Fall is one of those seasons that just happens for everyone at a certain moment.  For me, last year, it was just something in the air.  This year, it happened to be the turning of the calendar to my favorite month of September. 

I was playing in the park with my girl a few weeks ago, and noticed the beauty of the fallen leaves from a nearby magnolia tree.   It was instant inspiration!  Up close, I loved the shape and caramel color of the leaves so I thought they would make a perfect wreath for our front door.  

This year, my requirements for a fall wreath were this: cheap and easy !   Here’s this year’s front door wreath, and the best part is that it cost me less than $5 dollars. 

Some of the magnolia leaves have a bit of shimmer . . . I couldn’t resist enhancing many of them with a little metallic craft paint.  

I simply painted some of the leaves with various craft paints from my stash.

Then I wiped off half the paint with a paper towel to highlight the leaf’s natural beauty.

A little hot glue on an 18 inch craft ring from Michaels . . .

90 minutes later: a shimmery caramel colored front door wreath, tied up with braided jute twine and secured to the door with a 3M adhesive hook.  

Easy, inexpensive, and oh-so-autumn! 

Magnolia leaves hold their shape for several months, so this year’s version should (fingers crossed) last through the season.  

Are you finally ready for autumn too ?   What are your plans to bring fall into your home this year?  Do share !

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A big thank you for all those who linked up to the Stars & Stripes Party this week, you all amazed me with your creativity !  I loved visiting your links and seeing how you style your homes, thank so much to all of you for sharing, it was a lot of fun !

Here’s just a few of the patriotic treats, projects, and displays that stood out to me . . .

Red, white, and blue tablescape and hutch display at Sweet Something Design

Simple glitter letters on shelf with flags from Eighteen25

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Greetings everyone, welcome to the Stars & Stripes Party !

Don’t you just love the Fourth of July ?

I do!  It’s truly one of my favorite holidays.  There’s something about the traditions of barbeques and fireworks, and all that red, white, and blue that gets me in the mood to celebrate the land of the free and home of the brave.

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Happy Friday friends, are you excited about the long weekend ?  This week I was in the mood to decorate my porch with some red, white, and blue in honor of Memorial Day, and also in anticipation of our Fourth of July barbeque. 

I found some inexpensive fabrics and stitched up some festive pillow covers, then I filled my pots with annuals in patriotic colors.  This summer, I’m having some fun with punches of red on the front porch ! 

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I love Easter !  I love little girls running around in their frilly pastel Easter dresses on the church lawn hunting for treats, and little boys in seersucker shorts and argyle vests.  I love Easter candy, and chocolate bunnies, and grilled lamp chops for dinner, and everything spring !  I love Easter brunch too – a chance to sit down after church services and spend a lovely meal with family and friends. 

I set a table this year in a blue and white theme, complete with branches, butterflies, some feathery friends, and various shades of blue. 

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My friend Lindsay is having a crafty little contest on Thursday and I thought I’d throw my name in the hat.  I consider myself pretty thrifty, but when you are forced to stick to a $5 dollar budget in this contest, you must get very resourceful.   

So I got my craft on the other day and made some paper maché Easter eggs using what I already had in my house – which is tricky when you only have brown eggs and very thin tissue paper.  But my kindergartener and I managed to hatch a fresh batch of blue eggs on the cheap. 

Disclosure:  I was completely unsure when I started this project if it would be a disastrous waste of time, so I decided to invest nothing beyond what I had on hand, which meant using brown not white eggs.  Or you can just use store bought plastic eggs, but I’m cheap.  Unsure of the outcome, I refused to brush my hair, my teeth, or get dressed out of my flannel plaid pajamas to make a special trip to the craft store or grocery store.  In hindsight, white eggshells would work better to save time and several layers of tissue.  Just saying. 

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I started working on this idea a few weeks ago, and finally got around to finishing up this little experiment of mine just the other day.  I wanted to create some original candles with plain glass containers and soy wax for the holidays and to give as gifts. 

Here is the first of the four candles I created.  This version has a cranberry tinted soy wax inside a plain glass oval container – it is painted and embellished with a glittery seasonal message. 

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I had really big plans to fix myself up and to give y’all a video tour of our home this weekend, but as luck would have it, I just ran out of time.  Gosh darn, oh well.  I was able to snap a few photos of some of the decor on display this year, so here’s a glimpse at a few areas you haven’t seen yet.

Welcome to our Holiday Home !

Our front porch is draped in lighted garland and the urns are filled with lighted trees.

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The color red has been banished from the living room this year due to my latest fixation with hot pink accents.  However, the rest of our collection of crimson décor is making an appearance all around the rest of our home.  

As rainstorms pounded the house yesterday, we decided to skip those crowds at the malls and stay warm and dry indoors by making hot chocolate and decking our front hallway and foyer with garland, berries and red ribbons. 

In years past, I’ve made every effort to cover the banister to hide the ordinary oak railing that I was never crazy about.  Ever since we refinished the staircase in this dark espresso color, I have no desire whatsoever to hide its new finish, so I swaged some simple greenery this year instead of wrapping it all around. 

Underneath the fresh cedar, the base is formed by a lighted faux fir garland.  We thought ahead to Christmas when we remodeled the house, and added electrical outlets at the top of the stairs. 

On top of the fir I’ve swagged some fresh cedar from a local farm.   

Love.This.Scent.

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We love to send them, we love to receive them.  Christmas cards are just one of those holiday rituals that some dread, some cherish, yet we all must decide how to display them every year.  Years ago, I used to apply some double sided tape on the back of the cards I received and I would secure them to a door.  Back in 2006, I bought one of those Christmas card display trees on sale from Pottery Barn – that worked fine too.

This year, I wanted to do something more creative, more unexpected.  When I ordered a new chandelier from Ballard Designs for my home office, it came with some extra chain that I never used.

My daughter tried to convince me to make her a Marley costume.  I decided it was better put to use as a tool to display some Christmas cards in front of my window.

Originally, I decided to just use white paper clips.

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