AUTUMN INSPIRATION: 🍁 November

Now that Halloween is behind us, let's welcome in November! It's a month of transitions...The light, weather, and even time all change. We move from the high-energy public celebration of Halloween into the cozier home-centered celebration of Thanksgiving - along with thoughts of the upcoming Christmas holiday season.

Some people rush from one holiday to the next, and for a good many years that included me - but as I age, I am enjoying the liminality of the time between the big holidays. Time accepting that the very ordinary hours and days and seasons can be very enjoyable without having to redecorate the whole house and yard each month, without the pressure of being ahead of everyone else. I'm just not cut out for that anymore... and I'm okay with it.

The day after Thanksgiving is when I usually haul out the Christmas decor... but I know most people don't wait (My daughter Bethany is already decorating for Christmas, and she's AMAZING at it!) If you DO wait, I've included a link to a post sharing how I 'sneaked' some holiday decor into my late autumn/Thanksgiving decor, just to give you some ideas for blending the two together. 

I hope the ideas included below will help you enjoy all of the gatherings, festivities, and decor in November - before the big holiday rush. 

Continue reading for November inspiration!

AUTUMN: Sweet Sweater Pumpkin Pie

Since this post will publish *just* before Halloween, I know most people will be too busy to make anything new... so this project is perfect for the week *after* Halloween! It's a fun accent to your autumn home decor for Thanksgiving. 

I'm always thinking of new ways to use materials in my seasonal decor... and though this autumn I have primarily focused on books and book pages, I always have ideas for new Sweet SweaterTM creations on my mind. 

Last winter, I created a Sweet Sweater Sweetie PieTM with sweater fabric as the crust and pompoms standing in for cherries. When I came upon a persimmon/pumpkin colored sweater at a thrift store a few weeks ago, my first thought was 'It looks just like pumpkin pie!' - and we were off and running on a new autumn creation.

Continue reading for the full tutorial...

'NO AI' Protest Against Meta Platforms from OCT 30 - NOV 7

If you've followed me for ANY length of time, on any platform, you know that theft of intellectual creative property IS my 'soapbox' issue - and has been for my entire life. I've spoken up LOUDLY about it on all of my blogs and social accounts.

The currently unfolding situation with Meta platforms goes well beyond theft - to rampant intellectual plagiarism. 

Meta has decided to force themselves upon us like a drunk man in heat and take ALL of our property - not just what we've shared publicly on their platforms, but everything on all of our digital devices and websites - without any option to refuse their advances (at least here in the US). If we want access to our own social media accounts on their platforms, we have to give permission for Meta's AI program to access EVERYTHING digital that we own. We lose all inherent protections of our creative work: our art, our writing, our photos, even our own name and voice and brand. Everything we have ever created or saved to our digital devices and websites, blogs, etc. that link to our Meta accounts will be used without our permission to make more money for Meta. 

This isn't just another 'craft' blogger using my tutorial to make my style of pumpkins out of sweaters - and then posting them everywhere online claiming they are their own original idea. This isn't about one of my own photos on Pinterest being tagged with similar products being sold on Amazon or etsy. Both of those have happened more times than I can count, and it is annoying. 

This action by Meta is theft on a massive worldwide scale, meant to drive creatives of every kind into oblivion. They intend to capitalize on it and obliterate us from our own work, name, voice, and brand... some of it decades in the making. This will affect millions of people worldwide, hundreds of thousands of small businesses and artisans, vintage and craft shows, shops, service providers, and more. It is reprehensible.


Effective immediately, I will no longer post images, reels, or info about this blog and my seasonal decor creations on Meta platforms. I will tease my new blog content with covered images and text-only graphics. I will unlink my blog from my Meta accounts. And if Meta does make these policies mandatory for use of their platforms, I will delete my accounts completely. 


For now, I am taking part in the Meta social media blackout protest from October 30 to November 7, 2026. I am standing with millions of other creatives to tell Meta NO. I am removing links to my blogs from their platforms, and posting a new bio pic, new banners on facebook, and a post on ALL Meta platforms I use that says 'NO AI' on October 30, along with my blog URL typed out - no links.   


GOOD NEWS: there WILL BE three NEW posts here on the blog during that week! Two projects and one inspo post for November are ready to go live on Friday, October 30th, Sunday November 1st, and Friday, November 6th. 


I thank you all in advance for visiting me here on the blog as I stand with millions of others against this tech behemoth who thinks they have a right to all of my creative property. 

I'm hoping that maybe - just maybe - we have found ourselves in a place where going backward might be the best option. Going back to blog posts and visits and convos in the comments, like we did in the beginning of the blogiverse. Wasn't that a lovely time? I'm all for exiting the social media platforms and forming a kind of neighborhood online where we discover places to visit and connect in a more friendly way. I miss those days - and I'm all in if this is where 'social' connections online are headed! 

I guess we'll see where this takes us... and I'll see you here on the blog tomorrow for a brand new AUTUMN project, just in time for Thanksgiving!

Creatively, 
Deb

AUTUMN: Sweet Sweater Spookies!

Giving this happy ghost the moniker of 'Sweet Sweater Spookie' is cutting it close, since I didn't actually use a sweater to make it. But a crocheted blanket is pretty close to a knitted sweater - right?! 

It's actually a very quick project, so I thought I'd share it just in time for last-minute Halloween decorating inspiration!

Continue reading for an easy ten-minute tutorial...