Fall Flavour

If you follow my Facebook page, you will know that I was fooling around with trying to make a wreath yesterday. I had an old book I bought from a thrift store and a wreath form from Michael's and a glue gun (always a little dangerous). I have been investigating a few different websites with instructions on how to make a Book Page Wreath this past week and so I thought I would give it a try.

I have to say, that I am really pleased with how it turned out (and more than a little surprised...). This book, Madame Castel's Lodger was pretty old and the pages were yellowed which lent it a very vintage feel. Also a nice touch...

The top edges of the pages were coloured red! I love the little punch of colour in there.

This was really easy ~ there are many how-to's on-line, but I was inspired by The Nester site originally, so check it out if you want one for yourself.


So after I finished this work of art, I started fussing about where to put it. My husband has a tradition of making a wonderful dinner for two on Sunday nights for after the kids have eaten and are on their way to bed. While he was prepping our food, I had a glass of wine and thus fuelled, was inspired to tear apart our mantle and redecorate. The weather has really turned in Alberta this week and fall is in the air so I wanted to add some harvest-y touches. I am trying to do more seasonal stuff on some of our horizontal surfaces rather than leave them static and dusty all year long. I LOVE the dollarstore for this. So this is the mantle:

I managed to stick the wreath in there and some fall type colours and a crow with glitter. I bought the crow last year as a joke because my daughter hates them and I enjoy teasing her a little bit about that (mother of the year, right here).


I am not sure it is done, but it is a start.

During a fit a few days ago, I also got a start on my sideboard in our eating area.

The ceramic pumpkins were a purchase from last year after everything was marked down and I think they were something like $.35 each. I love the glass jars because they are nice to fill with seasonal stuff to make a mini-statement. I used dried beans in the bottom and styro squashes and sticks of berries from the dollarstore. The beans are a fun thing to bring home to scare your family into thinking you are going to make some sort of really healthy, beany soup. 

The mirror box is also made from dollarstore mirrors and a glue gun. I read how to do it here at The Art of Doing Stuff site (which everyone needs to read ~ Karen is hilarious).


I also pulled out a few other gems I had stored and it is starting to feel like fall all of a sudden.

This week I have a few things I will change outside as my flowers die off with these frosty nights. Until then, this little guy will stand guard, waiting for Thanksgiving:

I would love to hear where you get your inspiration for decorating. I know you are out there even though you might be shy to comment (I have a counter on the blog!)...  There are many inspiring decorating websites on the internet, but I love Pinterest for this as well. It is so nice to have people's inspirations all in one place.