Fall Mantel {and no-sew pennant tutorial}

I'm excited to be linking up to the It's Fall Y'all party over at Layla's today.... You have to go check out all the beautiful mantels that have linked so far.

When I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my fall mantel, I scanned Pinterest and some of my fav blogs for inspiration. I kept being drawn to the same elements... simple, symmetrical designs, and apples! When I think about fall, I think of some of my favorite memories & past experiences. When my hubby and I were first married, I always looked forward to a drive up the canyon to see the beauty of the trees changing color. Cool crisp air, white aspens/quakies everywhere, and the bright hues of red, orange and yellow dancing across the branches...

My inspiration translated to this simple, bright fall mantel scape:

I had fun making my first triangle pennant thingy.... OK, does anyone know the offical name for these things? If so, please share :) I wanted to keep it super simple, so I went through my fabric stash and found this cool nubby, two-sided material. One side is sort of a natural color, the other is a pretty teal blue. I grabbed some paper and made a pattern for my "kite" shape. I wanted to utilize both sides of the material, so I thought it would be cute to have a small little triangle on top (folded over the main piece for the pennant.) Hence, the kite shape:

I cut out 9 kite pieces and then folded them over to see which color combo I liked better, the blue won for the little flap on top, and natural for the bottom :) Sorry I don't have a picture of these, but here are a few other supplies I used to complete my banner:

• 9 small buttons (I used some brown and orange ones from JoAnns)
• 1 roll of jute twisted twine (I only used about 2 yards for the banner)
• hot glue (there was no way I was going to take time to sew this baby!)

I simply ironed all of the triangle flaps in place, then added a button (hot glue), cut my twine to the desired length for my mantel, then strung the triangles on and added a dab of hot glue to secure the fabric onto the twine! It worked like a charm. I was pretty happy with my first pennant/banner/thingy project :)

Once the banner was hung, I created my candlestick "trees" by cutting a few sections of these gorgeous mini maple leaf swags I found at Tuesday Morning {in the Clearance section I might add!} I twisted the ends together and stuck them directly into my candlestick opening. The branches are wired, so they held in place quite nicely. No glue necessary :)

This was a productive trip to Tuesday Morning for me... I also found these quaint "Preserves" jars with a beautiful wired handle for only $3.99! I was thinking of making my own, but these were too great a deal to pass up.

I had an idea to hang them as a rustic "lantern" with a white candle in each jar. I couldn't find any standard pillar candles that would fit inside the opening, so I ended up using a smaller candle and filled in the space with a mix of cinnamon and bambi sticks {from Target, $4.99}. I have plenty of sticks left for another fall project too :)

In order to hang my new lanterns, I rummaged through my hubby's toolbox and found these handy-dandy hooks. They were gold, so I gave them a quick coat of primer and white spray paint so they would blend into the molding above my mantel.

I am not a power tool woman (not YET anyway... I plan to conquer that fear very soon!) so this project was very doable for me :) I just marked where I wanted the hooks to go on my ceiling, and screwed them in -- by hand! Easy peezy! Then I tied a piece of thin twine around the jars and through the wire handle, tied a knot in one end, and hooked them up. Seriously, a less than 5 minute project. I'm liking how they turned out... what do you think?

So my final touch is the pop of color... hahaha, well there is already a pretty big pop of color with the turquoise wall, huh? But I like bright colors, so I just had to include the granny smith apples... love the green! I think the simplicity of the apples is actually my favorite part of the new mantel.

I hope you guys enjoyed my take on Fall!

Now get out and enjoy that gorgeous weather before it gets too cold :)

I'm linking up to:

Smell My Feet! (Free Printable / Halloween Gift)

It seems like Halloween candy fills the store aisles earlier and earlier every year. And without fail, every year I buy our candy early so we can eat it all and have to buy more the good kinds won't be sold out the day before Halloween! Candy is fine for the kids, the school parties, the trick-or-treaters. But what about the grown-ups? As much as I'd like to show my appreciation with a bag of Pixy Stix and Dubble Bubble, that may not be the best gift idea for an adult.

So here's a quick and easy little Halloween gift idea for anyone who needs a little pick-me-up. (Because who do you know that doesn't?)

Pin It

Grab a few cute things that go with the theme. We're always up for a good gift theme :)

• pumice stone
• foot scrub
• toe separators
• cute nail file
• nail polish (in a fun Fall color)
• yummy travel size lotion (Hello, Bath & Body Works fall scents!)

Print your choice of tag. They are sized to fit inside a small cellophane bag (Walmart or craft store) or to use as a smaller gift tag. Just click "download" on the right side of the page when you link to the Scribd page. All printables are in PDF format, ready to go! Email us if you need a different size/or format! (Downloads at end of post.)

Stuff them in a little bag, add the free printable, tie it up with some cute ribbon and you're good to go! Or print the smaller size and tie that on to a bigger bottle of lotion or foot scrub.

And there you have it! An easy way to let someone know they deserve a break. Now go make someone's day!

Pin It

{DOWNLOAD FREE TAGS HERE}

Small gift tags (6 per page)

Gray (2 per page)

Orange (2 per page)

Green (2 per page)

We're Linking up to:
 

Baby Girl's Closet Makeover {easy-1-day-project}

Happy Friday! It has been about a week since our last post... I tell ya, this blogging stuff is not for the faint of heart :) Update on the last 2 posts: 1. I didn't make it in the final 12 for Crafting With the Stars, but there are some pretty cool projects so you should definitely follow the competition. I can't wait to see what they do! 2. I DID win the Krylon Glitter contest with my DIY glitter crown (Whoo-hoo!!) and it made my entire week. Seriously, couldn't believe it when I read my name on the list with the other 4 winners. My first link party ever and I won something -- not too shabby :) I can't wait to try out my Glitter Blast... I am sure to have a few cool Glitter projects coming your way in the next month.

On to the subject at hand -- baby girl's closet. I was bloghopping this past weekend and saw that this week's topic for the CSI Project was closets and pantries. I've never done CSI, but I thought it looked fun PLUS when I saw that Emily was the guest judge, that sealed the deal for me. {Emily is one of my fav bloggers, and I love her design style!}

So I decided to give it a go. These were my ground rules: 1. Spend no more than one day on the project 2. Spend zilch money (haha, my 3 yr. old is going though a phase where he always says "zilch" for zero, zip, nada, etc.)

In my baby girl's room we have a big dresser that fits most of her clothes, blankets, etc. so her little closet wasn't even getting much use. Other than the bar for hanging clothes, it was mostly wasted space:

I wanted to utilize the bottom portion of the closet, but didn't really need more storage space for her. So, I thought, what a perfect spot for a little vanity area! A place where she can sit at her tiny table, see herself in the mirror, and just be a girly girl :)

But how can I cover up those clothes and make her new space more glam? And how can I do all of this without spending any money?

I remembered some fabric that had been sitting around in my craft room waiting to become curtains for her room... I also had a small tension rod that worked perfectly to create this:

Now all the hanging clothes are hidden from view, but still easliy accessible. It also gives the closet a finished look, since there is no closet door. {Update: I actually just slide the entire tension rod & curtain down every time I need to access her clothes, and then slide it right back into place. It is working out great!}

This curtain was super easy to make -- I cut my fabric, hemmed the edges and left space for the curtain rod to be inserted at the top. Then I added small pieces of velcro to the bottom corners, and about 18 inches up on each side. (You'll see why in a minute!)

I wanted the fabric to gather up in two sections of the curtain, to create a nice shape and frame out her vanity area. So I used some white ribbon to tie around each section of fabric where I wanted it gathered up. I just tied the ribbon at my desired height, and voila! I liked it, but the sides were still hanging down and looked kinda weird. Plus some of the hanging clothes were sticking out at the bottom. Enter velcro -- I attached the bottom tab to the backside of the curtain, about 9-10 inches higher and tucked the clothes inside. Problem solved :)

Now, I couldn't go any further in this makeover without doing something about the wood trim around the closet. It sticks out like a sore thumb in her room -- all the other trim is white. I have been meaning to paint it for a while now and I guess this gives me a good excuse. {3 hours and one baby nap later....}

I organized the needed items on the top shelf and added a few accessories, storage boxes and tags. I "shopped" her room, and my craft room for everything I used on this shelf.

I really love how the tags turned out:

The bottom part of the closet was the easiest to complete because I already had the table and chair, and I'd recently re-done this thiftstore mirror: {it used to be gold and ugly}

I used Krylon Watermelon spray paint for the mirror frame, and then added a glaze medium to bring out the detail. Super easy afternoon project. $10 mirror turned fabulous!

I added a gray rug I found on clearance at Target for $4, (nice and soft for my baby girl's toes!) and accessorized with the pink glitter teapot I made for her birthday party.

And finally, the last item, what no girl can do without -- shoe storage!!! This is the only thing I broke down and spent money on. I found these cute boxes at Target in the dollar spot. So, $4 for much needed shoe storage/display -- that is money well-spent :)

A successful makeover!

Finally, I tested it out on baby girl. I sat her down in her plush pink chair, and as soon as she saw herself in the mirror, she was loving it! She played with her brush, pulled all the roses out of her teapot, and made some really cute faces. It was worth all the work!

And one last look... Before and After :)

Have a great weekend!

Linking up here:

   

{YAY! I won the CSI project challenge with this project!}