Fall Home Decor Tour

I have a project no one should try!  Learn from my mistake!  Plus, an easy project everyone should try on the fall home decor tour.

Fall decor that’s not my expected color.

 

Let’s start easy

Fall chalk napkins that I plan to use as numbered place cards for our first autumn dinner!

I started with six washed, dried and ironed inexpensive basic white napkins.  Yes IRONED!  Since I haven’t tried this before I didn’t what to use vintage or the linen napkins I got on sale.

The steps

1.  I printed onto freezer paper, photos of fall leaves from our maple tree.  I used a photo from last fall since right now the maple leaves are still green!  I upped the color of the leaves before printing to get more red.  Then laying the printed image face down on a corner of a napkin, I used a craft stick to rub across the back transferring the image onto the napkin.

2.  Next comes the chalk paint.  Using painter tape, I taped off a square at the base of each leaf and painted with chalkboard paint.

3.  Then for simple detail to each leaf, I added veins using a permanent orange marker.

4.  Next, I added a number to each napkin using chalk.

Easy project anyone can try!

Why numbers?  Because 3 out of the six guests names start with “J!”

Random tip if you don’t have enough dishes

For the rest of our autumn tablescape, I wanted to use our cabin dishes.  But I only have a setting for 4.  There will be 6 guests.

So I mix in white dishes. 

Three cabin plates, three white plates and alternate the salad plates.  Notice I also mixed the silverware.

The tablescape

The centerpiece is old springs from a bench with chunky candles and a vase full of decorative corn.  Simple and rustic.

My son will be happy to know those candles have a battery! 

One Thanksgiving the centerpiece went up in flames when the candle burned down to the flowers!

You might have noticed the orange cupcakes!  My mom loves those packaged orange cupcakes, but they can be hard to find.  Once mom and dad drove around to every convenience store within a 30-mile radius looking for every orange cupcake they could find.  Mom then froze them to enjoy when she had a craving.

Mom, this is for you!

More fall around the house

Next is the fall decor that’s not my expected color.

Orange!

Usually, I’m painting pumpkins white or grey or with black chalkboard paint.  As you can see I added several touches of orange to our fall mantel.  I did the firebox area a couple of weeks ago adding the book jacket art that you can read how here.

This all started with the cute little-framed pumpkin over on the right.  I made three.  I know I shouldn’t have favorites…but this little square framed pumpkin makes me smile!   You can see the other two here.  Since the pumpkins would be square I figured the color should be orange.  Otherwise, they would be squares with a stick coming outta the top!

So I’m decorating the mantel with orange!

I added my mom’s old old old chalkboard, a black wired pumpkin, a rusty flywheel, my favorite pumpkin card, and a truck full of orange mini pumpkins, a vintage milk bottle full of dried wildflowers, and pine branches.

I have to admit…I plan on painting these pumpkins later!

Okay, so much for orange!

Plus, I will take the stems off and save them for other types of “non-real” pumpkin projects!

The project no one should try

Now that project no one should try!!!

Notice there’s orange on my pine branches?

I thought it would be cool to lightly spray orange on the pine branches.  That might have worked fine and is not where things when wrong.

I didn’t have orange spray paint and didn’t want to go shopping for spray paint.  An idea started forming…

stand back the brain is working…

What about making a spray paint!  Add craft paint to one of those mini spray travel bottles.  That will work!  I added orange craft paint and mixed in about the same amount of water.

Then started spraying.

The bottle leaked, then got stopped up, then dribble paint, then leaked some more.

So I added more water!

The bottle leaked, then got stopped up, then dribble paint, then leaked some more.

I had orange paint everywhere but on the pine branches.

Then it hit me, why would I put orange on pine branches anyway????

I think I have orange on my forehead!

Oh, why did I try this one???