Falling for Autumn

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Even though summer hasn’t officially come to an end, Labor Day seems to signal fall’s arrival.  Kids are going back to school, temperatures are dropping and warm clothes are coming out of storage.

We thought we’d kick off the unofficial start of fall with a round-up of our past fall projects.

Felt and tweed leaf bowls take only a few hours and scrap fabric.

A tree stump makes a quick and easy outdoor side table.  If you like the looks but want to use indoors, clean it up a bit before bringing it inside.

Craft a pine cone wreath to hang in your house on greet guests at the front door.

Gather leaf-shaped dishes, brass accessories, fall colored napkins, and nuts to assemble a festive table setting for your next party.

Use nuts, dried leaves and hot glue to create turkey place cards.  Cute enough to use throughout the fall, not just Thanksgiving.

What is your favorite fall craft?  Are you glad fall is officially around the corner?  What is your favorite aspect of fall?  The cooler weather?  Pretty colored leaves?  The return of football?  Sending your kids back to school?

Gimme a Giveaway: January Jones Prints

Published on by Our Humble Abode61 Comments

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries, Thank You!***

Labor Day weekend usually involves an out-of-town adventure as the last hoorah of the summer.  Celebrate and remember those road trips with a Road Trip print from January Jones Prints.

Didn’t make it across the state lines?  How about a state love print?

Before you head out for your adventure, enter for a chance to win a custom print.

The Goods: One 8 inch by 10 inch road trip map with up to 10 heart locations.

To Enter: Subscribe to follow Our Humble A{Bowe}d, if you’re not already.  To subscribe, click the “Sign Me Up!” button under “Be the first to know.”  Once you’ve subscribed, leave a comment, which can (but doesn’t have to) include our Just for Fun question.

Just for Fun: Tell us if you have a traditional or annual trip you make and where, maybe why, too.

For additional entries:

1. Add January Jones Prints to your Etsy favs.

2. Like Our Humble A{Bowe}d on Facebook, come back and leave another comment.

Contest Closes: Thursday, September 8th at 11:59 pm, central time.

Number of Winners: Two!

Ships: Anywhere in the U.S. in a rigid tube

Other Info: We will select the winner using random.org and announce on Friday, September 9th.  Good luck!!

All  images found via the featured Etsy seller’s listing as linked above.

P.S.  In honor of the long weekend, we’re offering 15% off all orders placed through September 15th.  Enter the code LDW15 to redeem.

Floral Pendant

Published on by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

I’ve been Pinspired again.  It all started when I saw this fantastic fixture.

Then, I saw this tutorial detailing how to make a similar design using cardstock, complete with a free pattern.

I loved the look, but didn’t know where I could add yet another home-made pendant.  Light bulb!  In the stairwell.

If you can get past Ben’s faux grumpy expression, the half built wall, holes in the ceiling and wall, and the awful 70’s carpet, you’ll notice hanging wiring for a light.  Since this photo circa 2007, we’ve finished the half wall, filled the holes in the ceiling and wall, replaced the carpet and the light fixture.  The problems?  The fixture is a cheapo ‘boob’ light we had on hand, and it’s off centered.  Technically, the light is centered on the entire wall, but I’d prefer for the light to be centered over the stairs.

If we keep the light centered on the entire wall, we can’t have anything that hangs down because tall people (unlike myself) would hit their heads.  We still haven’t touched the kitchen, except installing a new faucet, but when we do, we’ll probably move that light fixture.  Ben is still undecided, so I decided to use materials I had on hand to make a floral pendant shade for a visual of a centered light.

Using 8.5 by 11 inch sheets of white cardstock, I started by tracing the free pattern on my sheets.


Then, I painstakingly cut out each piece, starting with 60 individual pieces.  Several hours and a hand cramp later, I got out my trusty glue gun to attach and assemble the design.  First, I made several five point flowers.


A quick reference to the original design to see how to assemble the five point flowers together, I was ready to go.  Basically, the long points join with short points and vice versa.

Gluing and assembling went much quicker than cutting.  Unfortunately, some of the glued pieces didn’t meet up perfectly, so the design is slightly lumpy.  Perhaps it is better to use brads to allow wiggle room.  Lesson learned.

If we move the wiring and we like the floral shade, I’ll make another, using brads.

For now, the lumpy place holder works as a lovely visual.

And, the paper templates are a good visual of an in the works gallery wall.  Of course, we’ll fill in the area on the right, but I’m too short to reach.  Right now, I’m trying to decide if I want to hang a picture (or a few) behind the light, or box around the temporary fixture with frames.  We’re also debating how close to the ceiling we want to get and whether to wrap the gallery around to the wall on the right.  Thoughts on the matter?

Now, the real question is how many gallery walls and DIY light fixtures belong in 2500 square feet?  Including those shown today,three gallery walls (the others are here and here) and three home-made fixtures (here and here) so far.

Box Step

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Wanna see what we did with the plaster feet we made?  If you answered yes, keep reading.  If your answer was no, stop by tomorrow.  I decided these feet would look adorable framed in shadow boxes.  I had two sitting in my office, so I gathered other supplies.  Two pieces of foam core, cut to the size of the glass, a piece of canvas (left over from the drop cloth curtain in the laundry room.  I also used a few scraps to cover a lampshade), scissors, Mod Podge, masking tape, labels, Elmer’s glue, and epoxy.

I started by cutting my canvas to size, laying the glass down as a guide, keeping two inches of extra material on all sides.

Then, I Mod Podged one side of the foam core and placed the foam on the center of the fabric, pressing firmly for nice adhesion.

To eliminate excess fabric, I cut the corners of the fabric.  I added more Mod Podge to the back and pressed the fabric down.

With each side folded down, I added a strip of masking tape, just to prevent any shifting.  You could skip Mod Podge on the back and just stick masking tape.

A quick search through my scrap booking supplies left me with two label holders, with brad holders.  I cut two small pieces of cardstock to label each foot.

With my fabric in place, I found the center and marked the holes of the label holder.

Because the foam is 1/4 inch thick, I used a screw to make holes for my brads.

The only problem?  The brads are only 1/4 inch long.  Not long enough to go through the foam.  Rather than a wild goose brad chase, I opted for the easy way out, Elmer’s glue.  A little glue on the brad and another dab in the hole and everything worked out.

Now, it was time to glue the foot molds in place.  Elmer’s just wasn’t going to work, so I used an epoxy.

I didn’t want to clean epoxy off anything, so I scoured the kitchen for a plastic lid and fork to mix on and with.

With the epoxy mixed, I generously covered the highest areas of the back of each foot.

Some areas don’t touch the backing, but that’s just fine.

Other areas touch nicely, but a little of the epoxy oozed out.  Again, not a big deal.

Epoxy takes about 12 hours to set up, so I left the pieces out overnight, but I snapped a few pictures while they dried.

I like the look of the canvas backing, the grains of sand, and the official looking label holders.  Next step, framing and hanging.

So, how much did this little craft project cost?  The plaster cost $7.99 and I had the rest of the supplies.  And, I still have plaster left over for future projects.

What do you have in shadow boxes?  Have a favorite home-made art piece you made?

Rainbows and Me Red Balloons

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Hearts, stars and horseshoes.  Clovers and blue moons.  Pots of gold and rainbows and me red balloons.  As I mentioned, Vincent’s fourth birthday is coming up.  The theme he requested was colored balloons, which made me think of the Lucky Charms commercials.  So I made an invitation to reflect that theme.

A bunch of rainbow-colored balloons, rainbow confetti and a number four with the birthday info.  When I asked Vincent what he thought of it, he said, “Huuuuhh (that was him sucking in his breath) It’s beautiful!”  I love that he’s still pretty easy to please.

For more fun and color, I gathered rainbow-colored envelopes with coordinating mailing labels.

I thought about adding confetti, but decided against it.  That might be annoying for unsuspecting party attendees to have to clean up off their floors.  Our guests have received the invitations and the response has been great.  Though, we have had a few questions about the no gifts policy and the time.  The reason?  Our boys have been showered with love, affection and toys, and don’t need anything.  As for the time, the 21st is Vincent’s actual birthday, but because it falls on a weekday, we decided to host a dinner party.

How do you decide your child’s birthday party theme?  Do you let him or her choose? Or the time?  Have you instated a no gifts policy?  Ever opened an invitation filled with confetti?  Did you think it was cute, or annoying?