faux painted styro pumpkins - with curtain rod finial stems!

this week i was painting a few styro pumpkins, and a weird thing happened.

i tried to 'fix' it - and a cool thing happened. 

it's not at all what i planned, but i'm just gonna' share the results anyway!

so if you're looking for more ideas for fall decor,

grab some Dollar Tree styrofoam pumpkins - and let's get painting!

<<< click 'continue reading' for loads of tips... 

paper pumpkin art

on October 1, i FINALLY succumbed to fall and brought out my pumpkin decor!

yet there was one spot on my gallery wall that was too plain - lemme' 'splain:

a year ago, i covered an old painting with some vintage canvas,

 and have been pinning and tying things on it each season 

to coordinate with my changing decor.
(spring version in a past post here)

i stared at that empty thing for two days and had NO idea what to put on it...

until i saw a pile of scrap craft & wrapping paper in my studio.

orange paper. with polka dots and graphic lines. in varied shades. 

and then i knew what to do!

<<< click 'continue reading' to see the details...

NEW! Sweet Sweater Succulents!

well... i said i'd be back if the muse strikes again... and those gals are partyin' around here!!!

after my last (surprise!) post, i tucked those ping pong paddle cacti into a bucket in my office - 

because i am vowing NOT to decorate with pumpkins for fall until it FEELS like fall here.

(it's in the triple digits where i live. decidedly still summer weather.) 

and apparently, those lil' cacti have seeped into my brain - because I HAD ANOTHER IDEA. 

same story as before: 

flash of creative energy. trip to the thrift store. making a mess in my studio. and it worked!

the best thing about this one? it makes use of something i've done before:
i took my Original Sweet Sweater Pumpkin tutorial... and made a CACTUS!

of course, i just HAD to share it with you!

<<< click 'continue reading' for my new 'Sweet Sweater Succulents' tutorial! 

well, hello, pumpkins!

(i know, it's been a year since i closed this blog! i wasn't going to post anymore!
but a recent project is SO easy and SO worth sharing with you that... well, here i am again!)

a while back, i had an idea for a new decor project.

it was inspired by some scrap wood cacti shared by 'A Crafty Mix'
on Funky Junk Interiors Junk Projects Party #474 ,

only my idea was to use *a particular wood item* as the basis of my repurposed cacti.
then i forgot all about it. (hey, it's summer....)

this past week, for some strange reason, that forgotten idea morphed into a new one.

and it was pumpkins, natch. i mean - this is me, the former pumpkin queen. 

what ELSE am i gonna' be thinking about as fall approaches, right?

i've designed my original sweet sweater pumpkins, glass lamp globe pumpkins,
tin can pumpkin pails and faux concrete painted pumpkins

...and shared them all with you here on the blog. 

so with my 'pumpkin brain' engaged, i made a stop at the local Savers thrift store,

and they had exactly what i needed. i saw it, i liked it, i wanted it, i got it. (yeah).

and then... i painted it!

<<< click 'continue reading' to see what i did - and what i used!