Ornament Wreath

I love this wreath! I've seen several ornament wreaths on Pinterest and have seen them in the stores for a few years - and I finally thought, surely I can make one too. I followed this great tutorial. It wasn't hard - it just takes awhile!

I started with an 18-inch straw wreath. I thought this would be too small of a wreath, but when you get all the ornaments glued on, it's really a lot bigger than you might think.

I wrapped the straw wreath with silver tinsel and then started hot-gluing my plastic ornaments on. And gluing. And gluing. It does take awhile. You have to glue a bit, then hold the ornament in place until it sets up a bit before you can move on to the next one.

The end result is gorgeous though - so, it's worth it!

It's now hanging proudly in my foyer over top of my old window frames. So beautiful!

More Christmas-goodness coming soon!

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Fall Wreath

Well, it feels like I jumped right from Halloween into Christmas. Before we get into the Christmas projects, I did want to share the one fall project I did - a new wreath for my foyer. I'm kind of wreath-obsessed right now, I guess. I love how this one turned out.

I was inspired by this wreath - I loved that monogram letter. I found my letter at Jo-Ann's and painted it black and then bronze over top. Very fall-ish.

The wreath itself is a grapevine wreath from Hobby Lobby. I got a couple of fall leaf garlands from Hobby Lobby too, the very cheapest ones, since I only wanted them to fill in the background. I then hot-glued the gourds and flowers in place. There are a few fall picks in there too. Love it!

Okay, I think that's it for fall. Next up, I'll be sharing Christmas projects...

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Jack-o-lanterns

We carved our pumpkins, and I think they turned out amazing.

Nathan designed his own and carved it out himself with Grandpa's help.

It was even Nathan's design to put the eyeball in with toothpicks. Love it!

Jack really, really wanted a Mario pumpkin. We couldn't find any suitable templates online, so we printed off a Mario face and Daddy promised to do what he could. He hand-transferred the pattern onto the pumpkin and started carving. And carving. And carving.

Hours later, it was finally finished.

I think it might be the most impressive pumpkin we've ever had in this house. Wow. (And Jack was very happy.)

Halloween Front Porch

So there's one last stop on my Halloween tour - our front porch. The boys, hubby, and I had a lot of fun putting this all together.

I incorporated lots of garage sales finds I'd been picking up over the fall months, including a $1 ladder, an old chair, a little step stool, and a couple of crates and baskets.

Hubby attached 2 cut boards to the ladder to create a couple of shelves for me, which worked great. We picked up the pumpkins and the corn stalks on our trip to the pumpkin patch.

Just for a little more fun, I made these little spider web vinyl window decals with my Silhouette.

  

The web is called Spider Web Flourish (spider_web_flourish_1818) and the spider is from the set called Echo Park Halloween Shapes (echo_park_halloween_shapes_C00245_48353). Just cut it out in black vinyl and put them up - very easy.

The long strand for the top left spider I just cut free-hand.

Our new house is wired really well for outdoor lights, so everything plugs into 2 outdoor outlets and then is run off a switch inside the house. Love it! (In our old house, I had to put on boots and a coat to run outside and turn on the lights during the snowy months - so glad I won't have to do that!) Our spooky front porch looks great at night.

I especially love the spider lights I have peeking out of our rose bush.

And the little spider webs on the front windows are very nice. They might be my favorite part.

We are ready for Halloween! On the docket today, pumpkin carving, iced pumpkin cookies, and a trip to the Lincoln Zoo for a trick-or-treating. My favorite time of year.

Halloween Decor

Halloween is a week away! We are very excited here in this house. I've put the finishing touches on my Halloween decor, and I thought I would round it all up in a single post.

In the living room, I have this little display on our coffee table. I sewed up the runner myself, using a pattern of my own creation. I used the same fabric throughout the house, so everything goes together. The pumpkins on pedestals are new from Hobby Lobby this year - a wonderful birthday gift from my mom. Love them!

The scrapbooks are Halloween-themed. I keep them in storage for most of the year and then bring them out just for the holiday, which keeps them kind of special for the boys. The stripe scrapbook holds a double-page spread for each Halloween, and it is absolutely one of the favorite things I've ever made. I create a new page after each Halloween. It's amazing to see how the boys change from year to year, all in a single scrapbook.

I've already posted about my Halloween mantel and garland, but as long as we're in the living room, here's one more look.

It makes me so happy to see this everyday!

In the dining room, I have a little vignette on the table. Again, I sewed up the little quilted square for the table, and then I just added a few pieces I had on hand. Nothing fancy, but it's fun for now.

Back to foyer, I have a little black Halloween tree. I love to decorate this for the holiday and have been collecting little Halloween ornaments over the years.

It's lovely at night when it's all lit up.

The tree sits next to the antique radio where I have a little Halloween display as well. Again, a matching runner which I sewed to match the others.

This sits below the Halloween wreath that I've already posted about. Here's the whole foyer altogether.

And at night, it's very fun with all the lights.

And that's it for my Halloween tour today. Thanks for looking!

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Halloween Wreath

I'm super excited about this project! I had hung my shabby window frames and knew that I wanted to hang a Halloween wreath. But first, I had to make one.

I found a white branch wreath at a garage sale for $3. It was perfect - but it was white. Spray paint to the rescue. I painted it black, along with some artificial flowers I had on hand, and started creating my wreath with my trusty glue gun. (I had finally found my much-loved original glue gun packed away in the very last box we hadn't unpacked from our move. It had been labeled "board games" by the movers. Thanks movers! I would never have thought to look for my glue gun in there. Humph.) I rounded out the wreath by adding lights, an EEK! glitter sign, a spider web and a big orange spider. All these items were in my Halloween stash just waiting for the right project.

And here it is, hanging in our foyer with the shabby window frames as a backdrop.

The cat and mouse wall decals were another item I had in my Halloween stash from Target's clearance last year. Just a fun touch.

That orange spider on top is very fun - my favorite part, I think.

The wreath came together so fun. My boys love how spooky it is, especially at night.

Our foyer is looking very much like Halloween now. My favorite holiday!

Thanks for looking!

Update - I was featured on One Tough Mother's Not So Tough Tuesday Linky Party. I'm honored! You can check it out here...



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