Wow, can you believe that this is the last week of September?! It's really scary to think that Halloween is right around the corner... get it?! Ba-dum-ching! Ok, I'm sorry about that... MOVING ON!  :)

 

This year I've been trying to do a little front porch decorating for the occasion. I'm not a huge fan of this particular holiday, but my husband and I love passing out candy to all the munchkins so for that reason I participate. One really awesome thing that I do love about Halloween is Candy Corn. I could eat that stuff all day long. When I saw a similar Candy Corn flower pot on Pinterest by Amber at Crazy Little Projects I knew I needed to make one for myself. So I did!

 

To do this yourself you will need the following supplies:

 

- Terra Cotta flower pot

- Acrylic Paint in white, orange, & yellow - Paintbrush (any kind will work)  

Now for the "how to":

 

>>> Step One... mark off areas for the three paint colors. You can use a ruler & a pencil and then use tape to divide the colors or just freehand it. I used tape, because I'm a messy painter.

 

>>> Step Two... paint your flower pot!

 

>>> Step Three... oh, wait! There isn't a Step Three! You're finished! How easy and awesome was that?!

 

Now my porch is festive and looks like one of my favorite Fall junk foods. I'm a happy lady!

Things I'm Loving Thursday : Fall Food

It's O-FFIC-IAL-LY Fall, people! That means all the yummy goodness that comes with this time of the year is now in full swing. I'm so not complaining. In fact, my taste buds have been doing quite a few happy dances lately. Here's a round-up of the Fall foods I've "pinned" and that I'm dying to try this season.

Caramel Apple Cake

Pumpkin Donut Holes

Apple Pie Bars with Toffee Sauce

Sweet Potato Soup

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie

Cinnamon Spice Waffles

Butternut and Beef Chili

Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

DIY Burlap Ribbon Fall Wreath

September has been an exciting month for me... in August I was chosen to be a Fall DIY Contributor for Ginger Snap Crafts. My post was published last week and I couldn't have been more thrilled about it! So this tutorial was orginally written for and featured on that blog, but I wanted to share it with my own readers as well. It might be my favorite wreath ever... I adore it too much not to share it here with you all! Happy Friday, lovelies!

Is it just me or does it feel like Fall is taking FOREVER to get here this year?! I have actually had this wreath ready to go since the first of August, but the hubby refused to let me hang it until the first week of September. Don't get me wrong... I love Summer, but Fall decor is my absolute favorite (other than Christmas)!
 

This wreath was super simple and affordable. I started out with a plain straw wreath form that I purchased at Hobby Lobby for $3.00. Since I have a thing for wrapping my wreaths with fabric ever since I made THIS one for 4th of July I wrapped my Fall wreath with some beautiful burlap ribbon that had an orange and brown detail sewn into it (also purchased at Hobby Lobby). The ribbon was on sale and cost $3. Lastly I glued on a couple of floral accents, cut a mini banner with my Cricut, and strung it to the wreath with baker's twine. The floral pieces cost about $4.00 which puts the grand total at $10.00. You CANNOT buy a wreath for that price! That is so worth the 20 minutes it took me to make it.

DIY Cinnamon Sticks Candle Holder

 

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a beautiful weekend. Mine was CRAZY busy, but I loved every second of it! I even squeezed in a little Fall crafting!

 

While perusing the Fall decor in Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago a bag of cinnamon sticks popped out at me and said "Make something out of me!". And so, with the help of my glue gun, I did. I started with a yummy smelling Fall candle in a glass and simply used the glue gun to adhere the cinnamon sticks all the way around. It was super easy and smells AMAZING!

 

By the way... thank goodness Fall is almost here! I can't wait to share all the seasonal crafty projects I have up my sleeves!

Chow for now!
 

Fall Mantel Decor

I FINALLY got my fireplace mantel decked out for Fall this week. I know, I should have had this done a long time ago, but I needed to do a little shopping to get it finished and I just hadn't had the time to do that until this week. My favorite finds when I finally went to the store was the Acorn Vase I found at Target on clearance and the Vine Pumpkin that was in the dollar bin. The good thing about me procrastinating was that all the Fall stuff has already been marked down since they are setting up for Christmas in the retail world. The wreath was made by me.... it's my very first homemade wreath by the way! I think it turned out pretty good considering I had no clue what I was doing.

I love having a mantel to decorate in my house! There are so many ways you can mix it up and since it's not a huge area to decorate you can fill it up with smaller items that aren't budget busters. Love that.

Fall

I am really enjoying this Fall this year. It is more refreshing to me than usual because of the intense heat and drought we've had over the past several months. These shots I took of my front porch last week really capture the season. I just wanted to share and say "Happy Fall!" Soak it up, people!

Things I'm Loving Thursday : Halloween

I have never been a huge fan of Halloween. I'm just not crazy about what the holiday represents.... I guess blood, guts, gore, and ghosts aren't really my thing. However, I am a total sucker for the Trick-or-Treat aspect! Hubby and I get really excited about passing out candy. It's just so stinking fun to watch all the kids come up in their costumes and load up their buckets with yummies! So here are some of the things I'm loving about the happy, cheery (not spooky) part of Halloween.

 

Halloween front porch decor



Candy Corn macaroons

Trick or Treat Banner

Polka Dot Pumpkin

Halloween cookies

Keep Calm print

Halloween Treat Bags



Candy Corn Cheesecake

Halloween felt garland



DIY Decorative Pumpkins

Well, I'm still feeling like I'm at the brink of death so that means another day of tv show reruns and more time for blogging! On Saturday I did a makeover on some artificial craft pumpkins that I have had for a couple of years. Before this weekend I used them to decorate above the cabinets in my kitchen along with an Autumn garland. I loved them, but when I spied some copper and gold colored accents at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago I decided I needed to give my plain orange pumpkins a facelift.

So here is the inspiration. I love these. They are so Hannah. I like that they are seasonal, but chic. Totally me!

And here are the plain craft pumpkins that I wanted to re-do. I like them the way they were, but I just didn't think they went with the inspiration pieces that I am currently in love with.

I have been wanting to buy some of this cool metallic spray paint for awhile. I kind of have a think for spray paint and when you throw shiny / glittery into it.... well, let's just say I'm smitten.

So first, I gave each of them a base coat. The first pumpkin I painted gold and pretty much covered it completely. The second I painted copper, but just did a very light coat. I liked how you could still see the orange tint a little bit. I had planned to do a design on top of the copper colored pumpkin, but after it was done I liked it the way it was.

The gold colored pumpkin had a different destiny. It was definately going to have a design on it. Who wants to guess what kind of pattern I chose? That's right, you guessed it! CHEVRON! My favey!! I didn't want to get too technical. I just free-handed a zig zag pattern with painter's tape.



And when I was done here's what I got!

I think that they turned out really great! They look fabulous with my inspiration and I love how they are different, but cohesive. So that's it! Easy peasy.