Was home from work a couple of days ago and had a VERY long list of "to-do's" I had hoped to accomplish. But then, alas, I got sucked in to the BLACK HOLE (aka Pinterest)! So very MUCH fall/Halloween cuteness and creativity I thought I would weep ... but instead I got crafty!! And it was FUN!!
True confession ... my fireplace is one of my favorite things in my whole house. It's GORGEOUS!! And it looks AWESOME decorated for the holidays ... I mean, really??? How could it NOT??? Initially, I had the idea I was going to create just a burlap garland ... and perhaps "sprinkle" it with a few fall-colored leaves (happy for me I had some "leftovers" from my Spooky Witch Halloween Hat class!). But, as you can see, I did a bit more than that! I strung the leaves (which can be easily cut out using the Leaflets Framelits Dies and then embossed with the Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing folder) on some Linen Thread ... and used some wooden beads I had bought a couple years back to make a fall garland that NEVER HAPPENED!! GO ME!!
First, I made this burlap garland (thanks to my friend Ali who happened to have a HUGE spool (we're talkin' Costco-sized here, people!) of burlap ribbon left over from things she had bought to decorate for her daughter's wedding reception last June. FIFTY WHOLE YARDS of it!!! And I used every last INCH!! This was SO easy!! I used some twine and an upholstery needle ... ran the twine right down the middle of the ribbon in a long running stitch and then just pulled the ribbon up tight!!! It just gathered beautifully!!! Nice part is that I will be able to use this for MANY different holidays!!
I found this cute little chalkboard disc "garland" at one of my favorite fun places to shop ("All That Stuff in the Barn" in Midway, Utah). A couple of weekends ago I had a "sleepover" with some of my girlfriend's up above Heber in the beautiful hills! GREAT time! GREAT food! GREAT shopping! LOTS of laughing ... I cut some rather large letters out with my Silhouette, then I laid the negative cut of the letters down on the chalkboard disks and just filled them in with chalk!!! (Not gonna lie, took me a while to come up with a 7-letter word that was appropriate for Halloween!)! Bonus???? When we switch to November, I can just erase the letters and do something little more "Thanksgiving" appropriate ... 7 letters ... I need to start thinking about THAT one NOW!
I pulled out an "oldie but a goodie" for this little banner (translate ... it is RETIRED!). I also pulled out anything from my patterned paper stash that looked like "fall" to me ... I also used some FABULOUS Early Espresso Quilted Satin Ribbon from a few years back (this project REALLY helped me use up some of my hoarded stash!)! I sewed the ribbon to the banner pieces I had cut out to make the garland ... SUPER easy!
Paper:Delightful Dijon, Cajun Craze, Tangelo Twist, Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry, Blackberry Bliss, Cherry Cobbler, Happy Haunting DSP, Color Me Autumn DSP (retired), Motley Monsters DSP (retired)
Accessories:Perfect Pennants Bigz Die (retired), Early Espresso Quilted Satin Ribbon (retired), Leaflets Framelits Dies, Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Linen Thread, Wood Beads, Chalk and Chalkboard Garland, Burlap Ribbon, Sewing Machine
I went to ComicCon with my daughter and her friend last week ... SERIOUSLY???? Oh.My.WORD!!! We had SO MUCH FUN!!! I love to dress up anyway, so this gave me an excuse (don't judge). Han Solo in carbonite? Yeah ... HAD to have our picture taken with THAT!!! I was proud of the fact that I made all THREE of the costumes we are wearing (for those who are out of the loop, I am "Sally" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" ... my daughter is "Little Sister" from a video game called "BioShock" ... and her friend, Quinn, is Mal Reynolds from Firefly (to be totally fair, I only made his coat ... and I got the suede for $1.99/yd which makes this even MORE cool!!)!
And ... well ... Iron Man ... and War Machine ... and me in a Captain America shirt ... can't think of how it gets much better than THIS?? GOOD TIMES!
What fun! You are a hoot!
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