Creative Outlets of a Thrifty Minded Momma: Fall

Showing posts with label Fall. Show all posts

Friday, October 21, 2011

A Little Fall in a Light Bulb

Necessity breeds Creativity. I have heard it over and over. Now, I am putting this challenge out to myself. Due to our financial status - out of necessity, I am hoping that creativity is born.

For the next month, I will only be doing projects in which I have all the supplies for. I plan on depleting my stash of fabric, spray paint, drop cloths, lamps, and acrylic paint. I plan on finishing painting rooms that I have been putting off and using trash to make some treasures (hopefully). I am giving myself a $10 allowance because that is what I have in gift cards.

I'm sure you didn't need to know all of that, but I wanted to challenge you to not go spend money on supplies for projects if you don't have it to spend. Seems like a Duh, but for me sometimes it's hard to distinguish between a need and a want. Use what you have to create a similar project instead.

My first project came from the trash and my back yard (don't click away just yet!) I saw these beautiful little vases on pinterest made out of lightbulbs.

via Pinterest

I found a great tutorial on how to hollow out a lightbulb here. Once I hollowed it out I used gorilla glue to glue a round washer on the bottom so it would have a flat surface.

I went outside and found an acorn that was still stuck to it's stick and painted it silver (I promise I'll stop painting acorns soon :)

Just for fun, I focused my camera on the reflection in the bulb rather than on the bulb itself. You can see my neighbors house perfectly upside down if you look carefully :o)

It's a fun little versatile piece that will change with the seasons. I have some super fun ideas for these babies at christmas time!

Love ya!

Katie

Linking Here:

Tatertots and Jello

Be Different, Act Normal

One Artsy Mama

Flamingo Toes

Under The Table and Dreaming

I Heart Naptime

Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy

Skip to my Lou

Between Naps on the Porch

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Fall is in the Air.

It seems like it would get easier to decorate a mantel when you move from a house with 3 mantels, to a house with 1. But it didn't. I have had such a difficult time decorating this mantel since we moved in. I think it has something to do with the big black box in the middle of it. Stupid T.V. ....

BUT ANYWAY.... I came up with a cheap and easy fall mantel this year and I couldn't be happier with it.

I started on the left side with an old window sash I got from a yard sale for a buck. It's rustic charm is gorgeous. I created a little fall pennant out of scrapbook paper and hot glued pennies on the back so it would hang nicely.

I got the candleholder on the left from goodwill for $1.50 and replaced the candle with a little pumpkin that came from the produce section at Wal-Mart. Some Painted Acorns went into a wine carafe and a stick from the backyard gave it a little more pazzaz.

I used some really old books to hold up my favorite ceramic blue bird (well, I guess it's my only ceramic blue bird which makes it my favorite by default :)

On the other side of the giant box, I put my Pumpkin Acorn Wall Art along with my Family Sign that I made from an old cabinet door. I used a method similar to the one I used to put the graphic on My Little Blue French Desk.

This little pitcher was $2 at goodwill and the pumpkins came from that same Wal-Mart bag (isn't the color on them great? The berries came from an overgrown bush in my front yard.

The candle is a necessity this time of year. I love to have a yummy smelling candle burning while the windows are open and the breeze is blowing. I also included some silver painted acorns in a mason jar.

While the t.v. is a hindrance, it makes a good frame for my watermark. I'll probably keep tweaking until it's time to take it down and put my christmas mantel up :)

This is what it looks like most of the time if I'm gonna be honest with you. Caillou is bound to be a part of every mantel in this house!

And in honor of my new lens. I created this :)

This was the first picture I took with my new AF-S 50mm 1:1.4G lens!!

I decided to link this last picture up with the weekly photography challenge at A Step in the Journey

The challenge this week just happens to be bokeh (blur) which this picture works perfectly for.

Excited to link up to my first photography linky!

I still have some practicing to do because it's a big change, but some photography posts are bound to be coming soon :-D

Love,

Katie

Linky Party Love:

A Crafty Soiree at Yesterday on Tuesday

A Step in the Journey

Hookin Up with HoH at House of Hepworths

Fireflies and Jellybeans

DIY by Design

Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Show Me What Ya Got with Not Just a Housewife

Home Sweet Butterfly

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Who says Turquoise isn't a fall color?

With a new house comes lots of new discoveries, including what happens around your new yard at different times of the year. What flowers will pop up? What animals will pop out with each season?

I guess I should have expected that we would have acorns in the fall, we are surrounded by 6 gigantic oak trees. I never thought we would have this many. They are everywhere. But I never knew how relaxing it would be to sit in the stillness of a quiet house at naptime with the windows open listening to the acorns hit the roof and roll down. It's amazing.

Anywho... I decided to go for a little different color in my fall decor this year. I wanted to make turquoise work as a fall color. Maybe other people have tried it, but I just always think of yellows, oranges, reds, and browns as the only fall colors.

I found a picture on pinterest that I figured was worth a shot considering my overwhelming number of acorns.

I went outside and picked some acorns (not all of them were whole, but a glue gun can fix that :) and painted them with some turquoise paint. I sealed them with a little gloss poly and they are SO CUTE! I filled a couple of glass jars and placed them around the house.