plywood porch pumpkins...

Can you believe October starts tomorrow?!

The summer and early fall have just flown by.

(And Baby Girl will be here any day now...eek!!!)

I haven't done many projects outside of a little baby sewing (which I will share later), but one of my friends hosted a fun craft night. She had a bunch of project kits to choose from...I went for these adorable plywood porch pumpkins.

It would be so easy to make these on your own if you have the right tools. 

Here's the break down:

• Cut pumpkin shapes and stems out of plywood. (Mine were already cut for me.)
• Use craft paint, stencils, & painters tape to paint designs on raw plywood. Make sure you use the "ugly" side as the front. It will soak up the wood stain better...and the knots and imperfections add visual interest.
• Once your craft paint is dry, rub wood stain over the whole face of each pumpkin & stem. You can add more or less depending on how dark you'd like it to be. Let dry.
• Next, glue the stems on using wood or hot glue.
• Finally, use fabric scraps, burlap, or ribbon to embellish your pumpkins however you like.

My new house is still mostly undecorated (I just haven't felt up to it...), but at least I have a little bit of cute fall decor on the porch!

animal nursery art prints...

I've been drawing some cute little animal artworks to add to my print shop--The Printable Pearl.

I think they would look darling in a baby's room!

Although this bunny would be perfect for spring/Easter decorating, too.

And foxes are supposed to de-throne the owl as the trendy nursery decor animal this year...

 But don't worry, I drew some owls, too.

(Just in case you hadn't had your fill of them yet.)

I've done each print in 2 colorways to list in the shop...but they are easily customized to match whatever color scheme one might be decorating with.

What other animals should I add to the collection?

"One Nation Under God" hanging banner...

Independence Day is just around the corner, so I made a patriotic banner for my (conveniently) red front door.  I used my favorite part of the Pledge of Allegiance as inspiration...

It's part of the Red White Blue series at Sugar Bee Crafts!

{Be sure to check out the other patriotic goodness.}

Back to the banner...

This project requires a little straight line sewing and an easy freezer paper stencil.  Here are the supplies you'll need:

2 pieces of canvas cut to 11.25"x 14.5"
12 inch craft dowel
fabric paint
freezer paper
free template
xacto knife
twine
printer & sewing machine

Start by cutting your two pieces of canvas to 11.25 x 14.5 inches.

Then cut a notch in the bottom by making a mark in the center of your fabric 1.5" from the bottom...

...then cut from that center mark down to each corner.

Now sew the pieces together using a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving the top open for turning.

Clip the corners, turn right side out, then press well using a hot iron.

Next, fold the top down 3/4" and sew straight across to create a pocket for your dowel.

(Yes, I left that edge raw.  It's not really going to get much wear-and-tear and I'm lazy.  But feel free to serge it or fold it down 1/4", then 3/4" to encase the raw edge.  This will add bulk, though.)

Now for the stencil...
(If you've never worked with freezer paper stencil before, check out this tutorial for tips.  It should answer most questions you might have.)

Download the template HERE.

Cut a piece of freezer paper 8.5" x 11" and tape it to a regular sheet of copy paper (shiny side down) and load it into your printer so the design will print on the freezer paper.

If it smears, don't worry.  It won't matter.

Cut out the design with an xacto knife.
(Make sure you reserve the center pieces of the O's, A, D and R.)

Then iron the stencil to your canvas banner.

Now paint in each shape with your fabric paint.  It may take two coats.  (You may also get blue paint all over your thumbnail trying to peel the little foam seal-thingy off the top of the paint bottle...)

Since my door is red, I did black lettering with blue stars.  But you could easily do red and blue instead.

Peel off your stencil and let the paint dry.
Then tie on some twine or string for hanging.

Now display your hanging banner on a door or wall...wherever you please.

In Utah, we have two July holidays--Independence Day on July 4th as well as Pioneer Day on July 24th (to celebrate the founding of our state).  It kind of turns into a month-long patriotic celebration, so this baby will be on my front door until August!

new ledge shelves & spring decor...

For my birthday (back in February), the only thing I asked for was some ledge shelves to hang in my dining area.  I don't have a mantle or anything like that, so I needed a place to do my seasonal decorating.  We finally go them up on the wall, so I decked them out for spring using little knick-knacks and photos and things I had on hand.

{Tutorial for the butterfly hanging here.}

I wanted them to look full without looking too cluttery...

It was trickier than I thought, but after some fiddling and a trip to Ikea for some inexpensive frames, I figured out an arrangement I liked.

Since my little do-dads now have a home on the wall, I took all the decor off of the top of my kitchen cabinets.  Can I just say how much I hate that space on top of the cabinets?!  Why don't they just make all cabinets go to the ceiling?  Such a waste of space...  

Anyway, now it's all empty up there.  I need to figure out how I can decorate up there without it looking like a bunch of junk.  I have a few ideas (that do not involve plastic ivy--no offense to those of you who have gone that route.  Did I mention I hate that space up there?).  We'll have to see how they pan out...

little trick-or-treaters printable...

I discovered an adorable Halloween dings font and couldn't resist making a free printable for you guys.  Aren't these little trick-or-treaters just too cute?

I like "cute and sweet" Halloween much more than "creepy and scary" Halloween.  Mostly because I'm a wuss and being totally freaked out isn't my idea of fun. :)

Place these miniature goulies and ghosties in a frame, stick 'em to the wall with some fun washi tape, or just hang the whole Halloween gang on the fridge for some quick and easy holiday decor.

Grab the FREE 8 x 10 pdf file HERE.

(The downloaded image is watermark free.)

Happy Haunting!

3-D wood puzzle as decor...

If you're looking for an inexpensive way to add some modern decor to your home or kids' rooms, look no farther than an inexpensive 3-D puzzle.

I picked up this balsa wood dinosaur puzzle for a buck or two at Michaels.

They generally have lots of different animals to choose from.  I just used wood glue to adhere all the pieces together and gave it a bright coat of paint.

Viola!  Instant sculpture.

Perfect for a display shelf or dresser.

And if it eventually gets broken or we change out the dino theme in my son's room, it was only a $2 project...so no big deal.

thanksgiving printable & acorn wall hanging...

I didn't do too much fall decorating this year other than my cute fall wreath.  We're not hosting any Thanksgiving celebrations at our place, so I kept it super simple.  I made an inexpensive wall hanging with clearance rack acorn ornaments and put together a little printable for a frame I had lying around.

You can download the watermark-free printable for free HERE.

If you want to print it to fit in a long frame like mine, save the file to your computer.  Open the file in Acrobat, select print, and choose "tile large pages" in your print options menu.  If you want it to print on one sheet, follow the same steps, but select "shrink to fit" from the options menu.  (Or you can even print a cute Thanksgiving card by selecting "booklet printing"!)

***

My acorn & oak leaf wall hanging is a cinch to make.  I used a some acorn ornaments from Joann ($1.49 a box!), a dowel, a little paint, some string, and a sheet of scrapbook paper.

I painted my dowel and cut oak leaf shapes out of my paper using my cricut (but this could be done by hand easily.)

I attached my dowel to the wall with mounting tape, then strung my acorn ornaments at varying heights...

And taped my leaves onto the strings wherever I liked...

viola!

It's not a traditional Thanksgiving look, but I like the little pops of color.

whimsical fall wreath...

I usually go for traditional fall decor--autumn leaves in deep oranges and reds.  But this year I decided to do something a little more playful and out of the ordinary.

I started with a straw wreath form, polka dot ribbon, two fun fall picks, and felt.

I unwrapped my straw form, which is unorthodox, but I wanted the straw to show.  (It is a fall wreath, after all.  And I liked the texture.)  I then wrapped it with polka dot ribbon.

Next, I glued on my two picks, leaving a bit of a gap between them.

I filled up the space with a few ivory and mustard felt flowers.

And that was it!

All the supplies were 50% off, too, so this whole project only cost about $6.

What did you do for your fall decor this year?  Anything new?

wood plaque wall decor...

Inspired by the "Six B's" sign I made, I decided to create a new little decor grouping in my entry way.  I mostly used items I already had, but there was a little space that needed filling, so I created some simple decor with wood plaques.

I started with two square plaques of different sizes.

I'm loving all the typography elements that are trendy for interiors these days, so I went that direction with the smaller one.  First, I painted it white with a coarse brush, for a shabby effect.

Then I sanded the edges.

Next, I printed out a number that would fit my square plaque.  I went with 2 because there are two people in my family, February is my birth month, and...I just like it.  Feel free to choose a number that's significant to you.  

Place a piece of newsprint on top of your plaque, then your number printout.  Trace your number with a pencil.  The ink from the newsprint will transfer your traced image onto the wood.  (This method works best with images since they have more ink.)

Now, paint in your design...

...and coat the whole thing in mod podge once the paint is dry to seal it.

For the larger plaque, I followed the same procedure to start: paint then sand.  This time, I cut out a paper doily using my Cricut (Cindy Loo cartridge, if you're wondering) and podged it right onto my plaque.

Once it dried, I decided it was looking a bit flat, so I added some "shadows" using a black sharpie.

To hang them, you can add hardware to the back, but since both pieces were pretty light weight, I opted for mounting tape instead.  (It's like the sticky stuff on the back of command hooks.)

My little entry is too narrow to get a straight-on photo, so these angled views will have to do.

The flower box came from a home dec store a few years ago.  I repainted it.

The flowers came from Wal-mart (94 cents!) and Joann (coupon!).

The oval mirror was a happy thrift store find.

The rectangular mirror came from the dollar store.

The "Six B's" sign was made using a frame I had, a fabric remnant, and a printable.

And the plaques, as you know, were easy peasy.

Plus, it's all easy to switch out on a whim.

That's my kind of decorating!