this vase and candle at The Dollar Tree.
The next thing I did was make 2 of these smaller taper candle holders. I actually came up with this idea myself and it's even easier than the one before!
For this I got 2 of these little vase from The Dollar Tree and a bag of "bean soup" ingredients from Kroger (yes all of that came in one bag). Stick a taper candle in it and you're finished!
I decided that I wanted my fall centerpiece to have a little edge to it. I wanted to to be cute and pretty, but not be taken too seriously. Having that said, here was my solution:
Edith!
To make your very own Edith you'll need a cute little squash (I got this one a Kroger), black and white buttons, and some white vampire teeth that I found at Party City (it took me forever to find these). All I did was cut a hole in the side of the squash that was the right size for the teeth to fit in. I put the teeth in upside down because I thought she'd be funnier if she had an underbite...I think I succeeded. Then I glued black buttons onto white buttons and hot glued them to the squash. At first I was searching through my button collection looking for some that were the same size, but when I couldn't I realized that , again, she'd be much funnier if her eyes weren't the same size. She might be one of my favorite things I've ever created.
Here is my final product!! I already had a fall table runner and some fun fall confetti. I bought 2 bags of gourds from Kroger and behold...my fall centerpiece for my dining room table.
The next thing I did was make candy corn trees for my kitchen!! These were super easy to make.
Sorry that I didn't take any pictures of the process. What I did was get 2 different sized foam cones from any craft store. I got the big one from Hobby Lobby and the little one from The Dollar Tree (you can get both sizes at either Hobby Lobby or Michaels, but The DollarTree only has the smaller ones). Anyways, then I bought white, yellow, and orange yarn at Michaels. I started with the yellow yarn by tying a little knot in the end and pinning it to the very bottom edge with a pin that you would use when sewing (by the way you're going to need a lot of these so go ahead and buy a package). I stuck the pin through the knot so it would be sturdy...then I just started wrapping away. It's cuter, in my opinion, if you don't wrap it in straight lines but wrap it all over the place. To end with the yellow, cut the yarn and tie a knot at the end and stick a pin through it into the foam. Then, do the same thing with the orange. The white top is a tad bit trickier because you have to cover the top. You want to start out at the top by wrapping the yarn from side to side and pinning as you go, covering up the flat top. After the top is covered, just start wrapping like you did before, being sure to cover up the sideways yarn wrapping towards the top. After you're finished, do it again with the next size! These are so easy to make and they are so cute when they're finished.
Next, I made the little monogrammed Mod Podged pumpkin.
This was super easy, too. All I did was buy a cute little pumpkin from Kroger (never thought you could have so many craft inspirations from a grocery store, huh?). I bought cute scapbook paper and cute an "h" out of it. You can use any scrapbook paper you like. I got these cute polka-dots at Michaels. After I cute out the letter, I got some glossy Mod Podge and used it to glue the letter down onto the pumkin. After it stuck, I used a paint brush to paint Mod Podge over the whole thing to keep it fresh longer and to make it look glossy and uniform.
Next, (I know...the fall decorations are endless) I decorated a pumpkin for my front porch.
I first got a flower-shaped cookie cutter from Hobby Lobby and a rubber mallet. I put the cookie cutter up to the pumpkin and used the mallet to hit it into the pumpkin to make the flower shape. I had a little scraper that I got in a pumpkin carving kit that you can buy just about anywhere. I used the scraper to follow the flower pattern and scrap along the line to make the shape more pronounced. After this I used acrylic paint to paint around the flower. I let it dry, then I glued white buttons in the center of each flower with a hot glue gun. Once I was finished decorating...what did I do? I covered the whole thing in Mod Podge, of course!!! I then tied a little rope around the top for a little extra spunk! Now you have a super cute pumpkin for your porch that is guaranteed not to look like anyone else's on your street (unless you live on my street).
Here is a picture of my cute sunflowers that hang on my red door. My mom gave me these last year and I have no idea where they came from.
I'm almost finished! For my carport door I made this little monogrammed plaque.
I got all of the supplies at Michaels in the wood aisle. I got the plaque for the background, the "h", and the wooden sunflower. I then used acrylic paint to paint it however I wanted. I hot glued it all together, covered the whole thing in Mod Podge, then hot glued a cute ribbon bow on it so that I could hang it.
The end has come!! The last craft I made was for my inlaws who showed a special interest in and appreciation for my squash, Edith. I decided to make them their very own friend as well. Thus, Norb was born!
I got another pair of vampire teeth, more buttons, a pumpkin from Kroger (same kind as the one I monogrammed before), and a little nose (I got this at Christmas time last year at Hobby Lobby...it was on the Christmas craft row in a bag of "carrot noses"...and that's exactly what it is...a tiny, plastic carrot nose). I did the same thing to create Norb as I did to create Edith, only with Norb I added a nose ,I didn't give him an underbite, and I made his eyes a little more crazy.
Norb and Edith hit it off right away!
Their smiles light up the room!
Anyhoo, that concludes my segment on my current fall crafts and decorations. I'm sure there will be more to come so be sure to stay in touch!
