Happy Fall ‘Yall!

I can’t believe it’s October already!  I absolutely LOVE Fall! It is by far my most favorite season!!! The colors, the weather, the pumpkins, the leaves changing, football, hunting, weekends at the camp… I could go on and on!!!!! Here are a few Fall decorations around our house I wanted to share with you.

I usually buy all of my holiday decor on clearance at the end of the season and use it to decorate the following year. Last year at this time I was unfortunately unable to leave the house (see my profile for more info) so I didn’t have any new pieces to add this year, but that’s OK because I got to bring home all of my Fall decorations from my old classroom! (Side note: I taught Kindergarten for 2 years and Pre-K for 4 years so the amount of STUFF I have accumulated over the last 6 years is indescribable! Just to give you an idea, my father in law and I went to retrieve all of my “personal items” from my classroom and we came home with 15 Rubbermaid tubs!!!!!!) Anyways, so I had a lot more to work with this year than I anticipated, and I had a lot of fun decorating both the outside and inside of our house. Here are a few pictures and a full source list…

Front Door (I blurred out the right side address number for privacy reasons) I made the white pumpkin topiaries from faux pumpkins I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby 3 years ago and spray painted them ivory.  They are attached to one another by very long screws. I added some natural raffia that I purchased from Hobby Lobby to the top and middle pumpkins just to give them some more character.

I found this scarecrow yard art from Hobby Lobby on clearance 3 years ago as well as these 3 small bails of hay (they are also still wrapped in plastic).  Then, I draped a few more Dollar Tree faux Fall leaves around them.

These hay bails are from Hobby Lobby clearance 3 years ago. I left the plastic wrapping on them so they wouldn’t shed hay all over my house and the attic. You cannot tell they have plastic over them unless you touch them! Draped around and mainly behind the hay, are long strands of Fall-colored leaves (prob about 8 of them) all from Dollar Tree!!! The Autumn sign is from Hobby Lobby (clearance 3 years ago) and is actually made to hang on a door in place of a wreath. The lanterns, I’ve decided, are going to be a staple on our front porch and I’m just going to dress them up throughout the seasons. They are from Paul Michael Company and I put a non-scented candle inside of them to weigh them down and keep them from blowing away.

I started by laying down a piece of burlap in the middle of a white table runner. I cut the burlap into a 1′-1/2″ x 2′-1/2″ rectangle and pulled some of the strings around the rim so that the edges looked frayed.  Then I placed the pumpkin in the middle, because it’s the biggest. Then I put the 2 deer sheds on either side, leaving some room in the middle for the rest of the decor. I wanted the deer sheds to kind of “bookend” the whole arrangement but not be the focal point. Then I just started placing the apples, acorns, squash, cotton, and berries to fill in the empty space. I had to play with it a little bit to get everything to fit and look as natural as possible. Overall, I’m pleased with the way it turned out! I found the 2 butternut squash on each end of the arrangement at Hobby Lobby 2 years ago on clearance. They were a BRIGHT yellow color and had some dents in them on one side. So, I brought them home and painted them with Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint in “Country Gray”. They were extremely easy to paint. I applied 2 coats and they were done!

This is a close up picture of the centerpiece on our dining room table. I made it out of various faux fruits and vegetables in Fall colors. (see source list for more details)