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!