I can't fight this feeling anymore!

FaLL

That cool crisp air is too much to resist - I guess I'm all in now!
You all made me start with this Labor Day weekend

And then I made this last week

So now, here we go!!

I'm pretty sure no one's going to miss this wiffle ball!

When I saw this tutorial by The Other White House I KNEW I had to make some

Like my napkin bow? More on that later

Sheeesh! I've even done some baking!
*it's apple cranberry : P *

And I swore the Halloween stuff wouldn't come out until Oct...
but I couldn't help myself - I love this little guy!
He keeps me company when I Must do dishes : )

This guy not so much but there he is

Oh! and the mums are growing like gangbusters outside!
*oops! weed alert*

Well, I just thought I'd share a taste of autumn at my house.  
Happy Fall!  

You might find me partying at some of these places *HERE*

Blessings!

A is for Artwork

I'm trying a new party this week *Jenny Matlock's Alphabe Thursday*.  Seems appropriate given the name of my blog : )  This week's letter is "A".  My A is for Art.  Not very original, I know, but it is what it is.  We'll see how the alphabet progresses...

This is our Autumn Subway Art in progress.  I love the picture frame dry erase boards & I love all the subway art I've been seeing everywhere so I've combined the 2 here.  So, part of the charm of subway art are the different fonts & different sized words.  Mine is incomplete because it is a group effort.  I asked each member of my family to contribute words that they think of when they think of autumn.  Then they each wrote their words on the board.  As we have different people come over, we will ask each of them to make their contribution to the board!  I fear I may love it too much to ever erase it : )  I guess that's what cameras are for!

Here is the picture frame dry erase board I made for my friend who has an autumn birthday.  She admired the other one I made recently so she's getting her own soon.  *See more here*  I like how the burlap flower turned out. *and as if I needed to tell you -  the fabric in the frame is yet another $1 discontinued fabric sample*

And my final piece of artwork is our family swirl.  A little back story - Handy Hubby : ) & I have never agreed on artwork.  As a result, we have very little artwork hanging in our house.  He likes more contemporary art.  I usually don't care for the stuff he likes...

I decided that if I attempted to create something personal yet more contemporary we might find some common ground.  One day as I was doodling I came up with this design.  And as I studied it more I realized that I could see letters in the scribble.  In fact, I could find the first letter of each of our names!  {admittedly, some letters are more ambiguous than others...}  And furthermore, the style of each letter sorta matched our personalities as well!  btw our initials are SECAS.  Do you see what I see?!  

Well, HH got into it and printed the swirl on a transparency & borrowed a projector from work for me to transfer the image onto the canvas.  I picked the color palette *jewel-toned & autumn-like, right?}, painted it out & we now have artwork that we both feel vested in! Yay! Success.

So, tell me, What is YOUR "A"?

You might find me partying at some of these places *HERE*

Blessings!

Time to Celebrate!

Back in the summer of '95 *or soon there after*, every sibling in Handy Hubby : )'s family (9) who was married at the time {5} was expecting.  Thus producing a bumper crop of 5 babies in one year!  Whew!

Today is my baby's birthday - her closest cousin in age was born 4 days before her.  *It's a good thing she was a girl cuz they got to our boy's middle name first - these days names are closely guarded secrets haha*

Well, at our local art museum (IMA) they have a number garden and my MIL loved the poetry of having 5 grandchildren turning 5.  She always said she wanted to take a picture of the 5 5's at the IMA "5".  As it turns out, that has not been so easy to accomplish.  She's been saying it every year and now they are starting to turn 15! : )

On my last visit to the IMA, I discovered that if you stand at exactly the right angle you can get the 1 & the 5 in the same shot.  So now she has a small window to get the 5 5's together *the name stuck & they've been lumped together ever since* for a photo op in front of the 15.  Good luck with that Grammi!

Anyway, for the big day I made this 'CELEBRATE' banner

*I don't even know who to link this idea to because these babies are everywhere!*

And I know the letters are hard to read  but Daughter S will know I personalized it for her because I used the paper scraps from the notebooks she decorated for school.

This was a no.sew project and certainly a labor of love because hot glue goes through burlap like nothin'!  Hot & messy.  And I don't have a Cricut or Silhouette so I used a stencil & cut out the letters.  

Can you say low tech?!

Ah well! Anything for 10 seconds of happiness, right?!  

At least it was cheap - found the 3/4 yd. burlap remnant for $1.80.  The ribbon was all 50% off.  And the twine was from the $1 section at Target.  The rest I already had.

So, did you spy the vinyl frames on the wall above the banner?  I've been wanting to add some artwork in that space but didn't know what to put there because you can see it from downstairs.  I had considered a frame wall with real frames but when I saw this set on clearance at Target I thought I could do the whole wall for the price of one actual frame plus there wouldn't be any nail holes.
Daughter S is going to love this because she's artsy like that and will love seeing it going upstairs to her room... but if you're tempted to buy it at your Target just say 'NO'.  You get what you pay for - it's super cheap!!  It will probably fall down on the next hot or humid day.
And I can just hear Handy Hubby : ) saying already, "Pffft!  What is that?  The gateway to the estrogen ocean?!"  *that's what he calls our household since our son went off to college and left HH stranded, alone, to fend for his poor little 'ol self with 3 females*

Anyway, speaking of frames, do you remember this one I got for $2.04 at HL?

 
Well, she needed a message board for all of her notes

Happy birthday, my baby, my explorer, my busy bee!
for my loving angel who gifted me with THREE whole extra days inside me too stubborn to be born for a little extra mother/daughter bonding!
I shower her with the gift of time : )

Now how do I get the days to stop passing so quickly?! *sigh*

And this all would have made much more sense if I had actually finished the clock I was working on but I ran out of time... ironic, no?

*I'll do another post about the clock later*

You might find me partying at some of these places *HERE*

Blessings!

Fruits of my Labor {Day Weekend}

When I was pondering how to spend my Labor Day weekend, I had so many projects & ideas in mind...

I have tons of things in the works that need to be finished up.  Each one seemed more boring than the next though.

I found this little cutie on my last trip to GW for only $14.99!

Wouldn't that be cute just about anywhere?!

I've already gotten a 2-pack of canvas drop cloths to recover it with.  Visualize a great pattern & some spiffy pillows on it!

Well, I didn't get to do that.  But boy did I want to - maybe one day soon!

What I had to do, because it was perfect weather for painting, was paint the front door.  I've been complaining about the color since we moved in 3 years ago but haven't been able to do anything about it because I have a hard time committing to a color.  {Black? Blue? Gray? Brown? Red?}

I know, I KNOW - it's just a color & it's just a can of paint.  Big whoop!

Couldn't do it.

Until now.  

Because Handy Hubby : )'s been on my case about picking out a color for a while.  And I kept putting him off.  Finally he threatened to pick the color himself.

*Um! last time I let that happen I ended up with seafoam green carpeting - 'nuf said!*

I said I'd buy paint when everything went on sale Labor Day weekend.

Well, the weekend came & it was time to pay the piper!

So, here's the old door color

I didn't dislike the color but along with the neutral trim, neutral brick & neutral brown roof the whole house was too much of the same thing and looked very bland.

After a little trial & error, I ultimately decided on a dark blue *It's called Corduroy Black actually - don't you love the name?* .
I must say, I like the Valspar Duramax paint.  It has primer in there already so I only needed 2 coats to cover the door!  

And because all of you crafty ladies have been tempting me with your fall decorations, I decided it was time to put up my fall wreath I made a few years ago!

I love the way the colors pop off the door now : )

And since I had more time, I snuck in a quick serving tray makeover on the 99 cent tray I got when I found the cute chair.  I got the idea from Amanda @ Imperfectly Beautiful *see here*

This is one of my last scraps of this wrapping paper, y'all.

I haven't been able to find any more at Target!

Well, I had to enjoy the beautiful day with my corn salsa & crossword puzzle before the rain gets here later this week!

*btw my thoughts & prayers go out to all those in Texas affected by the torrential storms!! I hear San Antonio got hit pretty hard*

I started a few other things this weekend but they are still in the works...

And, well, I couldn't stand not touching my chair & so I had to start on that, too.  Look what was under the old upholstry!

Doesn't it look like a grumpy potato?!  I guess I would too if I looked like that!  Yikes!!

I'm really hoping I can turn that frown upside down one day!!

You might find me partying at some of these places *HERE*

Blessings!