Our pumpkins

I bought pumpkins a week or so ago, just before we all succumbed to nasty head colds (caused by and made worse by lack of sleep from an all-nighter finishing Mr. M's homework, a very cold evening in a barn for our church Halloween activity, and a short hike in the cold, snowy mountains). After buying them, I set them by the front door till we had time to decorate them.


This morning I was finally feeling well enough to tackle the project, so I opened the front door and found this:

After sweeping a bunch of snow off, I uncovered the pumpkins and brought them in to defrost.
See how they're glistening? I had to wait till they warmed up and stopped sweating.

While I waited, I got busy with my scissors and some sticky-back felt, following Lindsay's tutorial for creating Pottery Barn inspired pumpkins. The whole process was easy, the hardest part was sticking the pieces together evenly. The longest part was tracing all the pieces. We used three of the patterns Lindsay has available- there's a spider pattern also. I think they turned out pretty cute. Now I just have to wait for it to stop snowing so I can put them back on the porch (there's no room for them in the house).

Sleeping Beauty crown

I finally finished LMS's Sleeping Beauty crown to go with her dress- just in time for the ward activity tonight!

I ended up making a couple different crowns before figuring out one I liked. I tried craft foam first, but it didn't work out how I wanted.
I then tried a couple different colors of felt, also spray painted, but still didn't like the results. I finally found some gold fabric and went in that direction.
I cut out two crown shapes from felt, covering one side with gold fabric. The less pretty sides got glued together, then sewed together. I hot glued the trim and used Fast Grab tacky glue for the sparklies.
The finished product:
I like that it's soft, flexible, and adjustable. LMS likes that it's a Sleeping Beauty crown.

LMS in her Sleeping Beauty costume

Here's LMS in the Sleeping Beauty dress and crown I made for her. Isn't she cute?

A dress for lambie

This evening I sewed a dress for LMS's lambie. Now she can dress up in a pretty pink dress too.

This morning we got up really early to take Mr. M to the airport. He's flying out to a job fair- hopefully it'll be productive. I didn't get a lot of sleep, so I wasn't as productive as I could have been. I did manage to get the pink dress materials cleaned up (I'm a messy seamstress) and put away. Now I can move on to the next sewing project: recovering a chair for my parents' room.

Yesterday we had a cold front move in and got some snow! It was cold again today, and the reports are that we'll get several inches of snow tonight. Is summer over already?

On my to do list today (and upcycled Kleen Kanteens)

1. Order bedding from Pottery Barn Kids for LMS- not done- it was on sale this weekend, but not anymore- have to wait for the next time it's on sale

2. Run- didn't get moving this morning fast enough

3. Pick up Mr. M from the airport- done :)

4. Mail a pair of shoes I sold on ebay- done

5. Drop off and pick up books at the library- done

6. Find more things for LMS's Sleeping Beauty crown at Hobby Lobby- done

7. Do some grocery shopping- done, involved 3 different stores- ugh

8. Call my VT companion- not done

9. Call the Activities committee chair about the ward activity this Friday- not done

10. Sort papers on desk- done, but will have to be done again in a week, I'm sure

11.Take clothes to storage- done

12. Glue ribbon to water bottle- done

13. Test fabrics and glues for LMS's crown (I'm having trouble getting a result I'm happy with)- done

Autumn decorations

We don't have much space for decorations, but lately I've been wanting be creative. A good side effect of feeling so much better...

I bought a few pumpkins from Hobby Lobby-
Dug out some alphabet stickers I've had for a couple years but never used-

Added some autumn leaves (the same ones I used to make my new background)-
The finished product. Yes, they're sitting on our dvds- the only flat space available. I thought it turned out pretty good, though later I might find some different letters and modpodge them on for next year.

Then I made a pine cone wreath like the one Vanessa made (we were in the same ward when our husbands were at language school, and she's super creative). Mine didn't turn out quite as well as hers did, but that's because of the pine cones I used. She used small ones that fit together really well. I used Ponderosa Pine pine cones which are bigger, prickly, and don't fit together very well. I think it turned out pretty good, though.

Next time I make a pine cone wreath, I won't be using Ponderosa Pine pine cones. My fingertips are sore from being poked multiple times, and I have scratches all over my arms. I also won't drop the wreath when I'm almost finished. I did that last night and the styrofoam wreath cracked right in half. I hot glued it back together (getting a second degree burn on my thumb in the process) and let it set overnight. This morning I checked it and it was dry and hard, so I finished it off and hung it up.

We went to Mr. M's parents' house to gather the pine cones, and I brought my camera along to take some pictures. LMS picked up this pine cone and said 'take a picture mommy!'.

The finished product hanging outside the front door. I used some muslin for the hanger and bow, but didn't hem it or anything- just cut it and tied it to the length I wanted.