Decorating for Fall

It is officially fall at Star Hill.

Making Pumpkins from Scrap Wood

I worked on this today at the hospital. My dad is getting ready for surgery tomorrow.

This was a move slow, do not start anything complicated weekend.  We did have some scrap wood laying around though and I thought that they might make some pumpkins for the farmhouse table.  It took me all of 15 minutes to cut the wood into various lengths.

I looked at them and decided that they needed a little rounding.  I tried cutting the edges with the chop saw, but I really didn't like it.  I ended up getting out another of Hubby's tools.  The belt sander.

This thing scares me, but less than sanding each of the blocks by hand would. I did it all by myself!

I sanded the edges of each block then got out some left over paint. 

I got Hubby to drill a hole in the top of each block then I found sticks to put in the hole and wood glued them together.  The sticks look something like a stem.  I also had some twine covered wire from the country wedding that I twisted into corkscrew shapes and glued to the block.  I had some left over burlap from the wreath project that became leaves. 

I think it turned out great.  Hubby said they looked like blocks with sticks in the top.  Let me know what you think.

 I used dark glaze on some.  I left in on a while so that it would soak in and look rustic.

 I painted this one coral then the cinnamon glaze color then sanded  lightly to let the coral show through.

I love that you can see the hill in the background of this shot. 

I think they look great on the farmhouse table.

Making a Burlap Wreath- Easy DIY

This weekend was all about taking it slow.  I did not move to fast or do very much but I did get a few easy to do projects completed.  One of the easiest things I have done this fall is make a wreath out of an old coffee sack.  I have several of these that I got free when we were in Round Top.  Long story- but my dumpster diving does pay off.

I am posting twice this evening because I will be out of pocket the next few days. 

I totally copied the idea from one of the blogs I follow: Classy Clutter.

I am going to change out the elements of the wreath this fall so what you are going to see is the Plain Jane version.

Step one:
Untwist a metal hangar like you are roasting marshmallows.

Step two: cut burlap into about two inch strips.

Step three:
Sting the burlap onto the wire. Keep stinging it on until you can't put any more on.  It took almost the entire coffee sack to get it as full as I wanted.

Step four:
Form the straight wire into a circle and re-twist the top. I left the hook part of the hanger in place when I straighted the wire.  It made a great wreath hanger.

Step five:
Decorate like you would any wreath.  I added a denim ribbon to mine and will be adding fall elements next time I am at Star Hill.