Still decorating

I created another ribbon pumpkin as my table seemed to need a little more.  I found the tablecloth at WalMart.  I had the cornucopia and acorn candle wreath which I have had for several years and never put out. Today I found the candle at Michaels and used my 40% off coupon for that.  I've realized that I decorate in fits and starts.  I add a little every now and then as ideas develop and I live with something for awhile.  I admire those people who have a vision in their head and are able to create it all at once.  I'm pretty happy with the way the house looks and many of the decorations will stay out until Thanksgiving.   Now that my sons are married I tend to decorate more for the Fall rather than for Halloween.  

Happy Fall!

Fall is my very favorite time of the year.  The cooler temperatures are energizing and everyone is getting back into a routine from the easy going summer days.  I also love the colors of fall and have already begun decorating my home for the season.  At the end of last fall I threw out several fall items that were showing signs of wear and tear.  I've been cruising Pinterest for ideas and decorated this pumpkin with ribbon for a different look.  I love decorating with pumpkins and this way I don't have to worry about them deteriorating in the house.  

How are you decorating this year?  Where are you getting your inspiration?

Fall Bucket List and Cricut Artbooking Cartridge>"?

Last weekend I started a couple of projects and I'm in the process of finishing them this weekend.  One of them is my Fall Bucket List.  This project gave me the opportunity to start playing with my new Cricut Artbooking cartridge.  I haven't even started playing with the 3 stamp sets or 2 sheets of chipboard shapes that came with the Cricut Artbooking Collection!

One of the items in the cartridge I was really excited about were the variety of overlays available on the cartridges.

I hadn't even thought of how much use I would get from the same overlay shape by changing the color of the cardstock or the position of the overlap.  The white and yellow overlay are the same overlay.

Plus you can change the size of the overlay.  This overlay is part of the Christmas mini-book.

So I played with the color of the overlay and the base cardstock until I found a combination I liked.

Then I added some print paper and cut it the size of the overlay.  Base cardstock is 12 x 12 inches and the print paper and overlay is 11 x 11 inches

To increase the sense of depth I added a variety of color blocks cut from cardstock to some of the overlay openings leaving some open to see the print paper.  I can't wait to use these overlays and adding photos to them!

Here is the finished Fall Bucket List after embellishing it.  

A close-up of the left page.

And the right page.

Close-ups of various sections of the two pages so you can read parts of the list.

I used a variety of items to embellish the pages which gave me an opportunity to use up items in my stash some of which I've had for years.  A lot of items  were leftovers from sets.  Always good to use some things up.

I typed the list of items on vellum and then cut them out.

There are no photos but I'll use this 2 page layout in my Project Life album to introduce the "fall" section of the year.

Fall is my favorite time of year.  I love all the colors so creating this was a lot of fun!  This is my second seasonal bucket list.  I don't expect to do everything on the list but it comes in really handy when my husband and I look at each other at the end of a long workweek and say "what do you want to do this weekend?"  Summer and fall always seem to go so fast and it's a great way to make sure you do all your favorite or some "new" favorites before the season ends!

Do you create "Bucket Lists"?  If so, what kind?

For more information on the Cricut Artbooking Collection please click on the Close To My Heart icon to the right of this post.

Pumpkin lamps

These are the easiest Fall decorations to put together - 2 baby pumpkins, 2 Hurricane lamps (from AC Moore), 2 candles and 4-6 floral hooks (not sure what they are called but they are shaped like a U).  Its important to look your little pumpkins over carefully as they need to have an even base and top so they or the candles don't tip over.  I'll also try to find ones that don't have their "handle" as those are harder to break off then you would think!  My husband pushes the hooks in for me while I hold the hurricane lamp where I want it on the pumpkin.  I think you can see the top of the hook in the 2nd photo.