Fall Time is Fallin' Upon us!

As fall time is starting to settle upon us, it puts me in the mood for apple cider, apple dumplings, going on hay rides and of course Halloween/Thanksgiving!  This is the “bearable” time of the year for me running.  During the summer sometimes it is so hot to do my daily run outside that I just have to resort to being inside on the elliptical.  In the fall time I typically can average well over an hour and not mind.  This is the easiest and best form of exercise to me!  

Seeing all the leaves change and fall off is really exciting for my children!  Here is my favorite photo from our NYC trip from last fall.  We go to NYC at least once a month so seeing it change from month to month is very neat.

  

As we start to enter into fall time, so do the amounts of sweets and treats.  I am not a fan of chocolate (which is probably not a bad thing)! I really love pumpkin pie- that is truly one of my favorite things!

Here is the Halloween Themed cake that I made last year.  My oldest helped me with it and her favorite part was making the big spider!  We love making really neat cakes together, and over this past year (from when this photo was taken till about now), we have really gained lots of cake and decorating skills!

I haven’t gotten my “Halloween” inspired wreath out yet (it is a bit too early) but for now here is a photo of the burlap one that I made a few weeks ago.  This was a very simple DIY.  I already had a spare wire wreath lying around, and a huge roll of burlap (I bought all of it a few months back with the intent of making it someday)!  The rustic letter “T”, I had used previously for an anniversary party that my husband and I threw with close friends and family.  I have always planned on using burlap for projects and was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t as messy to work with, as I thought it would be!

 

Oh, in case you may remember, our Moss Covered Letter for the time being has a spot on our porch! That is still one of my favorite projects!

 

Hope you enjoy!!!

All of our Decorated Porch and Garden

Okay…I finally sat down and got a great roundup of our porch and garden photos for on here! While watching the Olympics I have been sitting on my computer getting some of the ‘best’ photos that showcase our hard work on the porch and outside the best! I hope everyone is enjoy the Olympics as much as we are!

Our flower garden mid-summer

Back in April, our family constructed another garden but this one is right below our porch.

Close up of some of our flowers

Now for the main showcase: our porch. We kept our bistro table a bit spaced from our new ottoman bench that we built, so we have 2 different ‘sections’ on the porch. Everything just seems to go together and compliment one another. As pictured is our painted rug.  Here is the DIY post for the painted rug that we did.

Ottoman that we built and our painted rug

Bistro table set and our 'Love' sign we made

As for our house door, we have our Moss Covered Letter, which ended up being added to an unused spray painted picture frame. Here is the post from when I made the Moss Covered Letter. The ‘welcome’ sign was one of our best purchases off of etsy! This sign is just so simple but neat looking that we just had to buy it.

Moss Covered Letter on our front door

Welcome sign we bought off Etsy

Now on to our collection of old looking things. Our Pepsi-Cola wooden crate was a yard sale find (my first yard sale experience I have ever been to). The silver star on the top is something my oldest daughter and I basically just threw together. We gathered some sticks up and hot glued them together, then spray painted them. The mason jars are still a work in progress but I am sure you get the picture.

Pepsi-Cola crate we got at yard sale, and the DIY star

Mason Jars that aren't quite done yet!

Finally we have our plants that sit on the porch. During cold months these plants do find a way into our home, but for now while it is really nice out they can stay there! The hats hanging on the wall were an cute idea that my mil told me to do a few weeks back.  The lights that we have strung all over the porch are my favorite outdoor lights ever.

Plants and the hanging hats

Outdoor lights that we l-o-v-e!

This week is flying on by and it is August already which means Back-2-School time is rapidly approaching. On the next post I will show off my Household Binder that for months I have been trying to get together and finally finished it! I will also little by little start to show off our office reno!

 

Just wanted to also include we were featured in a treasury on Etsy and just wanted to include the link to see our 'Teacups' Flower Girl Ivory Tutu Dress' in it!!!

To send this post off, here is a photo of our cat "Cupcake", while we were taking the photos of the porch!  

A sleeping "Cupcake"

Hope you enjoy!!!

Spring 2012 in a Recap!

 Well since I have been very busy making lots of orders, and summer is surely flying right by, I will finally post some of my favorite crafts and DIY that I have been up to lately! 

First I had done a tiny “redo” in my kitchen where I went and added awesome glass tiles for the backsplash!  When I had taken these photos it was before I did the outlet covers, so I will add a newer one soon!  I am also contemplating on adding some type of under cabinet lighting- perhaps those battery ones (and yes I will use rechargeable batteries) - I hate cords hanging or lying around!!

I also gave my moss covered letter a little update.  I added it to a spray painted picture frame that I am never going to use again.  I officially s it!  On the outside door we also gave it a fresh coat of red paint and touched the trim up with some bright white paint.  I am still trying to persuade my husband that we need a gold colored kick-plate at the bottom of the door!

My favorite thing from this past spring was when we went to my daughter’s Bridging Ceremony for Girl Scouts.  I made a dessert “Bridging from Daisies to Brownies”. 

Aside from rearranging all of the children’s bedrooms to make more room (which I will post photos of that later on), we have decided to purchase hardwood flooring for a few areas of our house.  Originally this past fall my husband promised me after taxes were over we would go a buy new flooring to try to brighten up a lot of the house by getting rid of our dark green carpet!  Well it’s midsummer and we are now getting to that.  At least he is keeping his word on buying it! 

This past spring, as in April, May, and early June, we have gone an array of places with our family and extended family.  Some of these include the zoo, ice skating,  NYC, museums, the Crayon Factory, beaches, amusement parks, and just this past weekend the waterpark!  We are so blessed that we have family to partake in these activities with us!  We are a busy, busy family. 

NYC

Hershey Park

I will post about my oldest child's DIY Flower Garden on the next post along with other crafts we have been up to.  

Hope you enjoy!!

Moss Covered Letters

I have been so busy with lots of different projects around the house, that I was unable to blog about them.  Over the next few days I will be posting some of the various projects that have been completed.  Today I will start with my favorite, which was a bit time consuming, Moss Covered Letter! 

Pottery Barn has moss covered letters that you can purchase for $79, but they are a tad bit pricey considering what they are made of.  I do however make lots of purchases to PB and PBK all thru the year but this looked to be a fun project for me!  Here is the PB version:

Pottery Barn Version

 First I decided what font/size I wanted and printed it out from the computer.  I cut and traced onto the cardboard and then formed a letter “T” out of cardboard and made it 3d.  This required tons of hot glue and patience.  My letter ended up being 15” long.  You could do paper-mâché but that wasn’t an option for me at that particular moment.  Next I cut and placed a moss cloth mat onto the letter.  V-E-R-Y MESSY!!!  At least for this kind of moss since pieces kept falling off the mat when it was cut.  I had done both sides of the letter since it is hanging on my door which has a window and I will see the back of it.  To hang it I attached ribbon to the back and had a loop.  Cost of my letter: $9~ the cardboard was free since I have tons of shipping boxes I save!

Tomorrow I will be posting about my exciting kitchen backsplash that I did myself!!  

Hope you enjoy!!!