Fall Decorating. Or, How to Decorate for Fall with Dollar Store Items.

I love Fall. Like, really LOVE Fall. Changing leaves, pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING, warm spices, the return of comfort food, pumpkin patches....all of it is just so comforting and welcoming to me. Also, when Fall arrives, I know I'm that much closer to my favorite season: Christmas! More on that later. :) Anyways, I did some decorating for Fall today and thought I'd share. Most of my stuff came from the Dollar Tree or the dollar section at Target. While I got almost all of my stuff last year, I did check and the Dollar Tree is carrying all of the same items this year (which is awesome, because I need to pick up a few more since I have more space to decorate this year). So I started with this....

The rubbermaid container stored all sorts of Fall decorating magic....

Like these styrofoam gourds and pumpkins. They sell them in packs of 5 at the Dollar Tree. They are fairly small, but when you put them in jars and such they are super cute. I'm going to pick up some more of them this year!

And these silk leaves came from the Dollar Tree as well. These are also fairly small, but are beautiful when arranged.

 I have three different strands of leaf garland from the Dollar Tree. They are kind of sparse, but perfect for my purposes. I layer them together on my piano, which I'll show you later. I am thinking of picking up some more full Fall garlands at the end of the season when Walmart and Target has them on clearance....a full garland on my mantle would be perfect!

The Dollar Tree also has a variety of glass pumpkins that are super charming. I have three from last year and am planning to pick up a few more. LOVE them!!

 My Mom gave me this one last year. Not sure where she got it, but she's the one who taught me to bargain shop so I'm sure she didn't spend much on it. I love it and it's a great reminder for this season!

This is a gigantic bag of Fall table scatter that I got last year at Target in the dollar section. I picked it up towards the end of the season, so I think I only spent maybe $1.50 on each box. There are yellow acorns,  orange pumpkins, and red leaves...each box had like 150 pieces in it! I was so excited to find them since table scatter is expensive and I refuse to pay $5+ on a box of 20 pieces!

 I also have six of these beauties from the Dollar Tree from last year. I wanted some leaf tea light holders, but they were at least $5 a pop elsewhere, so I was ecstatic when I found them at the dollar store....I bought the last 6 that they had!

 I got this guy on clearance from JoAnn's last year. So cute!!

I made this little arrangement last year using Dollar Tree Fall flowers and a faux pumpkin. I'm glad it held up in storage! 

Ok....so time to decorate! I first filled one of the apothecary jars by layering the silk leaves and the gourds and pumpkins until I was happy with it.

Isn't it cute?? Bursts of Fall in a jar!!

I put the glass pumpkins on top of a few  green and yellow silk leaves in another one of the jars. I'm going to pick up a few more of the pumpkins to fill out the jar.

I did a few things with the table scatter. I have some plain pillar candles sitting on plates from the Dollar Tree that needed sprucing up, so I filled in the plate around the candle with the scatter. I also put some in a mason jar and put a small pumpkin spice candle on top of it (the candle also came from the Dollar Tree last year).

For the cute "Happy Harvest" piece, I decided to fill the barrel with a small flower arrangement that mirrors the pumpkin one. I got out leftover flowers from last year....

 Cut some floral foam (it comes in a two-pack at the Dollar Tree, just fyi) and put it in the barrel.

When arranging flowers, you start with the biggest pieces first. This ensures they stay the center of the arrangement as you work around them.

Next, you fill it in with smaller flowers (the little dahlias) , and then finish with filler (the foam berries). Tweak until you are happy with it! And then stand back and admire how cute it is! :)

I just needed to pull my piano together now, so I wrapped the leaf garlands around the music stand. I wrapped the ends around the pillar candles (with the table scatter), then punctuated the garland level with two of the leaf tea light holders and the little "give thanks" pumpkin. The top part of the piano also got two leaf candles, and the first apothecary jar I filled is up there. I also had previously filled my glass candle holders with leftover flowers from the dish towel cake post, and they fit in perfectly with fall. The bow was leftover from last year (made it with Dollar Tree wired ribbon). Here's the end result of the piano....

The Happy Harvest piece went on my built-in in the hall. I'm not going to mess with the smaller jars for Fall....I have major plans for Christmas though! I have recently added three vintage insulators though, and am starting an antique/vintage hardware collection to go in my glass milk jug.

The third large apothecary jar will be filled with the gourds, pumpkins, and silk leaves too, once I pick up more of them. I thought about filling it with candy corn, but I'm pretty sure Brandon will eat all of it, and I can't have my decorations disappearing!  The mason jar, pumpkin arrangement, and apothecary jar with the glass pumpkins are on the mantle. I have some pumpkin spice wax in my scentsy warmer, and my house is warm and welcoming like Fall! I'm excited about this not just because I love Fall, but because up next in seasonal decorating is CHRISTMAS!!! And I go all out for that. Not. Even. Kidding.


Sola Deo Gloria!

Card Challenge, Post 1: George and Basic Shapes

Ok so I mentioned that I'm going to be doing a series of posts on three cards you can make from one Cricut cartridge. Some of them will be easy, like today's featured cartridge (I'm going to post a few more than three actually....this is one of my favorite cartridges to use for cards. More on that later.)....others, well, I might have to get creative. Like, here's-a-card-for-Arbor-Day creative. We'll see what happens.

Here are the rules I am setting for myself:
1. Use scraps when possible.

2. Everything on the card must come from the featured cartridge...NO cheating.

3. I cannot use the "card" function that is one some of the cartridges. While this function can make some super cute creations, for my purposes that's cheating.  For example, this is not allowed (but seriously, HOW CUTE ARE THEY!?!?! These are from the card function on Stretch Your Imagination).

4. I can use any embellishments I have, utilize the Cuttlebug, and use my rubber stamps as well.

So....let's get started. Here is the list of cartridges I'll be going through:

Yep, that's 21 cartridges!! I left out two of the font cartridges I have because there's literally only fonts on them....and that would be a really boring card. Plus, I wouldn't be able to turn out three of them. I also left out two Solution cartridges because there is not enough on them to make a card with, much less THREE cards. Maybe I'll do a post on using them to make gift tags or something....we'll see. In the meantime, let's dig in to the first one up to bat: George and Basic shapes.

This cartridge comes with the Cricut Personal Cutter. And, while it IS basic, I use it for EVERYTHING. It's my favorite Cricut font, and it's super versatile! I've used it for birthday cards, wedding cards, anniversary cards, Christmas cards, thank you cards, and graduation cards. The font is both playful and elegant, so it's perfect for just about anything (I did a vinyl project in our old church's bathroom with it....we put "LOVE", "LIVE", and "LAUGH" on the stall doors in the ladies room. ADORABLE!!). Also, I've made some serious banners with this font, thanks to the shapes and the "slot" function. Even if this is the only cartridge you have, you are UNSTOPPABLE.You just need to creatively think about how you use it sometimes, such as using the shadow function if you need a larger shape or want your font bolder.

So, I'm going to post three layouts and some other cards I've made from this cartridge.

Card #1:

This card is roughly 6"x4" (I suggest getting a box of invitation envelopes from Wal Mart or something. They are cheap and the perfect size for making cards). Using the tag shape on George, I cut the tag at about 3.5". I cut a strip of complimentary red paper at about 1.5" wide, then cut a "thanks" out at 1". Cut the end of the strip in a 'V' shape, and paste those suckers down to your base. Add a small bow (made from a spool of $1 ribbon), and you are done. How cute is this?!? And it is definitely all-purpose for any occasion, just pick your paper to reflect what you want it used for (ie Christmas papers for Christmas cards). You can swap out the greeting, or use a rubber stamp instead of the "thanks"....you can run the tag or the strip through an embosser...the possibilities are ENDLESS!! Here's another card in the same template with a different look entirely (on this one, I ran the base paper through my Cuttlebug first for some texture):

Both of those were made from scraps leftover from other things. Seriously people, SAVE YOUR SCRAPS.

Ok....card #2:

So for this one, I used a pre-made blank card that came in a pack of 8 from Michaels' $1 rack. I dug out complimentary scraps, and cut four 1" squares. I cut 1" strips of ribbon to glue vertically on each square, then tied another piece into a knot and glued on the top of the squares. They look like cute presents!! Then using a stamp, I put "happy birthday" on it. This would be a super cute Christmas card as well....just change out the papers, ribbon color, and little greeting. It really doesn't get easier, and it's so cute!

Card #3:

So for this one, I took white card stock and made 6"x4" base cards. I then cut purple cardstock into slightly smaller rectangles and ran them through the Cuttlebug. Using scraps (monochromatic ones at that!!), I cut one 2" circle (the darker purple dot paper), one 1.5" circle (the dark plaid one), and then the other scraps were cut at 1". I arranged them in an overlapping design. Using a $1 spool of ribbon I wrapped it around the purple rectangle, tied it off with a button, and then glued it all down to the white card and stamped the little "thanks" on it. EASY! This is one of those that have literally limitless possibilities....for example, here's the same concept with different features:

 I didn't emboss anything for this one. I just used some crazy paper.

Different stamp for this one, and arranged vertically instead of horizontally, and no button. Honestly, it doesn't matter how many circles you have, or even the range of sizes you cut, just remember to use odd numbers (which I didn't for this one....oops!) :). This format would make cute Christmas cards, cute birthday cards....again, just change out the papers and little greeting on it.

Here are some others I've made with this cartridge. I encourage you to take advantage of that tag function too....it makes for a seriously easy and cute card.

1.5" rounded squares, 3-1" squares, stamp in the fourth, and then the dotted line around the edge with a gel pen.

1" Balloons in a variety of papers, ribbon, and stamped greeting (the stamps came from Michaels' $1 card rack that they have near the front of their stores. LOVE that rack!).

1" hearts in a rainbow of colors....stamped greeting...the only thing I wish I'd done differently on this card is cut white cardstock for the clouds and glittered that instead of just putting the glitter on the card directly. That would make it stand out more. Oh well....next time!

One of my go-to wedding card designs....cut the rounded rectangles out (one at 2.5", 2", and 1.5"....or whatever sizes fit your card base best), run them through the Cuttlebug, and embellish.

Ok....last one, I promise:

I made this for a friend who just needed some encouragement. I used the shadow function to cut out the white tag at 3.5", and then the regular mode for the pink tag....stamp a greeting on it...add flowers (just a simple little bow would be cute too) and you are done.

I hope you see all the possibilities that this cartridge has. It's my favorite, as you can tell (I have more cards I've made from it, but this post would never end if I posted them all!!). I actually did not have to make cards for this post specifically since I have so many I've already done....this is not the case for all of the other cartridges!  Also, as you can tell, I don't always strictly follow my rules of card making (specifically, the odd-number rule), but they come out cute anyways. And most of these don't take up a ton of time to make....it usually takes me longer to pick out the paper I want to use than it does to cut the shapes and put it together. And if you don't have tons of embellishments available, or no Cuttlebug, that's fine....these cards turn out cute anyways!

I'd love to see what you've done with this cartridge....post some pics!

Sola Deo Gloria!