Thanksgiving Table

Even though I am not hosting Thanksgiving at my home this year, I still decorated the table. After all I believe Thanksgiving should be celebrated every day in November, actually everyday of the year I made a Thanksgiving "tree" with willow branches and paper Japanese Lantern branches. I used vintage Thanksgiving images to create ornaments. I glued the images on a brown paper grocery bag and trimmed around the edges with decorative scissors. Then, I backed them with scrapbook paper and added glitter to the images. Finally, I punched a hole in the top and tied them to the branches with vintage seam binding.

I finished off the table with a April Cornell runner from TJMaxx, antique brass candlesticks, candle rings (I made) and Tiffany blue candles.

Hope you are having a beautiful fall day! ~Molly

Vintage Harvest Cone

I am going on a road trip to visit my best friend from high school this weekend. I am so excited! I wanted to take her a little something so I whipped up this cone and filled it with some of her favorite treats. I could make a hundred of these. They are so fun. You can find my tutorial for crepe paper fringe here. Happy harvest to all. ~Molly

Fabric Pumpkin Bandwagon

So I decided to jump on the fabric pumpkin bandwagon. Have you seen how many versions are out there in blogland? I used Danielle Thompson's tutorial, based on one from Martha Stewart Living November 2009 issue. Mine don't hold a candle to Danielle's but they aren't so bad and they were really fun to make. You can even get your kids involved. Lilly stuffed our pumpkins for me. When we were working on them she said "Mommy, when I grow up I want to be a pumpkin stuffer." Never heard that one before :) Hope you all are having a fun fall so far.

Pumpkin Cutie

Today my daughter Lilly made this pumpkin cutie to hang in our window for fall. It is a project I made up when I taught Elementary school. I always loved making them. Below I have done a tutorial so that you can make them with your children and/or students. Enjoy! Supplies you will need:

two large sheets of orange tissue paper

a wire coat hanger

white glue

scissors

brown paper bag

construction paper

marker

Step 1:

bend the coat hanger into a circle or oval shape to resemble a pumpkin,

bend the hook at the top closed to use as a hanger

Step 2:

trace the hanger with white glue,

turn the hanger over and lay it on top of the tissue paper (with the hanger sticking out over the top of the tissue)

Step 3:

trace the other side of the hanger with glue,

lay the second sheet of tissue paper on top of the hanger so that the hanger is sandwiched between the two sheets

at this point the hanger is at the top sticking out of the tissue and there is excess tissue at the bottom of the pumpkin (see picture below)

set aside and let it dry

Step 4:

use scissors and trim the left side, right side and top of the pumpkin,

leaving the long tissue at the bottom,

cut the excess tissue into strips (like streamers)

my daughter is 3 so I used a pencil to draw lines for her to cut on

Step 5: cut eyes and a nose out of construction paper, I have also used buttons and foam pieces for this step, use a marker to draw a mouth Step 6: cut the paper bag into skinny strips and glue them on as hair, you could use raffia or yarn for the hair instead if you choose

Lilly finished off her pumpkin with a big blue bow (Lilly always wears a bow) When I had my students do this project we put a construction paper hat on the pumpkin. You could also put a bow tie on your cutie. When you finish it looks great hanging in a window or from the ceiling. Happy Fall. Have fun creating with your kids!

Love, Molly

1 Chronicles 29:11-13

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name."

Halloween Fun

I hope you all had a night full of Halloween fun and lots of candy! Here is my Lilly as Little Red Ridinghood. I made her red cloak using a pattern from marthastewart.com. The apron she is wearing was my Mom's when she was a little girl. She loved it all and had a blast getting all dressed up.

Halloween Scrapbook

I wanted to share the Halloween scrapbook that I put together for Lilly last year. So far I have finished pages of memories from her first and second Halloweens. I will add pictures this year to finishe up the book. I bought the book in the dollar spot at Target, one of my favorite places to find scrapbook treasures. I made some tissue fringe and tied on a gingham bow to embellish the cover. It was such a fun project! If you look closely you will see some frayed ribbon, torn paper and smeared ink. That is because Lilly literally looks through this book atleast twice a week. She was looking at this book at Easter time!

A "Sweet" Weekend

Well our friends Amy and Nolan came to visit this weekend and we had a blast. The kids really enjoyed the campfire, fall festival and just playing together (especially outside in the beautiful weather). We all consumed more sugar than I thought was humanly possible. I filled a cone that I made (pictured at left) and some whimsical Halloween take out boxes with treats for my friend and the kids. Below is a picture of Lilly and Nolan enjoying their yummy cupcakes in my kitchen. We took pictures of them in their costumes but I think I will wait until next week to reaveal Lilly's costume. I can hardly wait to post it...I might give in before next week and show you. We'll see :)

I taught today and had open house tonight so I am pretty beat. I will be back tomorrow to post pictures of the fall crafts that the kids did. They are too cute. Have a great Wednesday!

Love, Molly

Chenille Stem Whimsy

Okay, so I am obsessed with these little Halloween chenille stem creatures. They look so authentically vintage but I made them. A few months back I found the idea at Vintage Image Craft and I couldn't wait to make them. Then I saw them again a couple of weeks ago at MarthaStewart.com. I searched high and low for the orange and black bumpy chenille stems and could not find them locally so I ordered them online at Crafts, etc. I got them only a few days after I ordered them. Crafts, etc. is very prompt. Anyway, I printed out some vintage pumpkin and cat heads and went to town making them. I've made about 20 so far for Halloween gift buckets and for my own Halloween tree and decor. I can't wait to make Christmas, Valentine, and Easter versions. Elves, cupids, Bunnies. How cute will they be? They are super easy to make so you really should try them. Just click on the links above for instructions and printable clip art to use for the faces.

Happy Fall Ya'll

This weekend I met one of my favorite people in the world, Christie (aka my best Girlfren), at Mom and Dad's lake house and we had a blast. We took our kids to the "Coon Hollo Corn Maze" Friday night. The maze is on a farm in Micanopy owned by one of my dearest childhood friends and her family. I have so many fond memories of summer time on her family's farm growing up. Playing in the pastures, feeding the cows, hiking along cow trails, playing in streams. It was so good to see her and her children and to enjoy her farm with Christie and her kids, Hayden and Skylar. "Coon Hollo" had a corn maze, a tractor train, a hayride, cows, bucking barrels, tubs of corn to play in, a fort made of hay, a pumpkin patch and much much more. It was one of the coolest fall outings I've ever had. The only down side to the day was the weather. It was in the 90's! Very depressing Florida fall weather. It was worth all the suffering and sweltering though. Hope ya'll had a fun fall weekend. Have a wonderful week!