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...

AUTUMN: Book Pumpkins with Paper Bag Stems

Continuing with my bookish inspiration this autumn, I made two pumpkins using paperback books...

I know making things using folded books & magazines is a craft that has been around for a long time - my Mom was making angels, trees, and Santas using magazines back in the 60's, and she and I made a few for our holiday decor back in 2016. They are an easy and cheap way to make pumpkins, too, and with the plethora of books in my garage, I figured I'd revisit the past a bit - simply because it fits my current theme! 

You'll find a basic 'book pumpkin' tutorial AND a quick paper bag pumpkin stem tutorial in this post. Continue reading for more... 

AUTUMN: Make Peat Pot Pumpkin Stems

 

I was cleaning out my gardening tools storage area, and came across a stack of small peat pots / seed starter pots in a bucket. The bottom pot was a bit damp, and when I picked it up, I accidentally squished it - and an idea hit me!

With a little bit more water and some experimentation, I turned those peat pots into stems for various pumpkins - it's a little bit like working with paper clay or papier mache'.

Continue reading for my easy tutorial... 

AUTUMN Inspiration: 🎃 October

🎃 I tend to think of October as being 'Pumpkin Season'... maybe because I love pumpkins so much that I have created so many new versions of them! (Honestly, I am just not into scary / spooky Halloween - at ALL.)

I love the colors and elements that nature offers us in this season, and the ability we have to 'feather our nests' and make them cozy and welcoming for the colder months ahead. One of my favorite fall activities is harvesting natural materials and bringing them indoors to grace our homes before their life cycle ends. And I have always championed that we can diy our own autumn decor to make it exactly what we want, in our favorite colors, that expresses our own special style. 

I've rounded up some fun pumpkin decor ideas, projects, and tutorials below to inspire you this month... and if you'd like to see ALLLLLLL of my autumn diy projects from the past 14 years, they are here!

AUTUMN: Book Page Leaf Wreath + Bonus!

It does seem like Deb's got a THEME going this fall, does it not? 😉 Yep, I'm letting my bookish obsession off the shelf as I make seasonal decor using BOOKS!

This wreath is a new iteration of an idea I have played around with for years: making replicas of leaves out of paper. I pulled out my box of old tattered damaged books again, and worked some autumn magic with them... 

Continue reading for my tutorial on making the leaves and then attaching them to a foam wreath form... plus an additional way to use paper leaves in your fall decor!

AUTUMN: More Book Pumpkins!

Before I continue into this project's tutorial, I have a question for my fellow creatives: Have you ever been 100% certain that you did something, and that there is photographic evidence of that something, and you can actually SEE it in your mind - but can not find ANY of the photos, or the blog post you swear you published, to prove it???? 

As I was posting my last project, a previous one came to mind and I intended to link it as 'Related Content'... but I can't find it. I am absolutely certain that I created this before, and posted it here on my blog and on Pinterest and my facebook page, while I was in my 'Yellow Era'.

I can't find ANY evidence of it. I've searched my computer files, my facebook files, my Pinterest boards, my blog posts (even drafts that never published). ZipZeroNadaNuthin'.

Guys, I have a photographic memory. It is stunning even to me how my brain works visually, and this conundrum has me spinning in circles because I know what I know. I made this same exact project using yellow books, and photographed it on my faux mantel. And yet I can find no tangible evidence of that... 

So I am doing what any somewhat sane but confused creative person would do: I'm making the thing that I thought I had already made. I'm taking photos of the thing, and I'm sharing them here on the blog. (And what do you want to bet that at some point in the not too distant future, those 'lost' photos and blog post are gonna' show up out of nowhere?? I'd bet money on it.*)

Continue reading for one of the easiest tutorials you'll ever see from me....