Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Enjoying the Season


A couple of weekends ago, I woke to under 70 degree weather which in the South means pull out a light quilt and enjoy a cup of hot tea before it's over! We have to enjoy these little pockets of cooler while we get them and I am happy to oblige.

I admit that just feeling that cooler air outside wakes me up and puts a smile on my face! We have a temperature all our own in this house and it is called heavenly, when we open the door and it is cooler - we proclaim it heavenly outside. Rachel even came up with a category for this in her weather calendar last year for school!!

I've had so much more fun crafting and taking photos lately and I think it is honestly because of how much I enjoy this season and the cooling off, drawing in, cozying up. These days I feel more alive and am making the most of each day more than I do in the heat of the year.


I'm back to taking photos of layers - I love wearing layers!!!! I love that it was recently the right temp to wear layers and still be a comfy temp :)





Is imitation still the sincerest form of flattery? I love this blog and these little happy flags she sells and shows are just adorable! I made a bunch of them one morning before we started school :)


I love how comfortable this girl is in her own skin and style - she puts some interesting combos together but she pulls it off and makes it work. 



Snuggling up under a cute umbrella to cheer on our little soccer player!


Happy Saturday and Fall cake! Leftovers from cupcakes I made - for no real reason, but just for fun. Pumpkin Chocolate Cake recipe here.



When a sweet friend offered us a can of cherry pie filling they weren't going to use, Rachel jumped {almost literally} at the offer! She immediately wanted to know if we could make cherry pie. In the end, SHE made this cherry pie!

I had a pie crust in the freezer and instructed her to unroll it and lay it in her desired pie plate. I opened the can of cherry filling and she scooped that in. Then she decided to fold over the crust sort of like a rustic pie but she's never heard of that so it was her sweet idea! We had some crumb topping leftover in the freezer so she sprinkled some of that on top and served with vanilla ice cream. Yum.


For a perfectly cozy and hearty Fall meal - I pulled PW Sunday Night Stew out of the freezer and made mashed potatoes {not by her recipe, just simple mashed potatoes} Oh.my.yum. This is a definite keeper - we loved it!

Settle in for lots of Fall pix because that will likely continue for a while in this space :)

Monday, September 29, 2014

Fall Fabric Garland


About a year and a half ago, I made this Spring fabric garland and I have so loved it on our fireplace! So much so, that I would not take it down even though it was so Spring-ish. This Fall, I wanted to make a new one to trade it out for the Fall season with more muted and cozy colors. I knew I wanted Fall but didn't have a color palette in mind - this just emerged by me picking out what I liked at Hobby Lobby!

I chose seven fabrics and bought 1/2 yard of each {all on sale!} and I used a bit more than half but definitely still have some left.

Love the colors together and how it softens that space for Fall! It is super easy to cut or tear the strips and then just tie onto a piece of twine the desired length!













Thursday, September 25, 2014

Baseball Fun


For David's recent birthday we went to Atlanta to a Braves game! What a fun time we had - this was a first for our littles :)












Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Slow Day









Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Fall Paper Wreath


As promised, here is a fun Fall craft to inspire you! This originally was a kit that I got at Target on clearance last Fall. Do you know about these great craft kits they carry? They are in the stationery near the scrapbooking items. It seems I usually find them on a low shelf that is kind of hard to see - but since I know they are there, I hunt!

When seasonal clearances come around, these do not make it to the seasonal clearance area but are clearanced right in the same spot they are usually displayed. For the past couple of years I've bought several of these and they are super fun to make and also make a fun gift.

This one said Happy Halloween and had a spidery looking paper for one of the pre-cut papers - we don't really celebrate Halloween, so I just doctored it up a bit. I've looked and looked for a link to this project and can't find one - so I'm going to show you how you could make one!


First of all, you will need thirteen pieces of scrapbook paper cut into 8x8 inch squares. After they are cut, choose one corner and put your ruler in the point - measure two inches and cut that triangle off. You might notice that it looks like there is double stick adhesive already on these pieces, but it was all dried out and not sticky - so just disregard and we'll tape it as we go!


Turn the paper over with the cut off corner towards you and roll into a cone using two pieces of tape to hold in place.





Repeat for all paper - turning them into cones. Clip the top edges together on the sides with paper clips:



Next, you need a round piece of cardboard that is 6-8 inches across. Since mine was from a kit it had the holes already in it but you could punch holes or just poke them with a pair of scissors and achieve the same end result.



Lay this underneath {on the back side} of your wreath and hot glue it all together - this step was not part of the kit but otherwise it completely fell apart! Next, you will set a round firm circle of cardboard in the open circle of your wreath. An empty masking or painters tape roll would work great!


A second flat round piece of cardboard with two holes in the middle will go on top of all of this like a sandwich. Before you glue it on, put the ends of a piece of ribbon through each of the holes and run through the center hole in the back. Hot glue all together.



Pull the ends of the ribbons through the two holes on the back and tie in place - this forms the hanger also for the wreath.



It should now look like this:


Decorate over this top piece as desired - I used the enclosed pieces and then put a hoop art I made last Fall over the top. You can find out how to print on fabric here. Please note - I'm not trying to present this as my own idea! I bought a kit that showed how to make this but since I cannot find a link - I'm just showing how you can make one too!




Hang and enjoy, friends!