Not Yet Fall Mantel

I'm still not there with my Fall decorating, but I want to show you a fun look I did this morning on my mantel.

A few weeks ago, I found this handsome Staffordshire-style swashbuckler at a flea-tique shop.

I thought he'd be perfect as a bookend for my vintage books.

He's a bit too large for the shelf in the entertainment center, but I think he works nicely here.

Did you notice the paisley design on his pants and the feather in his hat?  So dashing! 



 Trying for a bit of Fall, I did add a few natural things in a silver bowl.

While I was photographing the mantel, Hubby said, "I have something that you can use." He ran out to his shed, and came back with a pirate pistol. 
 Of course! Doesn't every man have a pirate pistol in his shed? ( Don't answer that.)
 It isn't really a pistol. It's a letter opener. He found it somewhere many years ago.

Thanks Hubbs!
The perfect touch. ;)

Hope you enjoyed my not-yet-Fall mantel and check out all these great parties.

Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday
Kim @ Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays
Honey @ 2805 for Potpourri Friday
Sherry @ The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Laura @ Decor to Adore for Fall in Love with Your Home.

Fall Gatherings

This time of year, I like to start gathering things from the yard to use in my Fall decorating.
There are so many natural elements which can be used as vase or basket fillers, or any number of ways for Fall.
The things I collected from my yard this morning, are: pine cones and acorns, in different sizes, bark, twigs, moss and hickory nuts.

This is a pine cone and nut wreath I made many years ago and still use every year. This isn't a simple project, but one that's fun if you have a lot of dried material and a lot of time.

The ideas below are very quick and simple.

 If you don't have all these things in your yard, look around. Maybe a neighbor might have sweet gum balls, or perhaps there's a park near by with oak or pine trees.

Here are some of the ways I used my findings.

Tiny acorns are used as filler for a candle holder. I dried them in the oven at about 175 degrees for an hour or so,

to kill any bugs in them.

Here are pieces of bark with lichens on them.

Twigs are always good to have around. I cut these from a gardenia bush.

 Of course, I'd never leave candles burning unattended, especially with dried material in the lantern. 
 Keeping it simple, I left the pine cones, acorns, etc. in their natural state. I'll spray them later with a clear sealer.
The best part of collecting natural materials is... that everything is FREE!!

I'm sure y'all have lots of great ideas for using dried materials. I'd love to see them.
Let's join Barb @ Grits and Glamour for

From Transferware to Tuscan

As much as I love my Blue Willow transferware, for Fall, I wanted to do something totally different...something with warm colors.

Wanting to change the look on a budget, I shopped the house. I'm always on a budget.

As I gathered things with Fall colors, a sort of Tuscan look,  began to happen. 
Actually, I used a German marmalade jar, Portugese pottery plates, American Shaker boxes, French cheese and Italian bread sticks.   Tuscan...right?  :)  Ok, humor me.

Here's the hutch, ready for Fall...

I had everything already in the house, including the wine, cheese, bread sticks, and herbs...
 ...all I had to buy were pears.

How about a little wine and cheese...and pears?

Here are a few close ups...

...an assortment of bottles...

... a leaf plate to hold the cork screw...

... and lots of corks...

...gotta have a GW cheese dome...

...and a marmalade jar to hold the bread sticks.

Sorry about the faux olives. I ate all the real ones. :)

There is real wine though, and the sun is going down.

Love the warm glow of the setting sun...

"Cin Cin"!

I love having a glass of wine with friends.

Glad y'all stopped by...I just hate drinking alone. :)

Check out these great parties:

 Marty@ A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday...

Kim@ Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

Sherry@ The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home

Honey@ 2805 for Potpourri Friday

     Join http://gritsglamour.blogspot.com/ for
                     Keep it Simple.
               Sept 22nd! New Blog Party!

The Hutch is About to Change.

I'm working on a new Fall look for my kitchen/breakfast area hutch...but this isn't it. :)

Here's what my hutch looked like until a few days ago. 

It's so strange.  I love Blue Willow, but after it was on the hutch for a couple of weeks, for some reason, I wasn't happy with the look.  

Does that ever happen to you?

Well, here are a few close ups, as it was.

One Happiness Jar and two little Revere bowls are on the top, along with plates, cups and saucers.

 I don't have a tureen or other large piece, so I used a silver PB wine cooler and julep cups to fill in.

The silver vases, on either side, hold the little spindly Rosemary plants I've been trying to train to standard all summer.

They are pitiful. :(

All the dishes are Churchill, and not old... with the exception of one Booth's plate which I've had for a long time.

I know the little sterling tea pot/ tea ball is on the outside, but it's so cute, I wanted you to see it. 

Can you believe I found it, several years ago, in the back of a junk drawer at my mom's house?  It was black with tarnish, and she didn't even know she had it.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have time for a cup of tea before you go.

I'll show you the new Fall look for the hutch soon.

Hugs,

Babs

Looking Forward to Fall

Hi, Everybody!
 I've been working on a couple of changes for Fall. Even though the weather is warm again, I'm thinking cool... come on  Fall.

I love using natural elements as much as possible.
On the chest in the entry hall, I did a somewhat rustic arrangement, using an old wooden box and gourds. 
The gourds are volunteers from the garden. A nice surprise.
I'm staying with cool greens and browns, since it's still in the 80s outside.

You can see the gourds are still green, but they'll turn a nice shade of tan as they dry.

Normally, I would have used dried hydrangea, but this time, I went with faux. 
I put three gourds in the old wooden box, added lotus pods and some twigs, to give it height, stuffed in the hydrangeas, and that was it.

 In the living room, I decided to take the antlers down from the secretary (I know some of y'all will be happy about that)  :) ...and use them in the dough bowl, with an assortment of natural things...wicker balls, moss, dried pods and some round things that look like dried fruit. 

 I have no clue as to what those fruit things are. 
Everything, except the antlers, gourds and pine cones, came from Home Goods in a chicken wire basket.  I'll use the basket later...probably in the kitchen.

 I added some Sedum  Autumn Joy to a silver vase, and that's it.
Sorry the photo is sort of pink, I guess it's a reflection from the walls.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm still working on my hutch in the kitchen and a few more changes.

I'll be joining Sherry @ The Charm of Home for
Home Sweet Home Friday.  
 
and Honey @2805 for Potpourri Friday.

See y'all there.
Babs

I've Been Featured, and a Fall Door Wreath

Wow! I was thrilled and surprised when Brenda @ Cozy Little House featured three new bloggers on her Welcome Wagon Friday party seen here. I was one of them! :)


"Thanks Brenda", and "hi" to all the new bloggers I met from Welcome Wagon Friday.


Please visit Brenda, and check out her great blog.

~~~
Ok, I'll try to get calmed down and show you my new...well, sort of new... Fall wreath.

Remember this wreath I made for the Summer?

 I wanted to re-use the grapevine wreath, take off the plate, and add something that looked more like Fall.

So, I took off the plate and scrubbed the welcome off with a Magic Eraser.

Since I had used a permanent marker, I wasn't sure it would come off, but the Magic Eraser did the trick.
After all that, I decided not to use the plate, but try something a little different.  I left the magnolia leaves on as a base.
I rummaged through all my wreath making materials. There were sunflowers, berries and fall leaves that I've used for several years, and frankly, I was tired of them.
But, I did have faux grapes, wine corks and a few odds and ends...
and this is how it looks...

I turned the wreath sideways, and decided to use 
couple of the reddish sunflowers, anyway, to brighten it.

I pulled off some of the magnolia leaves, exposing more of the grapevine, and then hot glued them to the left side of the wreath to fill in that side.

You can't really see them unless you look closely, but I used corks that came from a special wine or vineyard I like.
I don't know where this cork came from, since my son gave me a huge bag of corks that he was going to throw out.  French wine?  Oh, yeah. :)

My new-ish Fall wreath didn't cost a cent, since I already had everything.
I can handle that. :)

I did a couple of other updates, but I'll show you those later.
Hope you're having a great weekend.
Hugs, Babs
Thanks for stopping by. I always enjoy your visits.

Let's party with The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays .                                 
 
And Linda @ Coastal Charm for  Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.
 
 and Kim @ Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays.