Faux heirloom pumpkins, anyone??

Have you ever gone to a pumpkin patch where they have specialty pumpkins like heirlooms, fairytale, or Casper/ghost pumpkins? If you haven't, they are really neat to see! I fell in love the first time I saw them a couple years ago and they happen to be a little more expensive than your typical orange variety. They have different textures and some tend to be a little more "flattened" looking and they usually have a waxy or milky film over them. Here is an example of some:

See how some have a warty texture or more lumpy texture? My FAVORITES are the blueish-green ones like these

So, problem: real ones are expensive and like any other pumpkin, can't last forever..sad face. Solution: buy a faux heirloom pumpkin, right? Well I searched craft stores and the internet and found ONE source of faux heirlooms that come in a pack of 5 and are over $100..YIKES! Solution number two: create one. I figured it couldn't be too hard to re-create as long as you find a faux pumpkin in the shape close or similar to a real heirloom. I went to Hobby Lobby and found one on sale for $7 that was perfect for this project.

 Its cute the way it is, but not perfect for my decor. I LOVE the stem on this one too!


Ok so SUPPLIES NEEDED:
1 faux pumpkin
1 sponge brush
2 acrylic paints in similar shades-I used Annita's in seafoam green and basil.
optional: small paintbrush

 Start by applying the base shade (I used the seafoam) with the sponge brush all over the pumpkin in downward strokes. Here was the progress of my first coat. Don't worry about getting it completely covered the first time because we are doing a second coat after the first is mostly dry.

 Here was after doing 2 coats and as you can see there is still some spots that are kind of streaky but I went with it and dabbed with the sponge brush to give some of the "texture" and also cover up some of the streaks. I also got the darker shade (the basil) and with my paintbrush, I dabbed into the base of the stem and also into the creases to give it some contrast. OPTIONAL: play around and experiment with it! I dabbed some more spots all over with the basil color to give some contrast and texture.

 Here is my finished result!!! I was so happy with it, I decided to give 2 more of my faux pumpkins makeovers!

 The little one was a cream colored one but the shape was spot on for this project and I had fun doing this one too!

 In one of my previous posts, I showed a picture of my then pumpkin collection and there was a small white one with black sequined polka-dots on it... what I DIDN'T show was the back of that had sequined letters that was SUPPOSED to spell out "thankful." When I made it, I somehow forgot the "k" leaving me with a pumpkin that made me look illiterate. I meticulously took off all the sequins and some spots took off a little of the pumpkin, but I didn't mind because it added to the authentic look and overall texture. After I finished it, the stem was previously painted black and I sadly attempted to over it with this paint but epically failed. All the sudden, "LIIIIIGGGHT BUUULLLB!" I happen to have some left over jute string and I just hot glued the string all around the stem!

                                                                      Not bad, Huh?

             (I apologize for the bright green look in the photos the very last photo is a more accurate color)

                                               So here is my NEW faux pumpkin collection!

Have fun experimenting with this and I would LOVE to see your photos of your finished products! :)

Pumpkins and Owls

It's no secret that I love owls. They have become increasingly popular over recent years and can be easily found in all kinds of stores and decor. Owls used to be used as scary Halloween decor once upon a sad time, but now have a nice place among fall decor without being ghoulish or creepy. I have included some of my owls in my fall decorating and they fit right in! So in my last blog post you saw a peek at some of my decor, some of them being pumpkins. Pumpkins are my most favorite thing about fall!! The options with them are endless when it comes to decorating them and I had a large blank white one that I couldn't decide what to do with at the time. Enter good ol' trusty Pinterest. After lots of great ideas, this was my favorite!

Cute isn't it?? Owl pumpkins made with a large white pumpkin (real or craft), and some sunflower seeds!! Supplies needed: a large white pumpkin, sunflower seeds, a hot glue gun, and a craft/utility/pumpkin-carving knife.
There are a couple ways to carve into these bad boys, my pumpkin was a craft one, and therefore already hallow and made of foam. If you have a real one, you have to do the drill of opening a gutting out the pumpkin, same way you would be prepping for any jack-o-lantern. I assume the easiest way to do this would be using the drill gun with a large drill bit to make the holes for the eyes, but our drill gun hates me and decided to kill over as soon as I touched it. So I used a serrated steak knife (not the most appropriate or sophisticated tool for the occasion but it gets the job done and it's all I had on hand).

Since my drill committed suicide, I carved out the holes by hand, once I had the general hole I twisted the knife around to scrape it evenly. Next step is carving the "beak" by carving out a simple upside-down triangle.

Now the fun part, start hot-gluing the seeds with the fatter sides around the outside of the eye holes. The original Pinterest picture showed two rows of the seeds, to which I tried just two but ended up fulling in the gaps probably more than I should have.

When you are satisfied with how it looks, do the same for the next eye and try to make it as even looking as possible.

Last step is the ear tufts on top of the pumpkin on the upper outer corners of the eyes. I failed to take photos of this step because I got side-tracked with my kids begging for me to feed them, I'm sorry :( But its pretty simple, use two seeds as the base placing them in a "V" shape and put a huge glop of hot glue directly onto the pumpkin and stick the seeds on and hold for a few seconds until the glue is hard enough to hold the seeds without assistance. Repeat the step with two more seeds on top of the first row, then top it off with a single seed placed in the middle of the "V" on top.
For the "claws," just hot glue a group of 3 seeds (2 pointing outward in an upside down "v" and a single seed in the middle of the "v" also pointing down).

Here is my finished product! Since this is a craft pumpkin, I'm pretty sure I can't use a real flame candle on the inside to light it up, so I used a cheapie LED tea-light candle that sadly is supposed to be lighting it up in the photo, but that's as bright as it could get. So I would recommend a better, stronger LED tea-light to illuminate this guy. Do you have any creative ideas for decorating pumpkins in unusual ways? I would love to hear some of your ideas in the comments below! 

Ready for fall and a few of my favorite recent finds

I told myself I wouldn't do it this year.. I did it last year and it was too soon. I was doing well until I saw some lovely "fall PINsperation," and I succumbed. I went into the garage and pulled out all my fall decor and meant to only put up one or two things for now to ease the transition to fall.. I was supposed to gradually add one thing here and there each week until all my things were up but that didn't end up happening. Ya, its ALL up, every last piece. I think I do this subconsciously as sort of a "rain dance," in hopes that it will bring the cool weather faster. Today was 101 degrees.. my rain dance has failed. So I thought I would share some of my favorite fall decor with you out there in blogger land.

 Pictured above is my fireplace mantle. I LOVE burlap and have some here and there all year but I especially love to incorporate it into my fall decor. I also love owls and what better time to year to bring them out!

 I made this wreath last fall and I was quite proud of it :)

 Mason jars + feathers = my new favorite fall decoration!!!! I switch from my summer hues of seafoam and aquas to more deeper hues like teals and browns.

 All white craft pumpkins..decorated the last two last fall and the big one is my newest edition.. I am working on what I want to do with it.. keep it plain white or decorate.. what do you all think?

 The peacock feather has really made its way into my fall decorating.. the hues are amazing and are just the right pop of non-traditional fall colors I need.


And now, here are a few great finds I have found the last few weeks!

 A chevron tank top on clearance at Ross for 10 bucks, mmmhhhmmm (insert the happy dance)!! I loved the way it fit and the colors are PERFECT to transition into fall. To the right, a navy peplum top I found at target and it is ADORABLE!!! If you have not given this huge trend (especially for fall) a try yet, it is so incredibly flattering and forgiving!

 Special edition Ball Mason jars in vintage blue for their 100th anniversary, oh the possibilities!!

 Ok, many of you should be familiar with the Gigi Hill brand handbag and accessories sold by independent  consultants, right? If you have you know the unfortunate news that they closed shop and many of their consultants sold their remaining stock at amazing discounts! I had my eye on this pattern for a long time and jumped at the opportunity to grab it! This one pictured above is called the mileah and it is a makeup/accessory bag, I also purchased the Annalise in the same pattern which is a duffel bag (I have yet to receive in the mail but I am anxiously staring out my window everyday keeping an eye out for the UPS man!).



So those are some of the things I was so happy to find lately! What are some of your favorite finds that you may have gotten a great deal for? I would also LOVE to hear some of your favorite fall decorating tips! Do you stick to traditional? Or are you creative or like to be a little non-traditional?

S

Here is a selfie I took on a windy evening on one of my walk/runs. It was nice and cool that day, also putting me in the mood for Autumn! What is your favorite season?

A Summer Craft..Jellyfish!

Recently we went on a little outing as soon as school was out to the Aquarium of the Pacific. The kids (well, my daughter and I mostly) really enjoyed it! One of my favorite things to see there is the jellyfish. They are so neat to watch and my daughter was tickled about them.

These kind were my favorite. So fast forward a few days and my daughter was scheduled to have her tonsils removed. Everything went smoothly and post-op orders were to stay home for a FULL WEEK to prevent her from getting an upper respiratory infection while she heals. Today is only day 4 and she is getting cabin fever poor girl! So I took a trip to Hobby Lobby to gather some supplies for her to get crafting while she is under "house arrest" lol. Here is what you'll need:
Clean, empty apple sauce cups (these are going to be the jellyfish bodies)
School glue
Hot glue gun and a glue stick
Glitter (any color try to do a medium or larger glitter)
Sequins
scrap ribbon (i bought a small pack at Hobby Lobby for 3 bucks)
a sponge brush (not pictured)
                                                    
 Start decorating your Jellyfish body however you wish with the glue and sequins, here I added some glue around the bottom and stuck on the sequins all around.

I also added some around the top while I waited for my daughter to catch up. Once you are satisfied with how it looks set it aside for little while to give it a chance to dry.

 Here are a couple different ways to decorate it. On mine, I used the school glue and the sponge brush to brush on the glue around the negative space on the Jellyfish and then I sprinkled glitter all over the glue.

 Set aside to dry and when it is dry It's time for tentacles. Cut the ribbon scraps to varying lengths to hot glue around the inner rim of the cup and add one longer ribbon to the top inside just to fill in the middle part and make the tentacles look fuller.

Aaaaannnnddd, VOILA! you are done! OPTIONAL: you can hot glue a little loop of string to the top to enable it to be hung.

My daughter really enjoyed this and couldn't wait to hang her jellyfish in her room! This is a fun craft for school, decoration, or just a summer craft to bust boredom :). Enjoy!

Minty Fresh

I LOVE to paint...I mean, actually painting walls and wood and things. Whenever a friend tells me in their dreaded tone that they have to paint the house, I usually shoot my hand up in the air to volunteer like an excited 5 year old with an answer. Ok, maybe not exactly that way, but I DO enjoy it. I recently received a voucher for a free pre-mixed paint sample from Valspar.

As you can see, I couldn't wait to start using it (sorry for the mess!)! The color is called "sweet mint" and I am overly in love with this color right now. I had a yarn-wrapped bottle that fell over and broke into pieces (along with my heart because it took FOREVER to make that thing!). So I needed a replacement. Luckily, I saved a clear bottle from a soda earlier that was clean and waiting to be used. I poured some paint inside the bottle, placed the cap back on and shook it up some.

I tried to cover as much inside the bottle as I could without pouring in more, but alas, I needed a wee bit more so after having enough paint in I turned it upside down on a cloth I didn't mind ruining and let sit upside down for a few hours.

Once the paint poured out as much as it could, I turned it back up and sit overnight to completely dry. I salvaged what yarn I could from the bottle that broke and decided to wrap just the bottom part of the bottle using super glue (because I was out of hot glue).

When I was happy with how it looked, that was it!

Voila!

I am very happy with it. It was an easy project, hardest part was the waiting of course :/. Here are a couple more crafts/projects I did with this beautiful paint color:

Up-cycled a coffee can by using masking tape (or painter's tape) to tape off the parts I wanted exposed, and just painted the rest with a couple of coats.

This is a decorative porcelain bowl that was all one color, I just added a little "pop" of color by painting the inside bottom.

 This was a candlestick holder (originally the same color as the bowl as part of a set) I painted it and glued (with superglue) the jar to it, painted the lid the same color and glued a flat marble to the top. Now it's an apothecary jar.

And finally this extra wood we had in our garage (left over from a previous project). I painted the whole thing with a couple coats and when it was completely dry, I added this vinyl decal via Uppercase Living, and then a coat of Mod Podge over that.
So there ya have it! My craft/project round up with the free paint sample! The voucher came in my Better Homes and Gardens magazine last month and I redeemed it at Lowe's. Always take advantage of those little freebies when you see them, ESPECIALLY paint (this is my second free paint sample, the first I got a couple years ago through Facebook)!

Is Your Home A "Hospital?"

As a young adult living with my parents, I enjoyed helping to host gatherings and events at our home. Of course, at the time for me that meant entertaining and chatting with everyone, LOL! It wasn't until after I got married and ran my own home that it took on a whole new meaning. I was now responsible for making sure others felt welcome in our home. This is a walk in the park when your guests are tidy, polite, and come at a totally convenient and pre-planned time. But what about the unexpected, messy, needy guest that comes with baggage? If you are like me (an almost OCD, clean-freak, schedule-loving introvert), then the latter guest may shake you up a bit.
Recently in my devotions, I came across Acts 16 where Paul and Silas were called into Macedonia. While there, they shared the message of Jesus with a group of women, one of which was named Lydia. Lydia was a seller of purple cloth (a very expensive fabric at the time). She was a busy business woman who was also responsible for her own household. When she converted, without hesitation she begged them to stay in her home. "And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, 'If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.' So she persuaded us." -Acts 16:15.
The word "hospitality" is derived from the word "hospital." While staying in a hospital, it is the staff's duty to make you comfortable, help you heal, and make sure you are well taken care of so that when you leave that hospital you are healthier and feeling better than when you came. When a guest needs a place to stay, do you put out the welcome mat and go out of your way to make them feel at home? Do we adjust ourselves and our schedules to accommodate their needs? I'm sure this is how many, if not, all of us expect to be treated ourselves in hospitals or hotels or any place we are a guest at. We need to be like Lydia, opening our home to our guests even if at a moment's notice. We should make sure their needs are met to the best of our abilities. They may come in needing emotional or spiritual healing. When they leave, are they healthier and feeling better than when they came? More importantly, would YOU want to be a returning guest in your home if you were in their shoes? We need to remember to treat others as we wish to be treated, not expect. I would encourage you all to really stretch yourselves in this area and be a "hospital" that you yourself would want to come back to. 

A place to put your drink...and rest your legs and hide the remotes

Since I have been married, we have only owned one coffee table, it was during our first year of marriage in a nice, open townhouse with plenty of living space. It was a hand-me-down, all glass oval table straight out of the early 90's complete with tacky brass accents which suited it's purpose for the time that we owned it. We moved into our first home where our living space became much smaller...I mean, we probably COULD have found a small enough coffee table to fit the space but then we had our daughter and being brand new parents we feared the sharp corners and glass. So fast forward 6 years later and I was on the hunt for a coffee table. I was originally wanting a large wooden trunk of some sort, but the prices on that were pretty outrageous brand new and used was hard to find. I faithfully searched the local online classifieds and came across this guy.

I loved the shape and the fact that it had the drawers for storage...we have been CONSTANTLY losing our remotes (we have 4 of them) and I was slightly fed up with it. This was in great shape, "distressed" by the manufacturer, and a few little nicks here and there which I think added to the look. Those little white circles you see in the picture are "painted" white which lead me to believe that it had been painted white before and restored to its original finish but they got lazy in removing the paint in the crevices. I wanted to re-finish this in white so I did my research on how to get this done as quickly as possible and with as little experience or tools as possible because professionally sanding, priming, and painting multiple coats and watching paint dry; "ain't nobody got time for that!"

 Enter in this perfect product: Rust-Oleum Universal Satin Paint and Primer in white. I read rave reviews about this being the ultimate spray paint for the impatient like myself. It was said that this would cover anything without sanding and leave a smooth, even finish.

 This was after the first coat. I removed all the drawers and painted them separate. Like any spray paint, I had to constantly shake this especially since the primer built in could clog the sprayer if you wait too long between sprays. I tried to work as quickly as possible with long, even strokes making sure i got into the little crevices as well.

 Aaaaannnnddd.. TA-DA!!! Here it is 2 cans later and about 3 hours of drying. I suppose you should wait longer for it to dry but it was a breezy day and it dried pretty quick and like I said before..I'm more of an "instant gratification" kind of girl. The finish was a bit gritty feeling and not smooth like a glossy finish would be but I don't mind.

I am SO happy with it! I was considering doing a "distress paint" technique to make it appear more "shabby chic" but I think it looks great without it. I love having the extra storage and it fits perfect in our living space.

Supplies I used:
Coffee table (found online classifieds) -$25
2 cans of Rust-Oleum Universal Satin Paint and Primer spray paint - $6.70 each (Home Depot)

TOTAL COST of this project- about $38 bucks :)