Photo Decor - Inspired by Donna Downey

I was inspired by a project in Photo Decor by Donna Downey, to create this! In her book she alters a printer's drawer and I love the way it looks. Several months ago I came across this shelf at a thrift store for $4.00. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for a project similar to Donna's. It's been a work in progress and has been sitting on my craft table for a few weeks as I've added things here and there. Yesterday, I decided it was wall worthy. I may still add a few embellishments or memorabilia, but for now I'll call it finished :). Here are some close up pics of all the handmade details:

And here it is hanging on the wall :)

It hangs in a niche in our entry which is open to our great room and our hallway to the bedrooms so it's a very prominent place and needed a special piece of art. I love how it turned out!

Simple Fall Decor

This is what the top of the armoire looks like in our living room right now. All decked out for fall!

What are your favorite fall decorations?

Paper Bag Pumpkin Craft

This was such a simple and fun craft to do with my 3 yr old and would be a great craft for kids of all ages. Here's how we created these adorable fall decorations.

Supplies:

- Orange Paint (I buy large bottles of Tempera paint in primary colors and then just mix the paint to create the desired color -- in this case we mix the red & yellow in a muffin tin to make orange)

- Paint brushes

- Scissors

- Paper bags (2 bags for each pumpkin) - I used lunch bags but you could make large pumpkins with paper grocery bags.

- newspaper

- rubber bands (at least 1 for each pumpkin, but I used 5 for each pumkin - explained below)

- Green cardstock (I used 1 sheet of 12x12) you could also use green paint instead.

Tear newspaper into strips.

Open a paper bag and insert a second paper bag into the first one so you bags are now doubled up. This makes them more durable and if one bag tears it won't show.

Fill paper bag about 1/2 - 2/3 full with newspaper. Press the newspaper down as you go, so that your pumpkin will be "full".

Gather the top of the bag and wrap a rubber band around the top several times, to create the stem of your pumpkin.

Now wrap another rubber band around the top 1 time, then pull the rubber band down around the bottom of the bag as shown. Optional: Continue doing this with 4 more rubber bands and arrange them somewhat evenly around the bag to create the ridges of the pumpkin. I like this step because it gives the pumpkins a more realistic shape and look when finished.

Paint the base of the bag orange.

Leave the pumpkins to dry overnight. Once dry, cut the stem of your pumpkin to the desired length.

Tear a strip of green cardstock and wrap it around the stem of the pumpkin. Glue the end of the paper to the stem. Then tear or cut out a leaf shape and glue it to the stem. If you are using green paint, you would paint the stem green.

Proudly display your new fall decorations!

More Spring Decor

Inspired by a similar project on a blog I can't remember, (sorry! I really need to keep track of these great ideas so I can give credit to the amazing peeps who come up with the great ideas!) I created this. It's all artificial so it requires no watering (I've got enough things to try to remember without trying to remember to water a darn plant!). I got a bag of moss from the Dollar Tree (same stuff I used on my birdhouses) and used a few polished stones (also available at the Dollar Tree). Then I added the ivy garland, the flower and butterfly for a splash of color. It took me less than 5 minutes to do the arrangement.