When you don't buy a pumpkin...

Today's project is a direct result of my not buying a pumpkin last week. Since I had all the supplies on hand to make these, I guess I ended up saving myself some money. I'll probably still pick up a real pumpkin in the near future, but now I have some pumpkins to use year after year. Here's how it happened...

On my last Aldi run, there was a large pallet of pumpkins for $3.99 each. At the time, I thought I wasn't ready for fall decor. But the next day, I was regretting not buying a pumpkin. I pulled out the few fall decorations I had.

The bittersweet isn't out around here yet - So I was glad my berries from last year were still holding on. I made a batch of chocolate chip pumpkin muffins. (Try the recipe for yourself here.) I set out my canning ring pumpkin from last year.  (Read about its creation here. )

But I was still dreaming of that big pile of orange pumpkins that I passed up.  So, I searched my pinterest boards for another fall decor idea. I came across these adorable fabric pumpkins by the Thompson Family-Life Blog. 

I quickly gathered my scraps of fabric and got to work. I have a love-hate relationship with sewing. I love the idea of it and the end result....but I had the process. I usually find myself frustrated and wanting to quit somewhere in the middle of my projects, but this tutorial was simple, easy to follow and full of pictures! 

My second pumpkin ended up being my favorite pumpkin...I just love the one made from the vintage pillowcase (orange and white flowers). I think I may hunt for some vintage sheets to make a few more. It seemed so cheerful and unique.

I didn't even have to spend money on stuffing. I simply cut open a pillow that had seen better days and reused the stuffing inside. I always hang on to flat, old pillows. I'd rather spend money on a nice pillow for my head rather than buy stuffing for craft projects. Once repurposed, the flat pillow gains new life as project stuffing! 

After I made a couple, I realized there was another plus to these pumpkins....they are kid friendly! I can stack them anywhere and don't have to worry about Hudson upsetting anything. 

He can play with them, slobber on them or throw them around. When he is finished, I just stack them back into place. 

He's pretty happy about it too. It seems his "favorite things" these days are the items he thinks I don't want him to have. 

I deviated form the tutorial a bit when it came to the stems. I had made 5 pumpkins but was dreading the intricate part of sewing and attaching the stem. The pumpkins sat on my kitchen table for two days while I dreaded the final step. My sister suggested rolling up a piece of felt for the perfect stem. 

And the best part was, I could simply hot glue the stem into place! Any time I can complete a project with a hot glue gun - I'm happy.  And a lot of my sewing projects have ended with hot glue.

I love that these are easily interchangeable. They may keep moving around all season. 

You can stack just your fabric pumpkins...

Or even add a different kind in the mix.  This white one is just a styrofoam pumpkin from the Dollar Store that I painted. 

There is something sort of warm and cozy about the look. 

I paid a few of my neighbor's children in M&M's to go out and get me some pine cones from the yard. 

Hudson loves that there are a couple of these pumpkins at his level. 

He ends up using them as a foot rest most of the time. 

We find him with his feet propped up all the time. Silly boy. 

I still plan to buy my real pumpkin. It will probably find it's home on my coffee table surrounded by a candle or two. But for now, I guess I'm glad I didn't buy one on my last grocery run. 

Otherwise, I might never have made my new favorite fall decor items! 

Have any of you made pumpkins out of random items? I'd love to get some more ideas...

I'm linking this project...

Wash your Hands and Do your Chores...

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I recently painted my kitchen...I was tired of the blue, but made myself live with it and "make it work." During three nap times, I did a quick kitchen makeover with a gallon of paint. More pictures are to come...

Wash Your Hands
I had made a cute little sign for over my kitchen sink a few months ago. At that point, I was deciding to paint the walls. I thought it would be a good motivating factor if I didn't have Jeremiah hang the sign until the painting was completed.  The idea came from here.

It was a quick Sunday afternoon project that cost me $0. I used supplies that I already had on hand. A thrift store wooden sign, leftover spray paint, and a little mod podge.

I had purchased this for 99 cents a few years ago. It hung in my old apartment. Even though I do still think friendship is priceless, I had never found a place to hang it in our house. I found a font that matched my inspiration and cut out my letters. I was originally going to trace and paint...but after laying the letters out, I decided a little mod podge would cut out a few steps for me. (And probably cut out the frustration of painting in the lines!!)

And even though it would have looked fine with the blue walls, I made myself wait.

I am enjoying my fun little free project each time I step up to the sink.

And since we are talking about the sink area, may I share a tip from my MawMaw about keeping your onions in these wire hanging baskets? If you've ever tried...you know that onion paper/skin gets all crumbly and ends up being a constant mess on your counter tops. Each time I grabbed an onion or moved the basket, little pieces seemed to float downward.

BUT...MawMaw puts a plate under her onions...and it totally works! The plate catches those little pieces. I used a glass plate because I wanted something red, but a paper plate would work just as well.

Do Your Chores
I am still loving my $4 Memo Board. Being able to cross things off my list is so rewarding. But, now that I have said goodbye to the blue in the kitchen (finally!!), I needed to update my colors. While the Lowe's employee was mixing my paint, I picked up a few more paint swatches to make a quick switch-a-roo.

I used the cardboard backing from the inside of my frame for the background. So, if you make the memo board, know that it is easy to switch up the color scheme!

Sometimes this board helps me do my day-to-day chores. But for now, it's going to hold my kitchen to do list. (I always need a future project to think towards).

1. Make a sign for above stove
2. Find a cute way to hide the wireless router
3. Find a bamboo shade for the back door
4. Print labels for Card Catalog drawers
5. Add large black and white family photo to walls
6. Make tabs for recipe card categories
7. Make large ruler growth chart

I'm sure I'll think of more fun things along the way...Can you tell I have a hard time calling a room "Finished"?

Friday Finds Under $5: Message Board Remake

I am a lover of lists. I can't help it. I am constantly writing lists of things...grocery lists, to-do lists, projects-to-be-completed lists, etc. With little Hudson occupying so much of my day, I find that I often just have 15 minutes at a time to complete a task. And with all the things that I am keeping track of in my brain (when did he eat last, when does he go down for a nap, don't forget the laundry in the washer, etc.) it sometimes takes me a while to decide just what I want to do with my 15 minutes. But by the time I decide, my 15 minutes is now down 7 minutes...

Sometimes I watch Chopped or Iron Chef America  if I want to clean the kitchen in a hurry, but sometimes even that doesn't help.

Last week, I used my kitchen chalkboard to write a HUGE list of stuff that I needed to accomplish. Then, when I was given a little free time, I just glanced at my list and got to work. It totally helped me to accomplish 17 times more than I normally would have done without my list.

BUT I love having a quote or a Bible Verse on my chalkboard. And I think it would be helpful to have my list movable - so that I could take it from room to room as I work. 

Again, Pinterest came to the rescue - I now have this fun little board. 

While browsing Pinterest, I came across this adorable project from Burlap and Lace.  I followed her instructions exactly! (except I turned my paint chips sideways. I can use the board in either direction)

Her directions were simple. Her inspiration was adorable. I am pleased with the results. 

You should try it too! 

I had thought about trying to use a frame that I already had on hand - making this project totally free. But in the end, I am loving the cheap Walmart frame. 

Pinterest Challenge: DIY Glass Magnets

A good refrigerator magnet is hard to find...or at least I think so. They seem to usually be ugly or not strong enough to hold up paper.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to link this little craft project with the Bower Power Pinterest Challenge (Spring Edition).

Katie dreamed up this little quarterly event to encourage pinners everywhere to stop pinning and start doing! I like to refer to my completed pins as "Pin-Did." It's all about the follow through!

You can check out the featured blogger's projects as well. 

• Emily from Sparkle meets Pop
• Katie from Bower Power
• Renee from Red Bird Blue
• Sherry from Young House Love

After seeing this project from here a while back, it has become my "go-to" craft. Whether it's a girl's retreat, a crafternoon among friends or a coffee party, everyone loves making a few awesome magnets. And even people with no creativity or sense of craftiness can participate.

And it's super cheap! If you already have the circle punch on hand, you can make each magnet for less than 20 cents each! And if you don't have the circle punch, use a coupon at your favorite craft store or wait for a 50% off sale. You'll definitely find more ways to use the punch. I even love to make larger confetti with it! 

I gathered my supplies...

1.  Magazines (or any paper you want to use as the picture in your magnet. Guess you could use an actual photograph, as well)
2.  Magnets. I bought this pack of 52 at Walmart for around $5. They are strong magnets. 
3.  Glass pebbles. I purchase mine at the Dollar Tree - approximately one inch in diameter.
4.  Glue. I purchased this glue at Walmart as well for around $2. Just find something with industrial strength that is suitable for glass.
5.  Circle paper punch. Mine is Martha Stewart's one inch circle punch. 

Then, using a glass pebble as a size guide, search through the magazines for anything that catches your eye, making sure that the image will fit beneath the stone. 

You can use numbers, letters, patterns or pictures. The possibilities are endless. 

This time around, I was loving this salad dressing advertisement  I ended up making an entire collection of green and yellow spotted magnets. 

Simply punch out your picture (sometimes, if the magazine pages seem a little thin, I stack a few pages together before punching...it seems to work better this way). 

A tiny dab of glue on the flat side of the magnet will allow you to attach your punched circle (desired image up against the flat side of the stone). 

One more dab of glue will allow you to attach the magnet to the back. 

Keep in mind that the magnets are pretty strong. Therefore, I always try to keep them a good distant apart for at least 12 hours. I also leave them drying - not hanging them on the refrigerator or magnetic surface for 24 hours. 

Then...enjoy! 

Guest Post: Family Tree Project

Our guest post today come from one of my college friends - (since I've been working on some Photo Books from way back when, I thought I would include a picture from the past...)

I had a few Women's Ministry classes with Lydia in college and was able to see her creativity and craftiness first hand. I am loving her latest creation, and I am sure you will too. You can see her putting her education classes to use, even at home! Her two little girls are truly blessed to have such a fun mommy!

I had been wanting to put up pictures of my family on the fridge or on the wall where my daughter can see them and practice their names for awhile but I just wasn’t sure how I wanted to do it. I finally decided on making a family tree that she could play with and learn from.  Of course I started by looking on Pinterest to see what other people had done and gathered some ideas. Next, I decided we would create the tree at the end of the hallway which was looking pretty bare. 

Then it was time to design the tree and figure out how to get everyone on it. 

Step 1: I used craft paper and sketched a tree and used post it notes to practice putting everyone’s names on the tree. 

This helped me decide how big to make the tree and how many branches I would need to hold everyone. I made the left side of the tree my side of the family and the right was for my husband’s side. I started with the great grandparents at the top and then the grandparents on the branch below. On the next branch I added my husbands siblings on his side but I needed a few more branches on my side for my 6 brothers and their wives. The nieces and nephews filled out the bottom branches and I decided to put Marcus and I in the middle with our kids next to us.

Step 2: Once the planning was complete I scoured the craft room for supplies I could use. I found some brown paint and grabbed a brush and a pencil. I sketched the tree on the wall with a pencil and kept erasing and making changes until I was satisfied that it looked like a tree. Once I put my daughter Julia down for a nap (I knew she would be happy to volunteer to help with this project) I began to paint over my sketch with some small craft paintbrushes.  

Step 3: The next step was the most time consuming and took me the next several days to complete. I gathered pictures of all our family and began printing them out along with their names. Next, I borrowed my mother-in-laws ricut cutting system and began cutting out leaves in several different colors and sizes. 
I mounted the pictures on cardstock and the names onto leaves and used my mini laminator to cover them. Next I put Velcro strips on the back of each picture. I used scotch tape and placed everything on the tree until I had everything fitting just right. Then I peeled off the back of the Velcro and mounted the pictures and used my hot glue gun to mount the leaves with the names on them underneath each picture. I wanted Julia to be able to take the pictures on and off the tree but the leaves didn’t need to be moved. I also laminated a few owls from some stickers that I had and put Velcro on them so Julia could move them around the tree as well. Finally I glued the rest of the leaves on the branches to fill it out.  

Step 4: The last touch I wanted to add was a sign that said family. I used the existing frame I had on the wall and just took out the glass.

I changed out the pictures for some burlap and fabric and used some fabric scraps to make a flower. I used the letters already in the frame and glued them onto the burlap and added some ric-rac to complete it. 

Step 5: After I finished I let Jules start playing! 

She loves to take everyone’s pictures down and name them. Sometimes she lines up the pictures on the floor and sometimes she carries them around the house with her.  It has helped her remember everyone’s names and I love seeing all our family every time I walk down the hall. 

I’m still waiting to get pictures of the great grandparents to add to the top branches but it will be awhile until Jules can reach that high!

Thanks, Lydia for sharing your interactive project with us!

You can check out Lydia's Pinterest boards here.