{felt leaf garland}

I'm in full on fall decorating mode around here. 

Pumpkins on every possible surface. That's a post for another day though.

Today I want to share a super easy DIY project with you. So easy that I debated even sharing it, but it turned out so lovely I figured why not!

Saturday I broke out my felt, yarn and hot glue gun to whip up a happy little fall leaf garland. 

I took a trip to Joann Fabric to pick out the felt - four coordinating colors that felt like fall to me and also matched my other decor. I free handed the leaves (used a sharpie to draw out the more complicated shapes), but if you need a bit of help with shapes a Pinterest search is super helpful. I even found a template here.

My first attempt at stringing them together was with a needle and clear thread, but it was a total fail. I wanted them to lay facing out when hanging, and that wasn't happening with the string. So I broke out my trusty old glue gun and some yarn. 

And it turned out perfectly! I might make another to hang over our kitchen window.

The fun thing about this project is you can cut out any darn shape you want! Feathers, acorns, pumpkins...and felt is super forgiving. 

Hope this inspires you to create some of your own fall decor!

XO,

{around the house}

It has been a really good week for my little blog. Lots of new followers and lots of views thanks to some really great press. I'm beyond thankful. It is really humbling, and can I admit, kind of scary{?!}, to see that almost 2,000 people looked at my blog in one day. 

It creates a bit of panic for me to be honest. 

Like..."O my goodness...what can I come up with next that will be JUST as popular as the last thing?" 

As I was having one of those mini panic attacks last night, trying to think about what I should post next, a little voice told me to chill out. 

"Just share something that makes you happy," it told me.

So here you go...lots and lots of things in our home that are making me happy today...

The last three photos are from some much-needed decorating I did in our bedroom yesterday. Why is it that the room that is supposed to be your sanctuary always gets helped last? It put a huge smile on my face to go to bed last night and have a prettier view. 

What are your favorite things to look at in your home today?

{dining room update}

Remember awhile back when I blogged about our dining room and the awkward space next to our fireplace that I couldn't figure out how to fill?

Yep...it looked something like that. Of course that was before we removed the fireplace doors and gave the mantel, hearth and brick a fresh coat of white paint.

Well guess what friends? I finally figured out what to add to that awkward little corner...and it is making me smile big time.

I bought Dan a record player for Christmas, and when I saw Elsie's cute record player corner, I knew right away what I wanted to do...

I've had this vintage typewriter table for years...it was a $12 antique shop find. And it is absolutely perfect for the record player. The little shelf is so great for storing our records, and the table is one of my favorite pieces to begin with, so I just love how this little nook has turned out.

The artwork is a free printable you can find here.

And here is the mantel in its current January/Valentine's Day state...

I didn't go overboard with the Valentine's decor, but I did add a cute crocheted heart garland. The hearts are from my friend Jaime's shop Raising Up Rubies.

Hopefully this spring we will finally get this room painted, hang some curtains, and do some much needed work to the kitchen. Always a work in progress. :)

Linking up with...

{Thanksgiving decor}

I'm a few days late on this, but I wanted to share a few photos of our Thanksgiving decor. We hosted my parents and my Grandmother this year which was really wonderful and cozy. 

The first thing you might notice about these photos is that our dining room looks a lot brighter, because we painted the fireplace!! 

I'm SO, SO excited about this change. Thanks to my wonderfully helpful mother-in-law, it was a quick project and makes a huge difference in the room. And now I want to paint the rest of the trim white and get some color up on the walls ASAP! :)

Here is a little side-by-side before and after so you can see how far our fireplace has come...

SO much better, right?!

And I love how it helped to show off our Thanksgiving table...

Oh how I wish I had this plate of food in front of me again...

I really enjoyed hosting our family this year and making it special. And I can't wait to share our Christmas decorations with you...I finished most of them over the weekend with a few fun DIY projects!

Did you decorate for Thanksgiving or get to relax while someone else hosted this year?

Linking up with...

{our fall dining table}

Happy Monday friends! I hope you all had a great weekend!

Mine was filled with meetings for work, but I did manage to sneak in some good time with family and a few photos of my dining room table all dressed up for fall.

Of course it includes some of my favorite things...acorns and owls!

 I love how it looks in front of our fall mantel...

And I couldn't help but include this adorable photo of Landon taking his own pictures of the centerpiece with his itty bitty camera. Future blogger for sure. ;)

Have you pulled out your fall decorations? What are your favorite pieces and colors to use to decorate for the season?

Linking up with...

{our fall mantel}

Is it just me, or is there a defining moment between when you can't stand the sight of fall decorations to the moment when you want to throw pumpkins on every surface in the house?

Well, there is for me, and it hit over the weekend. :) 

I only decorate a few areas of our house for holidays...usually the front porch, entryway, the dining room table, and the fireplace mantel. Today I want to share what I came up with this yesterday for our fireplace mantel...

I added a few fall colored accessories to spruce up my chevron art...some yarn flowers that I whipped up Sunday while the boys were napping, a cute new owl that I picked up at TJ Maxx, a simple burlap pennant banner, and some fall colored berries. 

I thought my new owl might want a little yarn accessory of his own...

The yarn flowers were super simple...

 Just some yarn pom poms, sticks from our yard, and hot glue!

And the garland supplies included burlap, scrapbooking letters, glue and yarn. Easy peasy!

I'll share our dining room table centerpiece and my other decorations in another post. Did you do any fall decorating over the weekend? I'd love to see it!

Linking up with...