Once Again…I Am CRAFTY!

I finally did one of the millions of craft projects I’ve pinned on Pinterest.  And then I went and breathed life back into a crappy old wreath.  I am a lifesaver, people!

First of all, let me start with my Pinterest project.  My inspiration came from here.  The blogger who wrote the original post changed up her mantle for all of the seasons, whereas I do more of a fall theme, so mine is a combination of both her Halloween and Thanksgiving mantles.  If you are a Type A person, you will probably hate my mantle.  Keep that fact to yourself. 

First of all, I did a little shopping at Hobby Lobby where most of my purchases were in the 40% off range.  I bought a small book of cardstock papers, a yard of burlap, and some chipboard letters.

I used the chipboard letters as stencils, and traced the words “Give Thanks” on various cardstock sheets.  After cutting out 10 triangle shaped pieces of burlap, I glued my cut out letters, using Aileen’s Tacky Glue, onto the burlap pennants.

My original plan was to sew the burlap triangles onto a jute cord, but unfortunately, thanks to the busybody hands of my precious youngest child, my sewing machine won’t thread properly anymore.  So instead I bought cute wittle baby clothespins, and clipped the pennants to the cord.

And then I decorated the mantle with my new banners and my Halloween decorations:

My two young men, ignorant of the beauty that lays before them.

Hmmmm.  I see there is a pen up there.  I’ll have to get that.

Moving on to the wreath.  Last year I made a cute pumpkin wreath that I saw on Pinterest, but then I took it apart to make my Valentine wreath last February.  I scouted around at Hobby Lobby thinking I could make something, but never really settled on anything good (I need to come with preconceived ideas…I’m so not creative).  When I came home, I searched around in the basement and found an old, fading wreath, literally covered in cobwebs (not purposeful Halloween cobwebs, but real, yucky cobwebs.)  I pulled it out, dusted it off, and added an orange bow I made from some old wired ribbon I had.  Then I spray painted a chipboard W I had bought at Hobby Lobby using a nice matte silver color.

The orange bow is just stapled to the old bow and the W is just kind of stuck in there.  Let’s hope a big wind or a slammed door don’t knock things apart.

I also added a little crow to the wreath…did you see him?  I love to welcome my friends and neighbors with symbolic signs of death.  It puts them right at ease and practically shouts, “Hello, friend!  If this was a novel, I’d be foreshadowing something grave in your future!”

Jack helped decorate the rest of the house with me for fall, and has been bugging me daily for us to go pick out our pumpkins.  If only he was as interested in keeping his room clean.

Happy fall to you!