happy fall, ya'll!

I am so ready for Fall! We've still had some very, very warm days, but the mornings and evenings are becoming cool. Just this morning my daughter said, as I was opening her blinds, "Mommy, it's still night time."

So, I've done a little crafting and a little decorating and it made me a whole lot of happy. I always look forward to changing things out with the seasons. And it makes me even more happy when the girls, and sometimes even Zach, get excited about "new" things on display.

In the kitchen, where I usually have this displayed, I replaced that frame for just a bit with an old wooden candlestick that I painted and tried to crackle a very long time ago that has a vine orb atop, a frame made out of barnwood and backed with patterned paper and a "W" that I painted and then applied a crackle finish to. You've seen the BOO artwork before, but here it is on a side table in the living room with more vine orbs and some decorative crystal-thingies on some iron bases that I got at Pottery Barn at a ridiculously low price. These iron bases stay out all year, always displaying something seasonal.

Aaaaah, our living room, which looks so different now than when we moved into Gordon's grandparents' home. I feel so comfortable in here. There were no built-in bookcases, or a fireplace, before we made this our home, we built those together a few years ago. My hubby can do ANYTHING! 

And see that blue vase on the top shelf? Is is from Tiffany's! It was a 3rd year wedding anniversary gift. And it came in their iconic blue box, which a white satin ribbon and a note dictated by my husband, in the most lovely handwritten script. Yep, I still have the box, the ribbon and the note. And, no ladies you can't have him. See, that's why I call him Mr. wRight!

Those are the pumpkins the girls decorated last week with DaDa during art project time. They're displayed on some iron candleholders. I was rather surprised at what a good job they did at making their cute pumpkins look a little scary.

orange patterned papers {My Mind's Eye} + black paper {K & Company, Paper Studio} +
kraft, black cardstock {Hobby Lobby} +  scalloped punch {Stampin' Up} +
round punch {Fiskars} + gingham ribbon {Hobby Lobby} + shipping twine {iloveitall}

The Trick-or-Treat banner on our mantle is from the Crafting Chicks. I pretty much followed it step for step, except...

...I reinforced the patterned paper pennants with cardstock, used an eyelet to make the hole more sturdy and used shipping twine, since my other twine {see above} was too thick to go through my small grommet holes.

The framed piece of art below was inspired by a Becky Higgins guest post here. I used what I had on hand, which happened to be some Buckeyes the girls collected with Gordon on a Jeep ride through the 'holler last weekend. We call them lucky buckeyes, but that's another story. And, you know me...3 kids, 3 buckeyes. Wish there could have been more.

I wrapped some patterned paper scraps left over from my pennants around some tea light holders and then tied some of that rough twine around it to finish it off. 

Pretty cute, huh? Glad I finally started a Tumblr to gather inspiration in one convenient place!

More buckeyes on the coffee table, a tray displaying some of our mini-albums and an urn from Pottery Barn several years ago that we paid too much for but I get 365 days of use out of it every year. The candle and filler change with the seasons.

This BOO decoration was inspired by some crafty person I found last year, and I'm sorry I can't give credit. I used Heidi Grace chipboard letters recovered in old book pages and brushed with ink, pumpkin stickers placed on white cardstock then fussy cut and adhered with pop dots and a spider punched out of the Target paper pack and adhered to black cardstock and also adhered with a pop dot. There is some super cute Basic Grey paper from the Mellow collection on the back side, so it's equally cute from either view! I painted raw chipboard before adhering the patterned paper and then brushed my ink pad around the edges to give it a spooky feel.

If you think it looks bare behind the BOO sign, the camera I am using to take all these photos stays on that table ALL.THE.TIME. The only time it's not there is when I am using it or I am downloading photos. The girls have their own cameras that Santa brought last year and they occasionally use our old point-and-shoot, so I feel safe leaving mine out. Plus, it's really heavy and they have a tough time holding it.   At first, they were intrigued by the camera but now they're used to it being around and it has lost its newness.

Happy Fall, Ya'll! Enjoy your weekend, friends.