Fall Candle Holders

I'm so excited with how awesome these candle holders turned out!

Last year, my sister decorated some jars with colored rice and un-popped popcorn; I thought it was so pretty and wanted to try it this year.

I started by mixing uncooked, white rice with a couple drops of food coloring and a couple drops of rubbing alcohol. (If you're worried about kids or pets getting into it, I read that white vinegar will also work.) I kept some white rice and made yellow and orange for the traditional candy corn colors. I laid the colored rice out on paper towels to let it dry completely. If you use vinegar, it will need a lot longer dry time; that's why I decided on the alcohol - plus, the rice for this project will be completely sealed off.

I headed to my area dollar store and craft stores to find a perfect, candy-corn-shape container... It ended up being some wine glasses turned upside down - perfect for a candle holder!
For a base, to hold the rice in, I found some round mirrors that were just a bit larger that the glasses, but would work well anyway.

Pouring in the white rice first, then orange, then yellow, I had an upside down candy corn. I used my hot glue gun to glue the mirror on the top of the glass, then was able to turn the glass without any rice falling out.

       

Originally, I thought I'd leave the mirror visible, but I was a little fussy about the glue showing more that I expected.
Fortunately, I had some silk leaves that I had bought last year and never used, so I added those around the mirror and the ugly glue was hidden! Now I just have to remember not to pick them up from the top, just in case...

I think they turned out stunning! I sprinkled a few acorn and baby pine cones around the leaves to add to the fall look. I absolutely love them! Happy November, Friends.

Autumn Wreath

I know I've proclaimed my love for the fall season numerous times, but every year I just get so excited for it! This year, the warm weather seems to be holding out... still, today it's officially fall and I was ready to get some decorations out.

A couple years ago, I made my first wreath and blogged about it here.   [In fact, it was two years ago, yesterday, and my first blog post! Happy two year anniversary saruthdesigns!]   Well, that wreath got me through two fall seasons, but when I took it down last year, it was definitely weathered.

This year, I got to make a new wreath and I was super excited about it! I don't remember where I found it (a thrift store, probably), but I had this huge grapevine wreath (you could always purchase them at Joann's) that I couldn't wait to decorate with silk leaves and sunflowers. I went out to my local Joann store and bought a few more silk sunflowers and the beautiful burlap ribbon to make a bow with.

The wreath was so gorgeous with just the leaves and sunflowers tied in!

I debated for a bit whether to add a bow or not, but in the end, I loved the ribbon so much that I had to make one.
I tried several different ways of making a bow before I realized that it's really so much easier to just cut the pieces and glue them - you get the perfect bow every time.
  

I was pleased with how the bow turned out, definitely adding to the eye appeal of the wreath as a whole. I added in a few more strands of ribbon to bring it all together.

Happy Fall Y'all!

Fall Leaf Pillow

I love my Christmas Tree Pillow (if you haven't seen it, you should check out the link); and while I was making it last year, I got the idea to make this leaf pillow. I love the colors of fall leaves, love seeing them fall from the trees, love hearing them crunch beneath my feet, so I thought I should bring some of that inside this year...

One of the things I loved about this craft is that I didn't have to go out and buy any material - I had it all from different sewing projects that I've done, or plan to do. It was a great project to start a couple days ago when the weather was too "bleh" to be outside.

This is done very similarly to the Christmas Tree Pillows, so if you like, take a look at that post first.

I used cookie cutters to get the shape of the larger leaves! And drew my own stencil for the small ones. Apply Heat-n-Bond (iron-on transfer paper) to the material before cutting out the leaves - this will help the material to fray less around the edges. You can trace the leaf shape before of after the heat-n-bond; I did it both ways so that the leaves wouldn't all be the same direction.

After I had cut out each leaf, I started playing with an arrangement, but I left the backing paper on until I was ready to iron the leaves onto the pillow case.

>> If you like super-easy, no-sew projects, grab a pillow case or plain pillow and iron away!

Since I wanted a pillow case to fit the same pillow as my Christmas Tree Pillow, I was going to have to measure and sew it.

I bought this beautiful flannel material months ago from the remnants bin at Joann Fabric's. I've been on a flannel-buying-kick for over a year now to make lots of baby gifts (see the Baby Crafts link at the top of the page). For some reason though, I haven't been able to pair this flannel up with too many baby prints. Lucky day for me - I had just enough of the fabric for this pillow case!
I like the easy, 3-piece pillow case - fold open the back and slide the pillow in. It's probably the second easiest way to make a pillow case (the easiest being just two pieces and leaving the side open). First, measure and cut a piece for the front, then cut another piece the same height, but a few inches longer. The long piece gets cut in half with the inside edges hemmed to create the back flap - there should be an inch or more overlap so that there's no gap once the pillow is stuffed inside. Pin it all together inside out, sew around all four sides, then turn it right-side out.
The back flap is a little loose on mine, so I'm thinking about grabbing some leaf buttons to hold it in place, but I'm not sure about doing button holes...

Once the case was done, I ironed it flat and began positioning and ironing-on the leaves.

As it came together, I decided to make a couple more small leaves to fill in a few spots. I wanted it to look like the leaves were falling down into a little pile, without overlapping the leaves too much that they wouldn't stand out by themselves. I think it turned out perfectly!

It's a bright, beautiful fall day inside no matter how cold it's getting outside. And after Thanksgiving, I can take this pillow case off and put on the Christmas tree pillow case. 

Do you think you'd make one? Would you keep it or gift it?

If you love this, let me know; I'd love to see what you make!