Fall is my favorite season out of the whole year. I love the crisp weather, leaving the windows open, wearing scarves and sweaters, all the fun activities and of course decorating. This past weekend after meeting some great friends for lunch Jay, C and myself headed to JoAnne’s and I snagged some essentials: a wreath frame, a big piece of foam, some fat quarters and of the most fall-atious of all fabrics...burlap. Two wonderful yards of brown, orange and green/gray burlap, it was splendid! I could hardly wait to get home and get C down for bed that night so I could get to play with all my craft store goods!
I started by digging into the big piece of styrofoam. I found a font that I liked and then blew it up to the size I needed it to be. The great thing about the letter H is that I could make it so big that only a quarter of the letter printed, but because it is so symmetrical I could just fold it different ways to get the whole letter. So, I used the print out as a stencil, got a steak knife and went to work carving out a big letter H. I had it pictured in my mind exactly how I wanted it to look....raggy strips of funky fabric wrapped around a letter H, looking slightly eclectic. Well, it turns out I am neither eclectic nor funky, although I long to be both, that is just not me. This is the hideous creation that I came up with.
I think somehow it actually looked even worse in real life. It was bad, real bad. After some problem solving with much thought I decided to leave the fabric as is and take strips of my oh, so pretty burlap and this is what I got...much better, if I do say so myself!
I love the texture of the little burlap bits that hang off and the color is much more pleasing to the eye than the other. It is not funky or eclectic, but much more me! This lovely quick little craft got hung in the dining room over the mirror.
I think it goes well and I love the bright dash of orange that the burlap strip gives off. Just when it looked like my dining room had a burlap monster blow up inside it, I started my next burlap project, a bubble wrap wreath that I saw on pinterest. It was super easy, quick and cheap. The directions wanted you to pin each “bubble” with a straight pin, but I thought it would be cheaper to hot glue them on. A day later I am just getting the feeling back in my finger tips from the constant burning from the glue, but hey, I must of saved at least four dollars! This is the final product hanging above the mantle on the mirror.
Things to excuse:
The fact that you can see about an inch of dust and grime on the mirror.
That I completed multiple projects with burlap (but isn’t it soooo fall).
That I put both projects on a mirror.
I also stole this idea from pinterest. I would show you what the original looked like, but it is far to embarrassing. There is no comparison between the two, mine looks VERY homemade. In my defense Jay and I was not going to guzzle down six very pricey beers and buy a sticker machine just to get the look that I saw. Instead we enjoyed six root beers and I just painted the letters on the bottles by hand.
Now, all I need is something for the door. I think I am going to recreate a wreath I made when we first got married. All I need is a square piece of foam, hot glue gun and a gazillion pinecones. I also need to make something for the table, maybe a nice fall runner? I am still looking and getting some ideas together. For now, these wonderful beauties are decorating the table. My lovely husband got them for me on Friday after he went grocery shopping to make us a yummy steak dinner.
Last but not least, I love being able to get all my holiday tackiness out by teaching fifth grade. The kids enjoy the goofy, nerdy treats and projects and Jay appreciates it because it is kept out of the house. To celebrate the beginning of October I have the makings of Witches Brew for the kiddos:
one bag of popcorn or petrified brains
one bag of pretzels or skeleton ribs
one bag of marshmellows or shriveled up lungs
one bag of candy corn or old witch teeth (she really should have brushed)
one bag of m&m’s or rotted eyeballs
Mix all up in witches caldron, serve into a pointy ice cream cone or a witches hat!
The kids get a kick out of it and I will incorporate a Halloween-y story that they can practice some of their newly adopted fifth grade summary writing skills on while munching on their brew!
Happy fall everyone!
-melissa