Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Autumn Porch Decor

Who doesn't love autumn?
The gorgeous colors of fall, cooler weather and of course pumpkin $eason.
That's what my husband calls it.
Oh how I love pumpkin $eason!
 I love every pumpkin I see, small, medium, large I want them all!
 I love a pumpkin with a cool stem. I always think yes a pumpkin picker who gets it!
 This was a good year for pumpkin $tems. I found $everal I loved.
 I know I have mentioned my awesome neighbors before, here is proof of how awesome they are.
  My sweet thoughtful neighbor picked up these colanders and the red rusty tool box for me at a garage sale this past summer!  I know, how lucky am I??
I did spray paint the colanders silver. I left the handles brass, loving them!

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut Happy Autumn out of white vinyl and then stuck it on my sandwich chalkboard. The vinyl is removable, I can just peel it off.

 Here is the family wheelbarrow decorated for fall. 
Nothing weird about that!
 I decorate this wheelbarrow for just about every occasion, 
at this point the neighbors would think it's weird if I didn't decorate it.

 Here is my globe planter filled with autumn goodies.
 They are all artificial but still look pretty.
All the flowers in the photo below are real. 
Would someone please tell them that it is autumn.
They still feel like blooming, no reason for the pumpkins to get all the attention I guess.

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Hope you are having a wonderful pumpkin $eason!

Thursday, October 23, 2014

DIY Black & White Checkered Pumpkins

A Stroll Thru Life
Yippee!!! Thank you Marty for featuring the pumpkins this week!
Make sure to visit Marty at her blog: A Stroll Thru Life
Click here to view a tour of her lovely home!

Thank you to Kathy over at Life on Lakeshore Drive for giving the pumpkins a feature too!
I am soooooo flattered!
Click here to visit Kathy, she throws a fun party!

I'm Pick of the Bunch Feature Button


Happy Fall Y'all!
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
Well here we are in the middle of autumn...Mother Nature is proudly displaying her colorful artwork.
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
 And so am I! Proudly displaying my artwork that is.
I love the way my checkered pumpkins stand out against the fall colors.
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
 These pumpkins are obviously inspired by Mackenzie - Childs. 
I mean if you are going to be inspired you might as well be inspired by the best!
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
As much as I love how these faux pumpkins look outdoors, I knew they needed a nice home indoors.
So I went to Costco to get a free box...to paint like a boot tray I saw in the MC catalog.
Seriously you had to know that was coming!
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
 The box I made was inspired by the Mackenzie - Childs boot tray, which sells for $495.
While I am sure it is worth every penny, I just felt $495 was maybe a bit much for a pumpkin display.
My husband thought the same thing, no arguments he totally agreed with me on this!
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
 There might have been some talk about who puts boots on a $495 tray?
I am sure some of you are thinking who paints a Costco box to look like a $495 boot tray.
Yeah we talked about that too..
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
 I still went ahead and painted the box and he ended up liking it.
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
He even cut the cute decorative wood trim for me.
He figured he was saving himself $495....
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs - Boot tray
 Just to make my box unique I added the word pumpkin, spelled in French no less, with some gold paper letters I cut with the Silhouette Cameo. 
I am betting it's the only box of its kind here in Nevada.
Pun intended.
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
Geeze I photographed these guys from every possible angle!
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
 Close ups too!
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
Here is a quick tutorial on how I painted these beauties.
I cut a paper square (1 1/4 inch) and traced around it on the fake pumpkin.
Then I marked the squares that I wanted to paint black with an X.
Then I painted them black.
I let them dry for a few hours.
 Then I watered down (thinned) some gold metallic acrylic paint and brushed it all over the pumpkin.
Done.
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
 Same idea for the "boot tray" except I had to paint the box white first.
Which took about four coats.
It works best if you let the paint dry between coats.
 At this point I was thinking maybe $495 isn't really that much...
At first I just painted a gold stripe on the bottom edge of the box.
Ugh that wasn't going to work.
Off to the home center for some edging I went.
I think the wood trim really finishes the box off. It almost hides the fact that it's really a Costco box.
I said almost not totally!
So everyone is happy, the pumpkins, my husbands wallet and myself.
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
 Thank you to my dear friend Paula for giving me the faux white pumpkins...not orange ones, phew!
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
 And thank you to Costco for the free box.
Inspired by Mackenzie - Childs Pumpkins
Total cost of this project $13.95 plus tax.
The wood trim was the only thing I purchased.
So the MC boot tray is $495, the pumpkins are $50 for an 8" pumpkin (I have 2) 
 and $100 for the 9" pumpkin.
 So I'd say this was a cost effective project!

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Thursday, October 9, 2014

Nightmare Before Christmas Inspired Mesh Wreaths

Do you like the movie Nightmare Before Christmas?
Can you believe it was released 21 years ago? Yes 21 years ago!
 It is an amazing movie, the story and the artistry involved are incredible.
This mesh wreath was inspired by this fun movie.
It might look like a lot of work went into this wreath but really it was pretty easy.
 The mesh wreaths go together quickly, then you just need to add some decos.
I used white Christmas ornament balls, black vinyl and my Silhouette Cameo.
I stuck a bunch of black vinyl squares onto the balls. The vinyl sticks to the balls but is still re-positional. I tried to checkerboard the balls but if you look close they are not perfect.
For Jacks face I cut black vinyl oval shaped eyes and I painted his mouth on.
I drew his mouth with a pencil first, then painted it.
 I tucked in some polka dot ribbon too.

My next mesh wreath has a Nightmare Before Christmas vibe too.

 It also has a slight Mackenzie-Child vibe to it.
 This is the one I will keep for myself. I love how sparkly it is.
The Nightmare Before Christmas wreath is for my son and his fiancee.
Just helping them build their decoration collection.
 Click here to watch an instructional video on how to make a mesh wreath.
Click here to see the other mesh wreaths I made and why I made five.

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Have a wonderful day;