Fall Giveaway!

Happy Monday!  Does it feel like fall yet?!  Crazy how quickly fall came around and to be honest, I'm all ready missing the longer summer days of sitting on our front porch having a few drinks with my husband.

However, there is some good news!  The sweet Laura Beth, author of the blog Mrs. Laura Beth, invited me to be part of a fall giveaway she is hosting along with 9 other bloggers - woot!! This girls is super sweet and I'm so happy that I've gotten to know her through her blog, twitter, and instagram.

Here is what's up for grabs:

Blogger Tee

$50 Starbucks Gift Card

Fall Warmer Scents

Get entered now!! And please let me know if you are new here - I would love to stop over and say hi!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fall Guest Bedroom

Welcome back from the weekend!

If you follow me on Facebook you've probably been reading a few posts about my desire to decorate a bedroom for fall/winter after paging through the most recent Pottery Barn catalog.  Well, I did it and I love it!  

Plaid Flannel Sheets: Target // Brown Paisley Shams: West Elm // White duvet: Target // Grey afghan: gift

Yellow Canvas Print: Target (old) // Lamp & lamp shade: Target // Greyhound statue: Target

Plaid Scarf: mall kiosk

Wood tray: Target // Plaid scarf: mall kiosk

The whole room update cost around $50 - flannel sheets, lamp shade, and wood tray.  I already had pretty much everything I wanted in the room is just a matter of re-purposing it from another space in my house.  The plaid scarves added the extra warm feel that I was going for and they aren't as bulky as a throw might be.  

I wish that I could have decorated our master bedroom for fall, but flannel sheets and a down comforter don't go over well with the "Mr."

So - who wants to be a guest this fall?! :)

Thanksgiving Table and Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is Thursday - Yikes!  Fortunately, I am not hosting a Thanksgiving celebration, but if I was I thought I would share with you what my Thanksgiving table might look  like. :)  I'll also let you know where I found some of the items I used, just in case you like them.

Standard white plates go with anything!

Plates: Walmart - Better Homes & Gardens Brand

Glasses: Pottery Barn (they are actually plastic!)

The place holder is such an easy DIY project! Just use a binder clip and a little flair to the paper with a seasonal rubber stamp.

Napkins & Napkin Rings: Pier 1 Imports

The centerpiece has been on my table throughout the fall.  I just added two more vases that I filled with fresh cranberries to add a little more color.

It's so fun to decorate and "wow" your guests with the meal you make and the decorations but what about truly celebrating this holiday by coming together as family and friends to share what you are thankful for.  This seems to be something that can be easily forgotten this day and age.  Below are a couple of ideas that I came across in the November 2011 issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

Thankful Leaves



Cut out leaf shapes and have your guests write something they are thankful for.  Then have them post the leaves on a cork board for an additional fall decoration.  This can also lead to an awesome conversation piece.

Conversation Cards

Use small squares of cardstock decorated for fall to write a quote or a question on.  Put one next to each place setting and during or after dinner go around the room and have everyone read their card.

For more ideas visit the Better Homes & Gardens website.

Enjoy  your Thanksgiving my friends.  I hope this post gives you some inspiration for preparing your celebration and remembering the importance of this holiday!

Beth

DIY Fall Decor

This weekend I found time to do some fall decorating and thought I would share these easy DIY decorating ideas with you!

Fall bring so much creativity and opportunities to bring the outdoors in so I created this centerpiece with mini pumpkins.  This time of year you can find mini pumpkins and gourds just about anywhere.  All you have to do is fill a glass vase!

Dining Room Table

Aren't these guys cute?!  They are ridiculously easy to make.  All you need is a glass jar, vase or glass of any size, gauze, googly eyes, glue and tape!  Just wrap the gauze around the jar, tape the ends of the gauze to the jar to secure it and glue on the eyes. 

DIY Halloween Mummies

They look really cute at night with a candle in them!

DIY Halloween Mummies

And, because I had some googly eyes left (since you have to buy them in packs of 100 eyes) I just glued them on some mini pumpkins.  I think they look pretty cute!

All of these projects are easy enough to do with your kids too.  Try them out if you need an activity for your classroom or your family.  This is an easy and less messy alternative to painting or carving pumpkins.

Finally, I thought I would share our new addition to the farm! We were able to sneak away to a cattle sale in Nebraska yesterday and brought home two new heifers.  They are pretty sweet girls and will make a great addition to the farm!  We are excited to have them!

Have a great week!

Fall Decorating Pumpkin Tower

I LOVE this idea for fall decorating - Love it!!  I found it yesterday while I was reading A Thoughtful Place Blog. This is such a fresh new idea for decorating your front porch with pumpkins so I thought I would pass it along if any of you are looking to spruce up your front door with some fall decor.  I don't know about you all, but I'm not too successful when it comes to carving pumpkins.  They never turn out like the ones I see in magazines. 

If you can't tell I'm pretty excited about this idea and you are probably wondering "Why don't you do it?"  I would love to build a pumpkin tower.  In fact, I'd probably be working on this little project today because it is a beautiful fall day here in Iowa.  Unfortunately I have three problems that make this project a little difficult.

Problem 1:  Meet 'Bam'
Bam is our smart, young, and extremely energetic black lab.  He would see these pumpkins as the best toy that he has ever played with!  He litterally couldn't keep his paws off them.  I could see these pumpkins rolling around our deck, strung through our front yard or eaten within the first day.

Problem 2:  We live in rural Iowa (Not actually a problem)
We live in rural Iowa, on a county road.  Below is a view of what we see from the deck on the front of our house.  It is beautiful here! There are very few vehicles that drive by - it's great!  This time of year, during corn and soybean harvest, there is actually more traffic with farmers hauling grain to the local elevator. (They probably aren't my target audience.)

Problem 3: Five-digit house number
Because we live in rural Iowa, we have a rural 911 address that is five digits.  Could you imagine this pumpkin tower?  It would be huge!  I think this is a two or three digit house number project.



There are my three excuses.  I actually laughed when I was writing this post thinking about our dog tackling this pumpkin tower to play with the pumpkins and me trying to size up and stack 5 pumpkins on top of each other.  It would be chaos to say the least...

If YOU would like to do this project here is thelink to instructions from the Better Homes and Gardens website.  And, if you do build a pumpkin tower, please email me (contact me page) with a photo of it.  I would like to post it on my blog to show off your project!

Happy Fall!