Howdy y'all! I guess I got into the fall spirit more than I thought because I ended up making my own autumn banner to hang on the mantle as well as a DIY autumn wreath that's pretty as a peach and hangin' above my front door as we speak.
Was inspired by
this blog post and
this one for the banner, then adapted it a teeny tiny bit to make it my own. Let's proceed, shall we?
First, I picked out the cupcake liners I wanted to use. (Both of these designs are from Hobby Lobby.) I trimmed just a little bit off the edges of the zebra ones, and about half the width off the "boo" liners, creating two different sizes that fit neatly on my flags.
While at Hobby Lobby, I also picked up some scrapbook papers in various fall designs. I traced a 7" by 7" square, using the edges as two sides of my square, then on one line drew a dot in the middle (that'd be 3.5" for you mathematically challenged folk, like yours truly!). From the dot, I used my ruler to draw a straight line into one of the corners then did the same on the other side, creating a triangle. Then cut!
Once I had my triangles cut, I wanted to cut an additional piece of non-matching paper to run as a border across the top of each triangle. I placed a triangle on the paper I wanted, and traced the diagonal sides about an inch long. Then I connected the sides with a straight line across the bottom and cut that out and glued it across the top of my triangle. (If you're having trouble visualizing this, just scroll to the pictures of the finished product below and it'll make more sense!)
In the meantime, I had spray painted some chipboard letters black to spell out "autumn." I also drew white circles on card stock that matched the shape of the middle of the cupcake liner and used those as a background to make the letters pop. Similar to the other bloggers, I used a black permanent marker to rub ink around the edges of the white circles. Then I Elmer glued everything on one layer at a time: larger cupcake line, small cupcake liner, white circle and letter!
Finally, I punched a hole on the sides of each flag at the top and strung them with twine to suspend them from my mantle.
Ta-dah! Festive, don't you think? My husband said it looked like a party. Ain't he sweet. :)
PS - the other blogs said this was like a 20 minute craft, but I'll be gosh honest and tell ya it took me nearly an hour! I did it while watching TV, so it wasn't a big deal.
Now on to wreaths!
And this couldn't get any simpler.
I bought a grapevine wreath from Hobby Lobby for $5 and some fall-looking ribbon that was 50% off, so I think it ran me 3 or 4 bucks. I also picked up some fall picks with things like pumpkins, leaves and acorns on them, which were also 50% off, so no more than $2 or $3 apiece.
I wrapped the ribbon all the way around my wreath, then stuck the ends into the branches to keep them secure. Then I stuck the decorative picks into the branches as well, arranging them to create a sort of cluster at the bottom center that flourished out just a bit on the sides. Done!
Told ya it was easy!
Let's take a look at the whole front porch...
...and again, from a little further away.
(Because I'm a nerd and it felt good to be outside in the sun.)
Speaking of being outside, I popped out to say hello to the doggies who were busy playing in the backyard. I kinda managed to group them together for a shot of all three, but Reese (the puppy) needed a little help sitting still. I empathize. Photo shoots are so annoying.
This right here will always be my baby girl, though! Jersey is an amazing dog and I love her so much. I think it's pretty safe to say she loves her momma, too. :)
Y'all have a great Tuesday and stop by again tomorrow for my fabulous rendition of Pioneer Woman's peach-whisky BBQ chicken. Quite possibly one of the best meals I've ever made...