Leaf Looking Drive

I must confess that I love the red leaves the most!  Our Maple tree that was so small that we could gather all of the fallen leaves in a paper lunch sack is now producing 10-12 full size lawn bags.  Still, looking out my craft room window (conveniently located on second floor) this is what I love to see.

Mr. Wonderful was about take his riding mower with its leaf gathering trailer through the bounty.  I ran out to take pictures of what can only be described as 'the beginning or sorrows'.  You see, I think fall is beautiful and I do like to look at the leaves but truth be told, I live in the Upper Midwest and we do WINTER like nobody's business here and I don't like it.  This might be 'home sweet home' but I don't like cold and snow for as long as we normally get it.  Can you tell that the anticipation of November through April is not  one of joy?  I can take snow till December 26th and then it could all be gone and I'd be glad.

Autumn leaves do bring one annual happy activity:  THE LEAF LOOKING DRIVE.  This year we headed West of the metro since it's late in the season for leaves and the leaves in the southern part of the state are already on the ground.  We went to a favorite haunt where vintage stores abound.  I love to see the groupings and my camera now tickles my memory since a lot of stuff falls out of my head if I attempt to just remember a cute idea.  Mr. Wonderful has this book in his childhood collection in his library.  Why didn't I think of bringing it out?  The Mystery of the Flying Skeleton will be on display tomorrow!

 

Clearing out the geraniums I have plenty of pots, you'll probably see faux gourds and some dried weeds in them next year on my porch.  This is just too easy not to copy!

Using every square foot for display, this historic bank building probably never imagined the vault of the future would hold baby clothes and vintage chairs instead of $$$$.

Now I've seen my share of garland and grapevines but have you ever seen tiny pumpkins on garland?  Hmm, hot glue and let me take a look at what's in the basement.  I like to decorate for fall in September and then leave it up until the day after Thanksgiving because that is my favorite day of the decorating year!

CHRISTMAS COMES TO MY HOUSE on Black Friday.  No, I don't shop, I do drop by the end of the day though!

The displays for the holidays were few and far between but I sniffed a few out because, well, I love Christmastime!

Look at this!  All you Putz House lovers would be drooling for certain, sparkle, sparkle, sparkle!  At our house we have real estate too, little lighted houses in vignettes set up in every available corner on any flat surface I haven't claimed before Mr. Wonderful 'takes that hill' with his Dept. 56 New England and North Pole Villages.  I could never do what he does with layers of Styrofoam, light cords and and accessories.  He is a genius of landscape and village building and I just soak it in!  

I said, I love 'looking' but then at the second to the last stop  I saw this metal tree.  I couldn't help myself, I said to my beloved, "I really, really, really like that tree and I want it."  I pressed on through the huge store alone when he made a circle the opposite direction. You see, we NEED Christmas decorations like a hole in the head and I am barely working at my little 20 hour a week job. 

Getting back in the car, I had forgotten that I didn't go back and beg some more when...tinkle, tinkle, clink, clink!  I heard a sound coming from the trunk.  Smiling I said, "You couldn't really hide it from me could you?"  He smiled, "I knew you really liked it."

TAMMY'S IN LOVE

Dining Room Delights

 I usually set my formal dining room table  with dishes but this month I decided to just use the cornucopia centerpiece and a few little accessories.  The candles are chocolate mocha scent which wafts through to the adjacent living room.  

The pumpkins needed a little Halloween-izing so I found my clown heads in the craft room and pushed them on the pumpkins stem.  No self-respecting pumpkin man should go without funny hair so some colored raffia folded in half worked just fine.

The apothecary jars are always full of something, last round was wooden dominoes, this time there is needlepoint yard and crochet thread.  I like the cozy vibe that these two fillers offer!  The library table was a thrift store find two years ago, $ 17.00 and a perfect place for the repro- style phonograph and some display items.

This little doily is a gift from Chris at Perfectly Printed, it makes the perfect perch for the Indian corn creamers and the black bird.  The bird was originally cement color, don't be afraid to paint anything with chalkboard paint, not just flat surfaces!

Harvest M&Ms in a Pyrex pot, CUTE COUNTS!  How long do you think I can leave them alone in there?

Seasons Change

The window box had a facelift today.  The temperature was a balmy 79 degrees but the  red and white geraniums were replaced by the colors of autumn.  I started this tradition about 12 years ago, pictures for the homecoming dance were taken in front of the house and this was the backdrop; ah that was lifetimes ago.

I love to use the hydrangeas inside through the summer and as filler in the window box in the fall.  It amazes me how big they get, some the size of giant pompoms, others only six inches across or so.

I used to go and buy about $ 20.00 worth of squash and gourds.  Then I wised up and started using the faux stuff!  Reusable and much more economical since I pull the same bag of goodies out each year!

The Ash trees provided free fun for the little people.  A lot of jumping, throwing and falling ensued after the leaves were raked into a play pile!  When I was a little girl my mother showed me how to make 'leaf houses'; a square outline with a pile up for a chair, a bed, a couch.  We played outside for hours, not inside with a controller in front of a 60" television...back in the day.

Remember the window frame Mr. Wonderful built and the flea market chicken feeder turned planter?  The coleus loved the spot in the shade and grew into glorious colors.  This will be a repeat next year, I love how the colors look on the side of the hip roof shed that holds mower and bikes and yard supplies.

This garden around the pagoda (a nod to my Korean children's connection to Asia) in the backyard was planted with petunias but the ageratum were volunteers; they must have seeded themselves last year when this garden was part of the red, white and blue salute too.  I love that they grew bigger than any of the ageratum plants that I bought as annuals this year!

The heat of summer encouraged a lot growth (and a lot of watering flowers!), I finally got tired of dead heading the millions of petunias and let them go two weeks ago.  Initially the bunnies have a picnic but they must have found other things to graze on by now, they seem to be leaving them alone, I took the little fence off when I decided I was finished with deadheading flowers for an hour every night after supper!

Time for Treats

October, the second favorite month of children in the USA!  Costumes and candy and going door to door collecting all of it for free!  

My craft room has finally given way to orange and black and a few fun decorations for the grandkids to enjoy while they count down the days to Halloween.

The paper I used for these tags is a mix of what I had and a Tim Holtz holiday paper pad.  The colors are muted and antiquey and I had fun mixing my bright rick rack and garnishes found at various flea markets with lots of great embellishments sent from blogging friends.

E for EAT and welcome to my world, if there is a TREAT in sight, I will EAT the treat!  My will power is absolutely pathetic, I chalk it up to the fact that I had never been on a diet until I was going to my 25 year class reunion.   Thin people have never cultivated the need to actually stick to a diet because we never gained weight!

This was my favorite tag to put together, all of the elements came from blogging friends!

It was fun to use this paper and try to position the words to fit my graphics.  Do you see the Mary Englebreit girl on the bottom with the mouse?!  I put two different graphics together!   Love it!

Thanks to all of you who included paper goodies along with your Friendship tags or your Hometown tags!  I have so many fun garnishes to use I have to constantly rifle through them because I don't remember all of what I have!