TROPI-fall decor in our Shasta trailer!

before i start sharing NEW pumpkin & fall decor ideas,
i wanted to time-travel back to last September and show you
my 'TROPI-fall' pumpkins in a different kind of setting!

though i don't share many photos of our home here on the blog,
all of our rooms and decor have a tropical vibe.
since we are unable to travel to Hawai'i now, we 'live Aloha' here at home.

as summer wanes and autumn approaches, 
i bridge the seasons with pumpkins that i create in beachy, tropical styles...
faux painted bamboo and sand, coconut tiki mugs with stems, and more.

so would it surprise you to learn that i ALSO use tropical decor
in our Shasta camping trailer, Miss Dot?!!!

i 'shop the house' for decor elements that fit the season or theme
of the campout we're going to
(we are members of three different trailer groups),
put them into a storage bin, load it up, and then
have as much fun decorating Miss Dot as i do decorating our home...

continue reading to see how Miss Dot looks with TROPI-fall decor!

fall favorites: ALL of the pumpkins!

well, here we are in August already...
a month that i always think of as 'summer's golden hour'.
and fall is just around the corner. 
i LOVE summertime and am always sad to see the season go,
and usually i keep creating + sharing 'summer' content this month...

but i know everyone out there is ready for fall and all that comes with it.
and that means PUMPKINS!!!!

have you heard the voice clip on Instagram that goes 
"Do *I* like pumpkins??? Yeah. Yeah, I like pumpkins!!!!"
not only does it describe me, but the voice actually SOUNDS like me!
(it isn't me, but it's a bit eerie hearing it all over social media every fall!)
so yeah, i like pumpkins. i've collected them all of my life,
and i REALLY i like making pumpkins
out of just about any element + material i can find...

from painted tin cans to silvery trays, rusty metal junk, and copper kitchen scrubbies
to sweaters and yarn and lace and macrame' and even balloons,
from faux painted concrete, terra cotta, kintsugi, and Pyrex + china patterns,
to ping pong paddles, plant pots, wire waste baskets, picture frames, books, and paper,
i've made DOZENS of pumpkins over the past three decades...
and i'm sharing a link to ALLLLL of them!

click to see every pumpkin i've ever created!

i hope these projects inspire you to try a few new DIY pumpkin projects this fall!

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'Christmas in July': SanTIKI mug

the summer heat must be getting to me,

because i'm jumping on the 'Christmas in July' theme. 

👀 WHAT???!!!! 

truth is i've been dealing with some.... stuff... and my creativity is ebbing.

i've run out of time and frankly the energy to complete the diy projects i started.

but as i was perusing photos of past projects,

i found one that i created + photographed back in late fall 2019, but never shared it.

since it just happens to fit the 'Christmas in July' theme that we're seeing everywhere,

i've decided that NOW is the time!

(granted, it's got a summer vibe,

 but it's made out of something decidedly Christmassy... so it works!)

 

...continue reading to see how Santa became a tiki!

tropical tiki transformation

our backyard in Southern California underwent a transformation back in 2020....

when the pandemic shutdown happened and we had to cancel our trip to Kauai, Hawaii,

we decided to bring Hawaii to us!

i shared some of those backyard diy projects here on the blog back then

(the bamboo tiki bar, the tiki totem pole, and others - all linked below this post).

the project i'm sharing today wasn't a planned one - 

i saw something in a store and thought 'hmnn. that COULD look really good if i....'

and so i bought the item, brought it home, and worked some magic on it with paint.

it couldn't have been easier to transform a really cheap looking tiki mask

into something with much more of our own tropical style.

continue reading to see how it started... and how it's going now!

tropical front porch decor

i always tell people 'i see things differently'... 
that means i use elements & materials in ways they weren't intended to be used.
and i RE-use things i've created before in new ways.

this tropical look on our front porch is a perfect example!

in past posts, i've shared how i raided the garden shed for fall porch decor,
using items meant for the garden to decorate with. 
here i've used paper & bamboo party decorations...

continue reading to see what i used 'differently' to get this summer vibe...

easy tropical-style light cover

the summer heat arrived here on June 30th,
so i've been busy completing some fun new EASY projects around our home

(which has a tropical, tiki vibe going on all year long!)

since these projects work perfectly well as 'summer' season decor content,

 i thought i'd share them here on the blog this month!

so... let's get tropical!

first up, a ridiculously EASY way to make a builder-grade light fixture

look a lot more fun for summer... in just two steps!

continue reading to see what i did!