Welcome Halloween

This has to be my favorite wreath that I have created. It definitely takes some time to complete. It is definitely not the cheapest DIY wreath either. But the finished product looks great!

Of course, the inspriration came from Pinterest. The best thing about this is how easy it is. Each part takes time, but not a lot of brain power. I cut my ribbon around 5 inches. My hot glue gun got quite a bit of use as well. I went through quite a bit of glue. As I have done a few of these types of projects, I have realized that the repetition of these projects is really relaxing for me.

I went with a black, orange, purple and green scheme. There was also a little white and yellow to add some contrast to the dark colors.

I tried to keep everything separate. I didn't want to clump the patterns together. This made it easier to make sure that I was using a variety of ribbon.

Adding all the ribbon to the wreath form was time consuming, but it was easy to see the progress being made. It felt like I was moving forward with this project.

While the wreath looks done from the front, I need to finish off the sides. But I ran out of glue and I wanted to enjoy it all of October.

On Etsy, I have seen a similar wreath be sold for up to $100. After doing this wreath myself, I can definitely understand that. I easily spent over $30 in ribbon alone.

I might do another one of these wreaths for St. Patrick's Day. It is super cute and I have gotten a lot of compliments on it.

Great Expectations

I had great hopes of decorating my apartment for fall. I had visions in my head of what it should look like. Here it is the last full week in October and I haven't finished decorating. There is stuff out, but it doesn't look very nice.

So from my Fabulous Fall Pinterest board, here are some of the projects that I wanted to do, but didn't get to start.

I am beginning to realize that I need to take advantage of the early displays of seasonal decor so I can get all these projects done. It isn't as fun to have to rush to get them done when you already want to have them displayed. You can't enjoy the decorations as long.

Here's hoping to getting everything done next year!

HGTV

Sarah Dawn Designs

Pinterest

Pinterest

Pinterest

Pumpkin Palooza

I love pumpkins! Even the orange pumpkin color represents fall. Although now I am obsessed with white pumpkins. They are so pretty! The traditional with a touch of modern.

I found these ceramic white pumpkins at Hobby Lobby over the summer. I HAD to have them. I didn't know where I would put them, but I loved them. When I went to finally buy them, they were no where to be found and my heart sank just a tiny bit. But they were hidden in a display that I very carefully dismantled to get my pumpkins. Right now they are on my dining room table in a little display. They are going to be my favorite fall decoration to uncover each year.

I have a few other pumpkins around my apartment. I have metal pumpkins that I got about 10 years ago. Even after all these years, I love seeing them. It reminds me that it is fall even if the temperature outside is 80 degrees.

I had great plans of this post being about a cute little pumpkin decorating idea that I originally saw in HGTV magazine from one of my absolute favorite designers, Sarah Richardson. I am not really into pumpkin carving, but this idea is great to use if you are tight on space in a glass vase. You wrap ribbon around the pumpkin. That is it!

Another similar idea found on Pinterest is to tie ribbon around the stem of the pumpkin. You could do this with big or small pumpkins. I stopped in the grocery store last night to look at their pumpkins, but I wasn't ready to commit to doing this yet. Maybe I will do this a little closer to Thanksgiving.

Do you like decorating with pumpkins?

Easy Peasy Fall Project

To be honest, I haven't even started to really decorate for fall and it is already getting close to the middle of October. Every time I go into my basement, I see the orange and black rubbermaid tote and think that I really need to at least bring it upstairs so I can start to decorate. It is pretty pathetic.

To help get in the spirit of decorating for this season, I made these really cute and super easy candle displays. It was inspired by a pin on Pinterest, which turns out to just be a picture. But I think the concept is easy to grasp without a step by step tutorial. Start to finish, this took about 5 minutes total.

I used glass vases and candles from Dollar General, which helped keeping this project on the less expensive side of DIY decorating. Let's be honest, some of these inspirations can get pretty pricy. I dumped some corn kernels inside the vase and nestled the candle on the top. You can push it into the kernels a little bit so you don't see the bottom of the candle. And it is done!

I don't know exactly where I am going to put them, but at least it is one more thing I can check off my autumn to-do list!

Autumn Welcome

A change in the seasons opens up the opportunity to update seasonal decor whether it is inside or outside of the house or, in my case, apartment. It is fun to do a little bit of both. It helps set the mood of the new season.

This past year, through the help of Pinterest, I have started making my wreaths for my front door. I can be as creative as I want when I make them. They don't take a ton of time and they are fun to do. And no matter what the final outcome looks like, it is never wrong. Changing the stuff on my front door is one of the first things I do when a new season arrives.

I saw ribbon at Hobby Lobby over Memorial Day weekend that I knew I wanted to use for a fall wreath. I worked at The Container Store for almost 6 years and in that time one of the greatest things I learned was how to make a bow. It was become an invaluable tool. I use that skill all the time!

The pumpkin burlap ribbon, along with some fall leaves and sunflowers, made a really pretty wreath. It is a welcoming sight when I come home.

31 Days

As I am jumping feet first into the the blogging world, I needed some help with my determination to be consistent in my writing, but also to enjoy the process. That is one reason why I am participating The Nester's 31 Days during the month of October. I am looking forward to discovering other blogs and hopefully some readers will find me.

What to write about for 31 days? Several things came to mind, but I had to keep telling myself that it was 31 days and not to choose something overwhelming. So I am going to write about this wonderful season we are in...Fall!

To help keep my rambling on track, I have tried to categorize my posts based on the day of the week.

Mondays - Autumn Musings
Tuesdays - Decorating for Fall
Wednesdays - Random Wednesdays
Thursdays - Thinking of Thanksgiving
Fridays - Fall Favorites
Saturdays - Weekend Links
Sundays - Taste of Cookies

Keep checking back throughout the month of October.

1. Autumn Welcome
2. Becoming a Couch Potato
3. Thanksgiving Traditions - Old and New
4. Autumn Beauty 
5. Weekend Links 
6. Pumpkin Snickerdoodles 
7. Autumn Musings 
8. Easy Peasy Fall Project 
9. AppleFest Galore 
10. Giving My Thanks
11. The Taste of Fall 
12. Weekend Links - Books Edition 
13. Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies 
14. Autumn Musings, Part 2 
15. Pumpkin Palooza
16. Football Fanatic 
17. Thanksgiving Hosting Pains 
18. The Scent of Fall
19. Weekend Links - Food Edition
20. Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Pumpkin Kisses
21. Autumn Musings, Part 3
22. Great Expectations
23. Pumpkin Spice Latte
24. Holiday Disappointment
25. Keeping Autumn Clean
26. Weekend Links - Pinterest Edition
27. Candy Bar Cookies
28. Autumn Musings, Part 4
29. Welcome Halloween
30. Candy Bar Cookie Redo
31. Boo!