Autumn Pumpkin Vase Flower Arrangement

I know I'm not alone in this, but I MUST have fresh flowers in my living space on a regular basis.  I don't know what it is, but they just make me so happy.  This bouquet from Pro-Flowers is the epitome of fall gorgeousness to me.  The colors are absolutely breath taking!   You can browse all of their fall bouquets here. I thought they would like even more stunning in a spur of the moment vase made from a craft pumpkin.  Honestly, one of the easiest DIY vases ever!  All you have to do is cut a hole in the top and depending on the size of your pumpkin, add a glass or vase or jar to hold the flowers.  Easy peasy!

That's my parents' dog, Bear.  He's only a year old and is the size of a small moose.  He desperately wanted to be in the photos!

Can we talk about the absolute perfection of my mom's styling skills of this area of her kitchen?

The best part of this pumpkin vase is that it won't rot.  You can leave it out all season long and store it until the following autumn.

#MichaelsMakers: Harvest Inspired Tablescape Using Craft Pumpkins

I'm not even going to acknowledge the fact that summer is over.  I love fall, but, this year, I feel like I need a little more summer in my life.  This challenge of using craft pumpkins seriously was a challenge, just because I had to break out of the summer mentality to get the autumnal feeling in order to find proper inspiration for this.  I cheated a little, though.  I kept things green and did away with the traditional red and orange colors that find their way into most fall decor.  I really really really love the look I came up with for my mom and dad's dining room table.  They always host our gigantic family Thanksgiving dinner, so I figured it was the perfect place for this.  

For my craft pumpkin DIY I kept it simple.  I drilled a pattern of holes all around them.  Then one bigger hole in the bottom.  I stuffed a bunch of twinkle lights inside and voila.  I think it adds the perfect amount of shimmer to the table without being too obnoxious.  

I also made this adorable little bunting with doo-dads I found near all the scrapbooking supplies.

These little flags that I used for place cards were also near the scrapbooking supplies.

I grabbed a few hay bunches and log slices and a bunch of eucalyptus, as well.  I placed the eucalyptus into pottery I had made in high school that my mother, so lovingly, still keeps displayed all over her house. (Do you see the little unicorn that photobombed my shoot???)

For the big centerpiece, I picked a bunch of fake flowers from Michaels that I thought would give this the perfect rustic-ish, harvest-ish, fall-ish feeling... there are even some feathers in there, too.  Oh, and a little wooden owl hiding in there for the kids to find.  This was so much fun to put together with my mom!  She's definitely the one I get my craftiness from.  

Here's my project from last year, that I still adore!

Now go check out all the other incredible craft pumpkin projects from the rest of the Michaels Makers team and GET INSPIRED!

An InLinkz Link-up

'Thankful For You' Neighbor Gift and Free Printable

Eighteen. That is the number of loaves of apple bread I've baked in the past month. With November being a prominent month to show thankfulness to others, I wanted to really focus on the people I'm most grateful for and give them something to show my gratitude. And what better way to do that than with something edible, amirite?

My kids and I took a trip with some friends to a local apple orchard to pick apples for the first time recently. It was SO much fun to wander the rows upon rows of apple trees in search of the perfect, juicy apples. We even did a little tree climbing to reach the ones at the very top. Well, mine was more of a slipping-shimmying-desperately grasping branches-thing, but my limbs remained intact, so that's a win in my book. We all had a great time, and I ended up walking away with a huge bag of every variety of apple you can imagine.

In my quest to figure out what to do with all of the lovely apples I stumbled upon this recipe. I made a couple substitutions (no nuts, 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar, added vanilla, made 2 mini loaves instead of 1 big loaf) and crossed my fingers that it would turn out well. As I'm sure you gathered by the 16 additional loaves of bread that followed, the recipe was amazing. Moist, flavorful, and apple-y. Which, thanks to this recipe, is now a word.

I spent the next week living in the kitchen baking and eating apple bread, which is a pretty great life if you ask me.

Apple-y goodness like this must be shared, so when I eventually made it out of the kitchen, I made some free printables (go here to download) so that you can share some yummy apple bread with your neighbors too. Or just keep it all to yourself, I won't tell. I made 2 versions to choose from - a chalkboard tag and some in pretty fall colors.

Just print these babies up, add some kraft paper and twine and you have a treat that your neighbors will love you for.

Also, I can't be blamed for any subsequent addiction that you may develop to the apple bread.

DIY Skeleton Gloves + Silhouette Portrait GIVEAWAY!

I've got the perfect, quick addition for your Halloween costumes today (and make sure to read below for a chance to win a (Silhouette Portrait)!

My son, Connor, is obsessed with skeleton everything. It all started with the shirt he's wearing in the picture below, which happens to be an old shirt from last year that he refuses to give up. He now owns several skeleton shirts and a zip-up jacket in skeleton print that I made him this year.

The wonderful folks over at Silhouette sent us a Silhouette Portrait recently to try out, so I thought it'd be fun to make Connor a pair of skeleton gloves using their flocked heat transfer material to add to his wardrobe - and they were a huge hit!

With the addition of a skeleton shirt, these gloves make the perfect skeleton Halloween costume. Or just wear the gloves by themselves for fun! Who says skeleton gloves are only for Halloween? Not this guy.

Who wants to make a pair??

SUPPLIES: a pair of knit gloves (do not use leather or anything other than traditional knit or fabric gloves!), Silhouette flocked heat transfer in white, Silhouette Portrait or CAMEO, scanner, iron and ironing board, skeleton gloves template (available only in Silhouette Studio format.)

Note: If you'd like to use the skeleton glove template that I created for your own personal use, you can find it here. It is only available in Silhouette Studio format, but if you'd like to make this project without a Silhouette, feel free to trace your glove and draw the bones freehand onto the back of Silhouette transfer material, then cut out by hand.

ONE: to create your own skeleton gloves from scratch, first place one glove on a piece of paper and trace carefully around it. Scan your picture and open in Silhouette Studio.

TWO: next, choose the "draw smooth freehand" option and begin drawing finger bones.

THREE: continue drawing bones with the draw smooth freehand tool.
FOUR: after you've finished drawing all your hand bones, you can use the arrow to click individually on each bone and adjust them as necessary.
FIVE: add wrist bones, the use your arrow to select all of the bones. Right click and choose "group" to group all the bones in your hand together.
SIX: you can now move your scanned picture off of your work board.

SEVEN: to make a second hand, simply right click on your hand and select "duplicate." Once you've duplicated your hand, make sure to right click on it again and choose "flip horizontally."

EIGHT: now you're ready to cut! Load your flocked heat transfer material into your Silhouette Portrait and cut according to the recommended settings.

NINE: Weed out your design by removing the extra transfer material.
TEN: place your design sticky side down onto your glove.
ELEVEN: I know the directions say otherwise, but I've found that my heat transfer designs adhere best when I turn my iron heat between the "silk" and "wool" setting, and iron directly on top of the plastic (on an ironing board of course.)

Remove the plastic carefully, and now you have the perfect set of spooky skeleton gloves for Halloween, or just for fun!

Connor loves his new gloves! I'm sure this won't be the last year you'll be seeing these babies :)

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Now for the best part! We get to give away a Silhouette Portrait!

If that doesn't excite you, then there's something wrong with you! Between the two of us, Shannon and I own both the Silhouette Portrait and the CAMEO, and they have been essential to our daily crafting. You can make everything from personalized clothing, decorations, and gifts for friends and family. The possibilities are really endless! Need some ideas?

1. Monster Teeth Treat Bags  2. Trick-or-Treat Bags 

3. Skeleton Bones Treat Bags 4. Faux Stamped Jewelry

5. Library Tote with Library Card Pocket  6. "You Blow Me Away" Valentine  

What's great about The Silhouette Portrait is that it's compact in size (only 3.5 pounds), but has a cutting size of 8" wide, and can be used to cut fabric, chipboard, vinyl, you name it. You can read more about the awesomeness that is The Silhouette Portrait here.   

So, do you want to win one? Of course you do. Enter using the widget below. Good Luck! The lucky winner will be announced here Monday October 27th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guidelines: Open to US/Canada Residents 18 years old or older. Void where prohibited. Giveaway is not associated with Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. Prizes will be fulfilled by Silhouette America. Winner cannot have won another Silhouette America giveaway in the past 90 days. Winners should expect to receive their prize within 4-6 weeks after the giveaway has ended. The giveaway winner will be emailed within 24 hours after giveaway has ended, and will have 72 hours to claim their prize. If the prize is not claimed, a new winner will be selected. 

Trick Your Pumpkin with Michaels

Being a Michael's Maker has been AWESOME.  Honestly, these monthly challenges get me to craft and create things I never would have considered before.

This month they asked us to participate in their Trick Your Pumpkin sweepstakes.  

Crafters just submit their pumpkin creations via Instagram any time between October 4th through October 31 for a chance to win a $250 Michaels gift card and Plaid products each Friday throughout the month of October.  We think you should  enter the sweepstakes by uploading your own projects to Instagram using the hashtags #TrickYourPumpkin and #sweepstakes and tag @MichaelsStores.  Make sure you use the craft pumpkins from Michaels!

Here is our entry for this super fun contest!  ( let me add that these pumpkins are SO COOL )

Supplies:

Krylon Make It Stone Spray Paint

Craft Knife

Craft Pumpkins

Paint Pens

Battery powered pumpkin candle (purchased at Michaels, not on website)

Flower pot

Pencil

Use the flower pot to determine the size of the hole on the top.  Make sure to cut as straight down as possible so you can get the pot inside.  In the other pumpkin, the hole on top can be a random size, whatever will fit the battery candle.  Cut whatever designs into your pumpkin you choose.  (go figure, I chose triangles.)

Now it's time for the spray paint!  This Make It Stone stuff is AWESOME.  The time it takes to dry in between coats is NOT awesome.  It's non-negotiable, though.  I tried, trust me, you have to let it dry.

Next, do THIS while you wait for it to dry!

After the paint is dry and you have sufficiently tortured your pet to death with love, it's time to doodle on your pumpkin.  I quickly decided mine were going to be fancy with gold and silver adornments.  

Now, put your plant in it, the candle or whatever you decided to do and create your fabulous table scape!  Ta-Da!  I also think that these would make pretty wonderful hostess gifts for Thanksgiving.  

Don't forget to tag your project on Instagram using #TrickYourPumpkin #sweepstakes and tagging @MichaelsStores!!