Flowers In Pumpkins

Thanksgiving is on the way and I am way behind getting my decorations completed.  I decorate for fall, then Halloween and finally Thanksgiving which is usually last on my list for making new decorations.  This year after looking at so many beautiful fall decorations on Pinterest I decided to give a few of the ideas a try using the inspiration not the exact craft.  I wanted some fresh fall flowers to decorate my porch giving it a pop of color, but as I found out the hard way, the sun beats down on the porch from sun up to late into the afternoon killing any kind of plant or flower I put there.  I really wanted fresh flowers and real pumpkins for that space but I was going to have to settle for faux pumpkins and silk flowers if I wanted the look and color I saw in those photos.

I gathered up some of my fall craft supplies and went to work. The first thing I did was to ask my husband to carve up the pumpkins by using a hot knife to cut the top open so I could insert the flowers and greens. He went through a couple of blades and some muscle to carve out the tops, once that was done the rest was a breeze.  I think they came out just great and will add just the right amount of color; drawing all eyes to that small but useful space.

Look how bright and cheerful the oranges, reds, yellows and greens look against the tan walls and black rod iron.  They also look really lovely with the red front door, very eye catching, just the look I was going for even if I could not use the real thing.

Thanks for letting me share my pretty fall flower decorations with you, I hope they inspire you to make some new decorations for your porch, front door or yard to give your curb appeal a boost.  I still have a decoration or two to finish up for Thanksgiving, I am not sure if I will have enough time to finish them with everything else I am working on, only time will tell. Coming soon are more aprons from the series and the toy room reveal, keep watching for those.

See you soon.

Laurette

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Falling In Love With Fall

Fall Windowpane Quilt

Falling In Love With Fall

Happy fall, it has finally arrived, of course in some parts of California we don’t really get the kind of fall the rest of the country gets but we do have our own version of it.  I really love this time of year when the light and the leaves begin to change and the evenings and mornings become cooler and just a bit crisp.

The colors of autumn truly inspire me to get very creative in a number of areas which include baking, decorating and sewing.  Recently I made my first trip to Michael's and Joann’s to stock up on fall decorating and fabric supplies.  Thanks to Pinterest I have a ton of fun fall inspired project ideas, of course everything will have my own spin on it but the pin boards really got me thinking and very excited to make some new things to decorate the inside of my home and pump up my outdoor curb appeal.

After my shopping trip I got the bug to set my dinning room table for fall as I do each season.  Out came the rusty orange colored tablecloth, the place mats, chargers, napkins and napkin rings. I also pulled out several of my autumn quilted table runners to place in the center of the table and around the house.

I saw a version of this great idea on Pinterest and decided to make some with the glassware, veggies and candles I already had in my entertaining inventory closet.  I took out the largest wine glasses I had, put the veggies inside, turned it upside down and put a short pillar candle on top, super fun and easy.  I will do a version for Christmas, something a bit more elaborate with lots of bling for the holidays.

I spent today in fall mode by making new autumn flower arrangements for my Mom’s grave site, then putting them in place, everything is all cleaned up and looking pretty again, I feel so much better.  When I got home I was in the mood to bake, I made some delicious caramel cinnamon apple bread, super yummy!  Instead of just making bread I whipped up an Italian turkey loaf for our dinner, which is baking in the oven as I write this, the house smells fantastic; I can’t wait for dinner.

Thanks for letting me share my love affair with fall; I hope it inspires you to do some fall decorating of your own.  Lots of autumn projects to come as long as I can stay healthy, I have been down with a killer upper respiratory infection for the last two weeks which really slowed down the creative and blogging time, fingers crossed.

See you soon.

Laurette

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Fall Floral Arrangements

Fall Floral Arrangements

As each season arrives it brings a certain kind of renewal depending upon which season it is.  Fall brings warmth, a new golden light and host of beautiful colors to our flowers, mountains and trees.  I love this time of year and do my best to bring fall to all of my surroundings, even though I live in California and we don’t get the real fall like the mid-west and the east coast.

This is one of the seasonal changes I make every year; four fall flower arrangements. I thought I would include a few pictures of the process as I worked on my projects.

I purchased a box load of high quality silk flowers in all my favorite rich, elegant colors, along with some floral foam.

Out came my box of tools; scissors, wire cutters, box cutter, foam, wire, floral tape and silk stems.

I cut foam and stems to fit the size of the containers I was using then began the process of arranging my flowers.

Time to make some pretty bows for two of my flower arrangements.  See the posting, Pumpkin Bling, for instructions on how to make bows using wired ribbons.

All finished, isn't it pretty and fall fantastic.

I made the above arrangement and another one just like it to take to my Mom’s grave site and these two outdoor arrangements, in the silver containers, for my Father-in-Law’s.  I like to change their arrangements at the beginning of each season if possible; these were done around the first of September and will be changed again at the beginning of December.  It is a good way to honor those we love, who have passed away, giving a little color, love and care to their final resting places.

Thanks for letting me share this project with you.  Look for a bit of bling and some other colorful ventures coming from my studio.  See you soon.

Get Your Pumpkin On!

For those of you who follow me on a regular basis this is a reminder about the Pumpkin Bling challenge.  Time is getting short to e-mail me pictures of the pumpkins you created for the challenge, there is still a prize waiting for the lucky winner.  Time is slipping away; Thanksgiving is on the way with pumpkin pies to eat instead of decorating them, so get those pictures to me soon.

Just a little light housekeeping:  For the Paisley Pillowcases post; you can also make standard or queen pillowcases, the process is exactly the same, with a change in measurements.  You can e-mail me for the correct measurement if you would like to make a different size and I will be happy to e-mail them right back to you.  If you do make a pillowcase or two, please e-mail me the photos and I will share them on my blog, if I get interest I will also give a prize for those as well.

Just a little peak at my next post on Thursday, it is the guest room makeover. 

Happy sewing and crafting.   See you soon.

Pumpkin Bling

The bling bug bit me again, only this time it was pumpkin bling instead of black & white bling.  I really love decorating for fall especially decorating with pumpkins of all kinds, shapes and textures.  I have lots of different pumpkins; there are the pretty glass and ceramic ones, and the ones which light up inside and fabric pumpkins too.  When I saw a fun, easy, dazzling copper pumpkin project, created by Michael’s, I just had to make one.  Follow along with me and see how I did it.

I gathered up all the elements I thought I would need; an orange craft pumpkin, metallic copper spray paint, metallic 2 ½” ribbons, leaf/berry picks, hot glue gun/sticks, medium gauge wire, wire cutters and scissors.  Now I was set to get started.  Let the fun begin.

I wanted to be sure my paint would stick to the slick surface of the pumpkin so I gave it a VERY light sanding with a fine grit sanding block, just scratched it up a little then wiped it down. Be sure while you sand you don’t take any of the orange color off.

Since the spray paint is toxic and creates a mess it became an outside studio project.  I put down some brown packing paper on the floor to protect the surface creating a clean place to work.  I grabbed a 2 liter 7Up bottle filled with gravel, which I use for my spray projects, put it in the middle of the paper, then I placed a spray paint cap on the top of the bottle to give the pumpkin a flat surface to rest on. This keeps the pumpkin up off the floor so you can paint the majority of the bottom. Time to paint.

A couple of tips for you first time spray painters;  I usually wear gloves to project my skin from toxic paints and I always wear a mask to keep my nose and lungs clear of fumes and paint particles.  Keep the can at a reasonable distance; too close and the paint will glob up and run, get too far away and the paint won’t make it to the object you are painting, a little practice never hurts, practice on the bottle below the pumpkin if you are not sure.  Now spray it with a light even back and forth motion, keeping the can moving to prevent drips and heavy areas.  Always start to spay just before you hit the pumpkin and just as you get past it to keep the surface nice and even.

Now we’re talking, that pumpkin’s got bling, a dazzling copper bling.  WOW!  I let it completely dry for a couple of hours to make sure I could work with it without scratching off the paint.

Back to my inside studio to begin glamming up my pumpkin, Is glamming a real word? It is now; it must be if I just wrote it.  I heard it on HGTV so it must be real. Giggles.

My studio helper, Honey, is getting everything ready so I can get to work right away.

         

“Now where did she say she put those scissors, she said they were right here?” 

 “I still don’t see them; they must be buried in here somewhere!”

Honey finally found my scissors and assembled all my supplies for me, I am ready to bring some bling to my pumpkin.

I begin by wrapping the pumpkin with the 2 ½” ribbon first down one side then back across the other side, using hot glue as I go along.  Tip of the day; don’t overdue the hot glue, to much enthusiasm can cause some very nasty burns; I have the scars to prove it.  The ribbon I used was very sheer so I had to be careful not to burn or melt it, not to mention burning my fingers if it oozed out through the ribbon, ouch!

Time for the bow, I am not sure I can explain how I made the bow, it is more like something I would have to demonstrate, but I will give it a try, if it is too confusing don’t say I did not warn you.  Here we go; first decide how long you want the first streamer/tail to be.  Once you figure it out pinch the ribbon together between your thumb and first finger, from there make a loop, then pinch, make another loop below that one and keep going back and forth, kind like a figure 8, adjusting the loops so you can see the pretty print, I did three loops on the top and three on the bottom, you can do as many loops as you can hold depending on how full you want your bow or how big you want it.  Leave a tail/streamer to match the other one.  Hint:  I tie it off with the wire first then I cut the tail/streamer to match the first one. I cut a little notch to make the ends pretty.

It was finally time to finish my project by hot gluing my bow to the top of my pumpkin, it took a bit of finessing to get it to stay just where I wanted it, I had to hold the bow in place for a little while to make sure the glue was dry before I let go.  It fell off twice, yikes, how embarrassing.  Isn’t she dazzling?  So shiny and full of bling, a very elegant pumpkin.

If you are not into bling and only want a pretty fall pumpkin you could wrap a plain orange craft pumpkin with ribbon, add a bow and some fall leaf picks and end up with a great table centerpiece or a festive hostess gift.

Wasn’t that fun? I bet all you crafty divas can’t wait to make a dazzling fall pumpkin of your own.  I am issuing all my readers a challenge; make your own version of my pretty pumpkin and e-mail a picture (in JPG format) of it to me at: buttonsbowsbling@gmail.com and I will post your pumpkins on my blog so everyone can see your creations.

As a special treat for submitting your Pumpkin Bling photos, they will be placed into a drawing for a special Creative Winter Craft Pack.  Winners will be announced on my blog the day before Thanksgiving.

The last day for submitting your photos is:  November 18, 2011.  After that date I won’t have time to post your photos, I will be in entertaining mode for Thanksgiving.  I can’t wait to see what you all make.  Happy Creating!

Coming soon is part three of Control That Clutter with more unusual containers for storage, some colorful fun projects, more fall decorating ideas and so much more.  See you soon.