Fall Decorating Projects

Fall is in the air! This week I have been working on making or finding quick ideas to decorate my house for Fall. I love the vibrant colors of Fall...the reds, oranges, yellows. I want to bring some of that vibrancy into my home so I have been trying to find no cost or low cost ways as I am on a tight budget this month.

So I went to my workshop and found some scrap wood. I cut it into blocks and painted them orange. Once they dried, I then painted a cream color on top. I used some sandpaper and gently sanded to allow some of the orange coat to come through the cream. Instead of using a paintbrush this time as they still seem to be hiding from me, I used a paper towel...it worked pretty good..only a couple little pieces of lint from it, but they sanded off.

I used my Cricut to make letters spelling "FALL". Stuck them on the blocks and viola, quick, easy and simple....I am glad that the days of handpainting letters are behind me...I was never that good at that anyways!

I also found a deep red leaf at my grandmother's farm this week so I framed it in a frame one of my grandmom's got me for my birthday.

I am also including in this post a ghost I made a few years ago. He was super easy too. He makes a nice addition to the mantel shelf I just put up this week. He looks better in person that in this picture.

This is just the start of my fall decorating...I plan on getting some fall leaves and lay them around here and there. I might print out some fall pictures and frame them with the stack of frames I have around here, and I also would like to get some cheap fall fabric to just put in a few places. I think my kids and I are going to make fall placements, and who knows what other ideas I will come up with. You'll have to stay around if you want to find out. LOL

HAPPY FALL!

Welcome to my Blog!

In the spirit of starting my blog today, I made a WELCOME sign for my front porch.....So WELCOME to my blog! Pull up a chair and hang out for awhile! I am glad you have joined me, and I hope we can both learn something along the way!

Recently I was inspired by a blog (I wish I knew where it was now) that made signs out of cabinet doors found at their local Habitat for Humanity Restore. I am a huge fan of the Restore, having been to two locally, but I have been unable to make it up to one in the past couple weeks.

Imagine the thrill, when my cousin and I were yardsaling at a community yardsale and stumbled upon, not one, but two "free" cabinet doors just calling my name. And even better, they already had a great coat of paint on them! They were perfect for this project.

First, I cleaned them up a bit. I then painted a burgundy stripe in the natural border of the wood. Now I had to paint them with a kids paintbrush cause organization is just not my thing...the harder I try, the harder it is to find my supplies. Anyway, if you knew where everything was, then wouldn't life be too boring???? It definitely gives me a challenge spending hours looking for things.

After letting the burgundy paint dry, I sanded the whole piece of the wood, paying particular attention to the corners, making sure to sand off the paint in certain areas. Once I wiped off the dust, I took provincial colored stain and placed a coat on it, making sure to wipe the excess off. This gives it a dingy, aged look like we strive for in country decorating. The places where you sanded pick up the color of the stain to make it look worn.

While that was drying, I got out my Cricut. A Cricut is an awesome machine used in scrapbooking that allows you cut letters out of paper or vinyl. You can cut in various sizes and widths...the only downfall is the cost of the cartridges that it uses. However mine came with two cartridges so we utilize what we have.

Unfortunately I haven't be able to use my Cricut more than a few times since I got it last Christmas so I was really excited to try cutting vinyl letters on it today. I cut the letters out of brown vinyl, originally intended for my daughters room, but how could I resist using it? Plus who wants to hand paint the letters, I have done that before, and I'm telling you that you wouldn't want to see me do it again!

So when all was said and done, I placed the vinyl cutouts onto the sign. I did cheat and draw a line to make them all even, but they still aren't perfect. But in the grand scheme of things, I think it turned out pretty well for the cost of the project with the doors being free and using less than $5 in vinyl. Now I just have to seal it since it will be hanging outside.

I hope this is just the beginning of many posts to come on completed projects! I hope you enjoy it, and WELCOME to my blog!