fall decor on the cheap

Fall is officially here!  So I decided to dress up our fireplace mantle a bit.

I found a small bag of funny gourds at Walmart for around three bucks.  I made sure they didn't have any yucky brown spots on them, and that at least a couple of them would stand up on their own.  Then I grabbed some googly eyes and the hot glue gun (turns out Elmer's is useless is this case) and went to town!  I also used a Sharpie to add more facial features.

Then I really got crazy and pulled out some simple chipboard triangles I had picked up at least two years ago.  My vision had been a candy-corn garland all along, but for some reason I never got around to doing it.  I still have some acrylic paint in fall colors that's in good shape, so I painted the triangles one color at a time, making sure to let each coat dry inbetween (it didn't take long).  I didn't bother with painters tape because real candy corn looks a little muddled, so why shouldn't my garland look that way too?  I used some twine we had on hand to hang it up once it dried:

Very pleased with how it turned out!  :o)  Welcome fall!!

football onesie

I've been wanting to try this for awhile, and I'm so excited with how it turned out!

I free-handed the laces applique; I went with rounded-off corners since it looked a little more realistic to me.

Love it!  I'm thinking pink laces would look cute for a baby girl, or even other colors to match a favorite team or school.

This onesie is now in my Etsy shop in honor of the upcoming football season; go check it out!

argyle pumpkin

A long time ago, I saw some pumpkin-painting project ideas on Jo-Ann's website.  I really loved the argyle one, but wasn't crazy about the fact that they painted the entire pumpkin and made it look really glossy.  I decided to try it without base-coating the pumpkin first.

I found a "funkin" for half-price at Jo-Ann last week.  These are those fake pumpkins that you can carve and decorate just like real pumpkins.  Mine was about 16 inches in diameter and cost around $3.50.

Since I don't have much expertise in painting details with skinny brushes, I decided to try colored permanent markers instead.  First I made a VERY crude pattern to get an idea of how big the diamond shapes in the argyle should be.  I used some argyle fabric as my guide.

Told you it was crude.  :o)  Next, I used a pencil to draw the outlines of the pattern on the pumpkin.  Pencil marks rub off the surface very easily, so it's easy to erase just with your fingers if you make a mistake.

Then I just went crazy with the sharpies.

I had to pause a few times to give my markers a rest, but they worked very well.

And yes, it looks handmade since some of my lines are a little crooked, but that's what I like about it.  It looks way cute up on my mantel.

So for $3.50 and thirty minutes, I got a cute fall decoration.  Score.

This would be a fun project for kids.  Just give them a little funkin and some markers and let them go to town.  Not sure if washable markers work as well as the permanent markers did, though; you may want to test a spot on the bottom of the funkin first!  :o)

Linked up to Creations by Kara and A Little Tipsy!

ridiculously easy door decor

 That wreath I made last spring was starting to look a bit faded, so I decided to switch it out with something more fall-ish.  I was at Hobby Lobby this morning and noticed that a lot of the wreath-making items were on sale, so I got the wreath for around two bucks, and the fall "welcome" plaque for around six bucks using my 40% off coupon.  I hung them both up on my ginormous suction cup wreath holder, and that was it.

I may go back and wrap some coordinating ribbon around the wreath, but I didn't really see any I liked this morning so we'll see.  I like how the wreath gives some dimension to the plaque without making it look too busy or gaudy.

So I didn't bust out the glue gun or sewing machine for this one.  And the step that took the longest was cutting off price tags.  Who cares?  Not every project needs to be time-consuming to be pretty in the end.  And yes, this is currently hanging on our front door.  I haven't seen any other fall decor on any of our neighbor's doors, so maybe I'll be the one who officially kicks this season off.  :o)

eat your veggies: pumpkin parmesan soup

Yes, you read right.  Pumpkin soup.  Trust me on this one.

Back when my son was just a few months old, I saw someone on the Food Network making pumpkin soup.  After I got over the initial "um, YUCK" reaction, I have to say it started looking pretty good.  Plus the woman making it actually used canned pumpkin.  I can't stand it when TV chefs tell you to buy a pumpkin and roast and puree it yourself.  I'm just lazy that way. 

Anyway, I printed out the recipe and tried it a few weeks later.  I've made it a few more times since then and each time it's SO GOOD.  I've tweaked this recipe quite a bit, mainly because the original called for some kind of hazelnut-cheese decoration on top (which is apparently called a "frico." That's right.  A freak-o).  I liked the idea of cheese since I knew it paired well with squash and other veggies similar to pumpkin, but the hazelnuts didn't appeal to me.  Though the frico did look quite sheek-o on the TV.  :o)  Also, I left out the celery because my husband and I both don't like it, as well as the sage, mostly because I usually don't have fresh herbs on hand.  In my opinion, it tastes great without it, but feel free to view the original recipe and use the different ingredients as you wish.


Pumpkin Parmesan Soup
(adapted from Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown)

The Ingredients.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup finely chopped carrot
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 cups chicken broth
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/3 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

The Method.

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat until it starts to brown and foam, about two to three minutes.  Don't let it burn!  Stir in the onion, carrot, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, and cook until tender, stirring frequently.  Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute.

Stir together the half-and-half and cornstarch in a separate bowl and then pour the mixture into the pot.  {Make sure the cornstarch has fully dissolved in the half-and-half before adding it to the pot, since cornstarch often clumps up if added straight to hot mixtures.  Don't ask me how I know that.}  Add the chicken broth, pumpkin, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently.  When the soup starts to thicken, reduce the heat to low.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup to a smooth consistency (or else just puree it in the blender in small batches).  Simmer until ready to serve.  Ladle the soup into bowls and then top with a generous sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

For me, the last minute addition of the cheese on top totally makes this soup.  It kind of breaks up the pumpkin-cinnamon flavor so you taste a little saltiness as well.  I'm also a fan of the fact that this soup gets its creamy texture by using half-and-half and cornstarch rather than lots of heavy cream.  I even use fat free half-and-half and it comes out yummy every time.  Plus I love any excuse to use my immersion blender, which is a testament to the fact that it's possible to receive a wedding gift that you didn't register for but still adore.  How often does that happen?  :o)

Enjoy!!

Linking up with Creations by Kara!

fall leaves pillow cover

 

You may have read in a previous post that I am SO ready for fall to get here.  Here's a project I finished up today in anticipation of my favorite season!  Oh, and plus I have a TON of fabric scraps that really need to be used for something.

This may not look like a lot of scraps to you, but trust me, this basket is stuffed almost beyond capacity!

A couple of months ago, I came across this pillow over at Cluck Cluck Sew and really wanted to do one of my own.  So this week, I grabbed some fall-colored scraps out of my scrap basket and got to town.

I decided to make a pillow slipcover so that I could change it out easily and not have to worry about putting the whole pillow somewhere during other seasons.  I also decided to use some of the canvas from the dropcloth I bought for this project, since I figured that would make a nice backdrop for the leaves.

I used iron-on adhesive to make the tree trunk and leaves stick to the canvas, and then sewed the edges to make sure they would stay put.

Then I just cut two pieces for the back and sewed everything together; I followed these directions over at Make It and Love It to get all the measurements right.  And bonus:  I got to use the hemmed edges of the dropcloth for the back pieces, so that let me skip the whole process of hemming them myself.

Once I was done, I turned it right-side out and stuffed my pillow form in.  Done.

I really like how it turned out, especially because I didn't have to buy anything to make it.  Always a good thing.

Linked up to Creations by Kara and A Little Tipsy!

the "is it fall yet?" table runner

So who else is ready for fall?  I sure am.  I want to make soup and wear scarves and eat things that taste like pumpkin.  And even though fall in the south is usually very brief, I always make the most of it.  What's wrong with bringing out fall decorations in September?  I don't see any problem with it.  And I'm going to be even crazier and show you a fall table runner I made this week...in August.  Crazy, right?

Recently I found a set of four placemats at Ross for $3.49.

They caught my eye because of their fall colors, but my table seats six.  Plus we're taking a temporary hiatus from placemats since my kid likes to take them off the table and mess with them, though most of the time he ends up handing them right back to me.  Still, not worth the hassle right now.

So I decided to try to piece them together to make a table runner instead.  Given the dimensions of my table and the placemats themselves, I realized that the runner only needed to be two placemats long, so I used hot glue to stick them together.

And because they were cheap placemats, they didn't line up perfectly.  But I figured that would happen.  I thought about hot-gluing a piece of ribbon or a strip of fabric down the middle to cover up that messy seam, but I didn't have any on hand that coordinated with the brown and orange of the placemats.  So I took the easy (and hopefully just as aesthetically pleasing) route and centered a third placemat in the middle.  Once I had it where I wanted it, I hot-glued it down.

And there you go.  A table runner in under five minutes.

So what do you think?  I have one placemat leftover, and I'm thinking of making a cute door hanging out of it as opposed to the traditional fall wreath with leaves on it.  If I do, I'll probably have to wait till everyone else in the neighborhood brings out their jack o'lanterns and stuff so I don't look silly.  For now we'll keep the early fall insanity behind closed doors.  :o)

Linking up with Creations by Kara and A Little Tipsy!