Simple & Elegant Fall Centerpieces

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Today I thought I’d share a simple centerpiece I created for a recent work event.  I wanted something fall themed for this particular event, but hoped the elements I chose would pull double duty for our upcoming holiday party so it needed to be able to transition into winter.

The venue provided the silver lanterns, so I added a birch round, pinecone, pheasant feather and mini pumpkin to compliment.  Some of the birch pieces were thicker than others so I set the lantern next to the birch for those so they didn’t impede the view of the presentation being given.

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We also had some small signs on the tables with factoids about the subject matter, which we put in small silver place card holders.  Although I can’t share the factoids, here’s a blank card to give you an idea of how they fit in with the centerpieces.

I was able to do all 7 tables for around $100 which was pretty minimal. They were just enough for this business luncheon event once the rest of the table was set, and next month I’ll reuse the pine cones, birch pieces and feathers for our “silver winter” themed holiday party!  Low cost and multipurpose, that’s my kind of décor! 🙂

DIY Rustic Fall Centerpiece

As promised, today I’m sharing how I created the DIY chalk paint fall tray centerpiece on our dining room table. I picked up this wooden tray on a local buy/sell page for $15 from the Rusty B (love her stuff!). It had a metal handle that had come a bit loose so I popped that off and gave it a quick coat of cream chalk spray paint left over from painting the pumpkins I used around the house this year. I’m really loving this stuff and it comes in lots of colors! Anywho, I forgot to take a picture before taking the handle off but here’s the before – like literally seconds before the spray paint started flying thanks to my hubby who snapped the picture with my phone as I shook the can in between sprays! (In fact, you can see a little peek of the pumpkins I’d started painting in the top corner.)
FallTrayBefore

After two coats it was looking pretty good.  Much brighter and prettier than before.  The chalk paint gave it just a bit of texture, but it looked a little flat.   So I decided to distress it a bit to get some of the black to show through.

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A quick hand sanding later it had dimension again with a worn, lived with look. Then I reattached the metal handle and it was ready for some fall filler.

FallTrayAfter

I filled the bottom with white beans, then topped it with a variety of pumpkins and gourds in similar colors. A few pieces of leftover berry spray from the entryway and a couple filler pieces I found on a recent trip to Michaels and it was done.
FallTable

And that’s the story of my DIY fall centerpiece. I’ll be back tomorrow with the quick makeover I did on a little faux pumpkin!

Shared on Knick of Time’s Vintage Inspiration Party #209!

My Fall Decor

FallMantelAt last, I’ve finished decorating for fall and got some nice daylight shots to share.  I started with the mantel, which I kept very natural and neutral with a little pop of orange from the DIY pumpkins I made last year.

FallMedia1

Next to the fireplace I continued the neutral theme on the media cabinet. I found the free feather print online and added a green urn filled with tiny yarn pumpkins I DIY’d years ago by wrapping orange yarn around and around to form a ball, then adding a small stick as a stem. On the other side I kept the wooden tool box filled with hydrangeas from my summer décor and added a doily wrapped pumpkin – another DIY from years past using a doily to cover a basic green plastic pumpkin and covering the gathered ends with twine I wrapped to form a stem.

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My yellow and orange zig zag pillow covers made the throw pillows I was using for the summer more appropriate for fall and I added a couple of clearance pillows I found at Michaels to tie in the neutral colors I’d used elsewhere. I also picked up a white striped pillow in the same pattern as the black ones and have it on the chair next to the couch, although I somehow forgot to take a picture of it.

FallCouch

On the side table I placed a ceramic lantern and pumpkin in a metal tray and finished it off with a cute little wooden crow I’ve had for years. The lantern and tray were both recent Michaels finds. And the arrangement leaves just the right amount of room for the TV remote to be stored in the tray where it can be found.

FallSideTray

The metal table between the chair and couch holds my favorite thrifted find, a little owl lantern with some orange mums in an old crock and a pretty glittery green pumpkin I found at Walmart for under $1.

FallSideTray2

I put my little scarecrow on top of the curio cabinet, where his little button legs are safe from puppy teeth.  I like to display him with them dangling like I did last year, but now that the dogs are home alone for a longer portion of the day I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

FallScarcrow

I kept things simple in the entry way, using more of my DIY wooden pumpkins and an old wood tray I got at the estate sale this summer.

FallEntry

I filled the tray with a variety of green and neutral colored pumpkins and gourds, including several I painted white with chalk spray paint after seeing one of my favorite bloggers create some for her home the same way, although I painted the stems of mine green and brown for a little contrast. I added a berry spray I got at Michaels around the base for a little extra color.

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I also DIY’d this gold pumpkin, which picks up some of the golds in the pumpkins in the wooden tray. It was a super simple project using craft paint I had on hand, but I’ll share a recap of it in the next few days.

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On the other side of the entry table, I used a textured wooden pumpkin I found at Target. I’ve seen them all over blog land and there were only a few left at my store, so if you want one you better hurry.

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Over in the dining room the buffet became home to a mix of old and new pieces with a variety of textures.

FallBuffet

In the center is a new copper lantern I found on sale at Michaels. I paired it with a birch log stand and a piece of the berry spray I used in the entry way.

FallBuffetLantern

I found this little fox at Fred Meyer and knew he had to come home with me. I loved his graceful curved tail and adorable face. And since it was a BOGO half off sale he made a cute green ceramic pumpkin only a $1. The pumpkin ended up in the wooden tray in the entry way.

FallBuffetFox

Another new find this year was this rustic crow. He’s super sturdy with his strong metal feet and his distressed colors blend perfectly with the rest of my décor this year.

FallBuffetCrow

And here’s the whole scene with the candles on and flickering. I’ve set them all on a timer so they automatically come on about the time we get home each evening and I’m enjoying the pretty warm glow they create.

FallBuffetLighted

In front of the buffet I put together this little basket of harvest goodness. This was another revamped DIY piece created from a wooden tray I found on the local buy/sell page. I’ll share that project tomorrow.

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FallTableSo that’s my fall décor.  October is shaping up to be a very busy month, including a work trip to Southeast Alaska, so I might just skip decorating for Halloween this year and leave these pieces up through Thanksgiving, but we’ll see.

Feeling Fallish

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThriftDCreationsFall is my favorite season.  I love seeing the colors change and the crisp feel in the air.  It makes me want to grab a cup of cocoa, light a fire, snuggle up in a cozy sweater and watch the leaves fall as I start to plan for the upcoming holidays.  But fall is also usually one of my busiest seasons so it’s pretty rare when that actually happens.  This time of year I’m prepping for the holiday bazaars, creating family portraits for client’s holiday cards and preparing our home for winter, which will be here before we know it.Fall4

I will admit that I did attempt to ignore the initial signs of fall.  Alaska’s amazing summers are hard to give up and those first few cooler days are not well accepted because we know it means our days of endless sunlight and amazing landscapes will soon be replaced with darkness and cold.  But once I accept it I always fall in love with this wonderful transition season.

Fall1Now that I’ve conceded that summer has passed, I’ve embraced fall and carved out a bit of time to get out and photograph it’s beauty with my photography Meetup group.  We went up into the foothills of the Chugach mountains where the colors are more pronounced due to cooler temperatures.

Fall2I love the vibrant colors seen in the plants, which are offering the last of their harvests and one last burst of beauty before the first frost arrives.

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Fall6And our beautiful fireweed has now released it’s seed to blow in the wind and begins to display a variety of colors including green, red, orange and even purple on it’s leaves.  This was one of many I spotted along the trail recently.

Fall7In fact a colorful autumnal fireweed is one of my favorite shots to date.  It literally screams fall every time I see it.

FallI took Friday off to make the long holiday weekend even longer so I can wrap up a few outstanding projects around the house, like getting the deck prepped for cooler temps, cleaning up the garden, reclaiming the garage for parking and of course decorating for fall!  I’ll also be updating my Etsy shop inventory, revamping my photography marketing and testing out new designs for the holiday bazaar I’ll be selling at after Thanksgiving.  But I’m determined to squeeze in a little fall relaxing too.  In fact I already purchased all of the s’more making materials needed for our firepit’s fall debut, and I can’t wait!

The Cutest Pumpkins EVER!

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Remember, last week when I said I had a little décor project to wrap up on the porch? Well, it’s finally done and I’m ready to share it with you! Wa-La! The cutest pumpkins EVER! At least to me anyway. 🙂

Painted

Besides being adorable, they were super easy to make. First, I spray painted some scrap pieces of 4×4 left over from our fence project. A couple coats of orange and they were looking like very square pumpkins. Now they just needed stems, so I went stick hunting in our woods, much to the dogs delight.

Sticks

I let my pile of sticks “dry out” on the porch for a few days, ok, weeks – which caused several of them to fall victim to puppy playtime. But I digress. Once I deemed them “dry” I chose a few with interesting texture and curves and marked off sections for the hubs to cut. Yes I could have done it myself, but have a bad history with sharp objects so he came to my rescue.

Stems

Once I had all my stems ready to go I tested them out on the different bases and decided the combinations I liked best. A little hot glue and presto, stems!

During

Cute as they were at this point I felt like they needed a little softening, so I dug out some orange raffia I found at a yard sale long, long ago and tied some around the base of each stem. BAM. Delightful, rustic, recycled wooden pumpkins! On. my. porch!

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They are the perfect finishing touch to my other fall decor on the front porch!  Apparently Mother Nature didn’t agree because she added some little touches as well… LOL.

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Thanksgiving Decor

I’ve given ya’ll a couple sneak peeks of my fall/Thanksgiving décor and I’m finally ready to share it all. I kept things simple and used items I already had to create fun yet classic vignettes.  You’ve already seen the entryway here, so today I’ll share the little holiday tree that sits next to the front door.  It’s the perfect spot to show off my cute little jingle bell Thanksgiving ornaments – a turkey, scarecrow and a pilgrim couple.

Tree
Also in the entry way is the new welcome pumpkin I picked up on sale at JoAnns.  It’s the perfect fit for the narrow space between the two coat closets across from the dresser and mirror.  I’m loving the rustic feel and the contrast it provides with the wall color.
Welcome
And here’s a full shot of the mantel with my pretty new painting made by moi!  I picked up that amazing yellow ceramic vase for just $8 on the buy/sell page.  I did my happy dance when I did because I’d been eyeing similar versions at different stores for months for WAY more.  I filled in the rest with items I already had – antlers, pumpkins a couple gold votives, a little crow figure and some tall decorative grass in a tan vase.  I finished it off with a fall colored ribbon garland I made, similar to the one in the entryway but with softer ‘harvest’ colors.  Notice that one pumpkin on the floor?  It’s the only one that the dogs aren’t interested in because it’s metal! 🙂
  Mantel

There are few other fall touches in the family room including a bouquet of orange mums in a small cream crock I thrifted earlier this year on the side table and a pretty pumpkin plate in the windowsill next to the fireplace. Somehow I neglected to take photos of those for this post, but I’m sure you can envision them.  In the dining room, I paired a tall cloche holding a pumpkin and other natural elements with some gold votives on the buffet.

Buffett
The windowsills in the dining room also got some attention. A metal owl thrifted last year gives a bit of contrast to my pretty purple plant and a small metal gourd on one side. On the other side I grouped a fall arrangement with a doily covered green pumpkin and my favorite little scarecrow.
Plant

VingetteI had grand plans to make a pretty centerpiece for the dining room table and a “Thankful” tree, but time is a scarce resource these days so I decided to table those ideas for next year in favor of other more important projects right now.  I still have a simple craft project to wrap up out on the front porch and then I can share that with you, hopefully in time for Thanksgiving!I’d love to see how you decorated for Thanksgiving, so share a link to your site or leave a comment below and tell me what you did to show your gratitude this year.

A Few New Accessories

PhoneOne of the few negatives about Alaska life is that you can’t activate a Verizon iPhone while in the state so, while we were traveling across the lower 48 recently, both the hubs and myself got new phones.  Our old phones had been in service for several years and were starting have a few issues that were annoying, so it was time to upgrade.  While he chose to cross to the dark side and get a new Samsung Galaxy, I just couldn’t unlearn my well-honed iPhone habits – as evidenced by my constant frustration while playing with his phone a few days prior to upgrading mine, so I chose to move up from a 4 to a 5.

Unfortunately, the day we chose to go get my new phone was the day after the new iPhone 5c and 5s came out, so it took a while to get everything transferred over to the new phone.  I didn’t have any need of the higher end 5c or 5s features so I went with a regular 5, which I upgraded to the new iOS7 that evening.    It took me a while to get used to the new look and feel, but after a few days I was feeling pretty comfortable.

And of course because the 5 is a different size than the 4, I had to buy a new case.  Lucky for me, we found an extra batter pack and case in PURPLE, which I’m in love with.  I love it even more after my phone fell out of my coat pocket the other day and survived without so much as a scratch on the case!

And to sweeten the deal the retailer offered a $100 gift card if you traded in your old iPhone when purchasing a new one, so of course we took them up on that deal, which made the new phone free!  We couldn’t trade in hubby’s old iPhone since he bought a new Samsung, but we sold it on Craigslist with all the accessories for about the same price to a young Army officer in desperate need of a new phone after his broke, so that was a win-win too.

I also picked up a new mustard yellow purse while on our trip.  I’d been on the hunt for a yellow purse for a few weeks, having given my old purple purse to my sister, but hadn’t found anything that spoke to me, but when I spotted this beauty in the window I heard heavenly hold music.  I spent a little more on it than I typically do for purses, but its leather and should hold up to the on-coming Alaskan winter weather.

PurseThe mustard shade seems to coordinate well with whatever I pair it with and is a perfect color for fall.  The thing I’m enjoying the most is all the pockets it has.  It’s like whoever designed this purse knew exactly what I wanted to keep in it and made a pocket just for those items – including my new purple phone!  My sister has already laid claim to it when I’m ready to move on, so I guess I’ve got good taste! 😉

What’s your latest accessory upgrade?  Was it something new for fall, or have you already jumped on the holiday bandwagon?

Happy Fall Y’all

FallAlthough I’ve been traveling in the lower 48 (as we Alaskans call it!) the last few days, where there are NO signs of autumn, I was very happy to see the colors start to change before leaving the 49th state. I’m probably part of a vast minority there who feels that way. Regardless, I’m ready for sweaters, stews and the crunch of leaves under foot.

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I’ve always loved the changing of seasons, especially after living in the desert for the later part of my childhood where there’s only two seasons – HOT and less hot. There’s just something about the change that revives my creativity. And while I love the long carefree days of summer, I’m always glad to see the blazing colors of fall arrive and wow me with their splendor.

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Maybe it’s because fall heralds the beginning of the holiday season – which you all know I love decorating for – or maybe it’s just the thrill of something new. Whatever the reason, this year that feeling is definitely intense with the “nesting” desire spurred by the construction of our new home. I’m itching to move in and watch all of our plans come to reality. It will be the “harvest”of a lot of effort for the hubs and I.

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So as my favorite scripture, Ecclesiastes 3:1 says:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sow; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

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