Tag Archives: seasonal decor

Spring Forward?

Is it really the end of March? If so, could someone please tell the weather patterns to start cooperating with the normal average temperatures and behaviors for this time of the year? I don’t know how much more of this dreary, snowy, rainy stuff I can take. It literally took everything in me to muster my bee-hind off the sofa yesterday, change out of my flannel pjs into sweats (yea, you read that right), and attempt to put together some springy/Eastery vignettes around the house. Who can get motivated for Easter decor when there’s two inches of snow on the ground? At this point, I firmly believe that it will be 35-degrees with grey, cloudy skies for the rest of 2013. Blah.

Anywho, here are a few signs of Spring that I sprinkled around our house…

diy’d washi-tape eggs / framed felt egg / vase via my March UmbaBox

My grandma made the eggs in the foreground – she even personalized one for me <3

Hopefully these little signs of Spring inside will encourage more signs outside. Hopefully.

Autumn Wreath & Front Porch Reveal

I finally had some free time this weekend to put together a new seasonal wreath (doesn’t everyone craft at 10pm on a Saturday night??)…

I purchased a grapevine wreath and fall floral stems from Michaels. I used a roll of burlap that I had leftover from my Spring Wreath project.

I started by wrapping the burlap around the wreath. Then I trimmed the long stems and arranged the flowers before I hot-glued them down to keep them in place (half of my Christmas wreath wound up in our side yard last year due to wind and a lack of more permanent security measures).

And ta-da! A wreath is born!

And now the whole front porch is decked out for Fall, with some mums lining the steps and a new wreath on the door. Still need some pumpkins and squash to finish things off, but it’s definitely starting to look like Fall around the Kennedy house 🙂

Autumn Mantel Makeover

Thought I’d pop in today to share the seasonal spruce-up I gave to my mantle (and a bookshelf) last night! I was inspired by some of the ideas I found yesterday through The Lettered Cottage Fall Decorating Link Party. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should! There are plenty of cute, clever and creative ideas to be found!

I literally cut these sticks out of a smaller, dead tree in our backyard. We’re planning on taking it out, so we might as well put it to use for decorating! The vase fillers were in a set decorative fillers I bought a few years ago. I think I got them at Michaels.

If you haven’t already guessed. I LIKE SPARKLY THINGS! The mercury glass candle holder was part of a set of 3 from Kohl’s earlier this year (snagged ’em on clearance for $6! So I got 2 sets). The brown tealight holder probably came from Michaels (I’ve had it for a few years).

Most of the items I used are things I already had, like the hurricane vase (Bed, Bath & Beyond, circa 2007). I just switched out the usual candle for acorns. The metallic pumpkin is new – Michaels had all of their fall accents for 50% off last week! Booyah! The gold pumpkin and glittery crow above (I’m calling it a raven in honor of Edgar Allan Poe) were also sale finds from Michaels! The purple glass spikey things were made by my cousin, who’s a glass artist.

Here’s one last shot of the whole mantle:

Now, on to the bookcase! I’ve been struggling with what to do with this space. I think I’m happy with this arrangement. But that doesn’t mean it won’t change 😉

Aren’t those flowers pretty? The color palette is so perfect for this time of the year, and I think they do a nice job of complementing my Subway Canvas. Check out how I made it here.

I just love that Scentsy owl warmer! And the Caramel Pear Crisp scent inside isn’t bad either!

Well, that about covers my mantle and bookshelf makeover! Hope you like it!

PS- Sorry that these photos are a bit grainy – I took them with my phone… and it was dusk, so the lighting wasn’t the best. I was too anxious to blog about my makeover to wait for the weekend, i.e. the benefit of natural daylight. Sorry. I’m impatient. I’m trying to work on it. Especially since my impatience is constantly at odds with the care and detail that needs to go into things like drilling holes in walls and painting…

*Update – I linked this post up to Centsational Girl’s Autumn Mantle Party. There are soooo many great ideas! I wish I had more mantles in my house!

Autumn Subway Canvas

When it comes to seasonal decor, I tend to stick to Winter/Christmas. And by “stick to” I mean Make It Look Like Santa’s Workshop / A Wintery Wonderland Exploded In My House. I. Love. Christmas Decor.

But, I have to admit that I’ve recently had a hankering for some Fall-inspired touches around the house. In the past, I think I’ve been turned off by the predominantly brownish color palette of Fall decor, but with the recent metallics trend… now that’s a seasonal bandwagon I can get on! Whoo! Whoo! (wait, sorry, that’s a train sound. What sound does a bandwagon make?)

Anywho, I came across this seasonal Subway art on Pinterest…

from Antsi-Pants blog

and decided this was totally something I could decorate around. She’s even got glittery pumpkins right next to it! Yessss!

This is actually a printable that can be downloaded (for free!), but I had a Craft Itch that needed to be scratched. I decided with some paint and scrapbooking accessories, this could easily become a personalized piece. So I made a trip to Michael’s, picked up some supplies, and got to work!

I picked up an 11″ x 14″ canvas and figured I’d need at least eight words/phrases to cover it. I made a list of all of the Autumn-related words I could think of, then narrowed down to the ones that best represent what I love about the season.

I wanted a variety of fonts, so I purchased stencils and 3D sticker letters. I also decided to free-hand some of the words, which I saved for last so that I could fill in remaining spaces as needed. I started with the stencils, tracing them lightly with a pencil.

Then I added the 3D sticker letters, free-handed in the remaining spaces, and added a few “accessories” in the form of the sunflower, pumpkin and leaf stickers. Just to add some extra pizzazz!

I’m surprisingly pleased with how it turned out! And how relatively easy it was to do! A little bit more time consuming (took me about 2-2.5 hours from start to finish), but fun and worth it.
I already have plans for a Christmas one 😉

It hasn’t found a permanent home yet, but I have a few other Fall ideas in my mind that I’m hoping to pull together this weekend!

Where do you stand on seasonal decor?

Update: found this fun Fall Decorating Link Party from The Lettered Cottage! Check out all of the other bloggers’ awesome fall decor ideas!