Today’s early morning project: I created an “Ear of Harvest Corn with Wooden Beads”
I only had enough beads for one ear. I had wire here, but if I do any more I would get copper jewelry wire. I believe the beads came from Dollar General and the raffia is from the hula skirt from Dollar Tree.
This was a fun and quick project and would look great mixed in with your other fall decor. I love the Fall natural look.
There was no need for me to make a tutorial on this, because the tutorial I used from Hammons Nest was excellent and easy to follow.
Today’s early morning project: More napkin rings, this time with white napkins. These are available and I do have more napkins.
I had fun making napkin rings for some green napkins, so when I saw this Pinterest idea for some made with card stock and ribbon, https://www.onsuttonplace.com/thanksgiving-napkin-rings-free-printable/I knew I had to make these. Yes, I had everything I needed in my “extensive private craft supply collection.”
Slip the napkin in and slip it out. You can save these to use again next year.
For some reason I’m on a roll with crafting….oh wait…. I know why. I should be cleaning.
It’s my neighbor’s fault. They are moving and not wanting to take some things with them, so they have been gifting and selling things to us. My hallway is full of their treasures.
Today, I am clearing a small amount out by making these cool potion bottles. Believe me I have probably another dozen bottle. I was inspired by some I saw on Pinterest. They even had printable labels to download. I saved that post and pretty much followed the tutorial there. https://overthebigmoon.com/halloween-decor-harry-potter-potion-bottles-free-printable/
And then….my neighbors came bearing a gift of about a dozen or so hot sauce bottles they saved. They really like this hot sauce. I knew right away those would make awesome potion bottles. So, of course, I had to make one. Just one…to see how it would look.
I loved how it turned out so much, I knew I had to make a few more. So, I did. I also used one of the other bottles they had given me. I think it might have been an olive Oil jar.
Here’s my first set of Harry Potter-Style Potions. I used various colors of our Missouri Limestone Paint Company chalk-style paint to get the look of dirty glass. I filled them with colored water, weak tea, Cream of Wheat, and Baking Soda. 🙂 One stopper was already green. The others I stained darker.
This set is available for porch pickup now or will be in one of my booths closer to Halloween.
*wired jute for rings – Dollar Tree *jenga blocks paint stained with holes drilled – Dollar Tree *beads cut off and saved from a beaded basketball net – thrifting 🤷🏼♀️ 🙂 *raffia – Dollar Tree *vinyl words cut on Silhouette. *small clusters of berries – Dollar Tree *folded napkins – searched google for a tutorial on folding napkins a like a leaf
I threaded twelve beads onto a length of wired jute and left enough on the ends to tie a knot and have about 3 inches left over. Then I stripped the jute off one end of the wire and threaded it through the jenga block and twisted both ends tightly to hold it in place.
I cut the thankful words on my Silhouette and added to the jenga blocks.
I made small raffia bows and tied them on with some of the wire that was still left on from the jenga block.
Then I ran a piece of raffia through the block and around the bow to hide the wire. I added a little cluster of berries with hot glue.
You could use these through the fall season and through Thanksgiving.
*Then I painted a little pumpkin so I would have an odd number of items in the bowl.
Loving the neutral look this year…..
My cousin loved the drop cloth acorn so much he had me make 36 for his Thanksgiving table! About halfway through, I painted one instead of wrapping it and he loved the painted ones, too. So, I made 18 drop cloth and painted and lawyered 18 in this beautiful fall colors! That was a lot of acorns!
Check out those risers! We cut them out of a birch tree branah from a fallen tree in their yard. We let it dry out, about 6 months, and cut it into 1”, 1 1/2” and 2” slices!
Today’s early morning project: I upcycled a 12” wood cut out pumpkin (the one that is orange and says thankful and blessed). I scraped off the glitter and temoved all the embellishments and used the other side.
First I stained it and let it dry. Then I had a silicone sink mat from Dollar Tree and used it as a stencil and sprayed over it with white spray paint. I chose to spray lightly in some areas to give it a distressed look. Love how it turned out.
I made a little tag from some balsa wood and stained it. I saw an idea on a YouTube video to use a piece of burlap, fray the edges and create letters from raffia. That worked great! Then I glued the burlap to the tag. I used the same raffia to hang it from the stem, gluing the down to keep it place, then created a raffia bow.
The cut out already had holes for hanging, so I braided some jute twine, ran it through the holes and tied with knots in the back.
Another neutral hanging pumpkin completed.
This could easily be a door hanger. I am showing it just simply wired on and sitting in the middle of a 20” grapevine wreath. This would need to be on a covered porch, though, away from the elements.
Loving it on my orange wall in my hallway. I think I might have to keep this one. Lol
Today, I decided to make a paper bag pumpkin and embellish it with a tassel gnome. Read on to see how I did it.
I used a Dollar Tree Orange pumpkin and cut a hole in the top and bottom. I also used approximately 8 paper bags from Dollar Tree. I quit counting and ended up using parts of the strips I made, but I’m sure it wasn’t over 8 bags.
I peeled the bottom of the bag away from the glue and opened the bag up completely. Sometimes it tore a little but that’s ok.
While the bag was open, I cut each bag into 6 strips. The edges I left together and the others I kept in groups of 2 so for each bag I had 12 strips to use.
I then put two strips together, crumpled them up, and then twisted them.
I was then ready to start gluing them to the pumpkin form. I started off by gluing a strip in one of the grooves and stuffing the ends into the holes and gluing them in. I did a few like that and then started filling in as needed.
I won’t lie. This is pretty time consuming, but hang in there. It is worth it in the end. There might be easier ways to do it, but this just worked well for me. I continued on until all the strips were glued on.
I then made a tassel gnome using Walmart cotton twine for the body and jute twine for the hat and a little wood bead for his nose. I used the tutorial below to make my gnome. I made him a little shorter than the tutorial by cutting off some of the strings on the bottom.
I used this gold decorator hook but it was a bit too shiny, so I painted it a light coat of brown and covered it with cinnamon. I let it dry then sealed it with Mod Podge satin spray sealer.
I added a screw to the hook, put some super glue around the screw and the edge of the hook bottom and pushed it into the pumpkin.
I tied some raffia together and tied my gnome to it, then with another piece of jute, tied all to the hook. I then added a couple of little wood leaves I already had.
I had a small parquet wooden bowl so I turned it upside to display my finished pumpkin. I did not attach the pumpkin to the bottom of the bowl. It can then be used for other things.
I’m working on putting my living room back together after a neighbor that’s moving gifted me with a lot of crafting supplies …. but first things first ….I needed a fall garland for my mantel. 🤪
I’ve added pics below of each step I did in making my fall garland.
The light green garland I bought at Hobby Lobby last year. I made off white pom poms and yarn hearts for it and it stays up all the time. Then I add to it each season.
Today I used a length of the thicker jute rope from Dollar Tree and made loops at each end to hang on the end hooks.
I added burlap leaves from Dollar Tree. They have a long wire on the back that loops over the rope. Just squeeze it to keep the leaf in place.
I wired little sprigs of greenery I had with the paper wire to the rope and curled the ends.
The little pumpkins were wired to the rope by wrapping the stem tightly. The little cream berries came in a package from Dollar Tree. I folded the wire on them over the rope like I did with the leaves.
I then hung my fall garland over the light green one. Love the neutral look this year.
While waiting for my visiting grandson to wake up, I strolled around my basement wondering what I could declutter first. Then I happened upon a package of terry cloth coasters called “Thirsty Coasters”.
I bought several packages of these at one point, thinking I could do something with them sometime. Another time I bought several cool little coaster holders. Same. Lol
Forget decluttering for now. I started wondering if I could stencil a design on them. I had a little boho mandala stencil that fit perfectly and I had lots of chalk-style paint from our brand we produce and sell Missouri Limestone Paint Company, so I chose “Gray Goose”.
They stenciled beautifully. Once they have had a good 30 day cure, our paint will be indestructible no matter how many sweaty glasses or hot coffee cups are set on it as the paint becomes part of the fabric.
This will make an awesome Christmas gift – just thinking ahead. 😂
So, I have done a bit of decluttering, too! Lol
I gathered my supplies and my coffee and was ready to begin.
I like using the makeup sponges I get at Dollar Tree for stenciling and small projects. I off load a little of the paint onto the paper plate so that when I stencil, it doesn’t seep under.
The terry cloth took the stenciling beautifully. I love how they turned out!
It’s been awhile since I’ve had an early morning project, but today I have two.
I often do early morning projects. If you don’t see them here, you should see them on my Instagram account. https://instagram.com/sharsumpaint
Project 1: Front Door Hanger
I saw a neat idea for making a door hanger using a canvas tote. I didn’t have a canvas one, but I do have an awesome cotton one I bought as a souvenir of Amsterdam when we visited on our Viking Riverboat cruise several years ago. It was just hanging in the basement. Why not use it and be reminded of an awesome time every time I walk in the door. You could use just a plain one, too, or maybe stencil a design on one.
I used white plastic grocery bags to stuff the bag.
I tied a knot in the back handle close to the top of the bag and wrapped it through the hole it created several times until I had a short hanger. Then I tied a looser knot in the front handle and wrapped it through the hole until both loops were the same. I took a pic after the fact, do hopefully, the pic will help you understand my description.
I then decided I might as well start thinking of fall and so used greenery and fall sunflower colors inside. The orange sunflowers really brought out the orange in the bike.
Project #2: Paper Feather Wall Plaque:
I printed feather shapes with a French script (from The Graphics Fairy – https://thegraphicsfairy.com/french-script-paper-feathers/) on black and white printer paper. I cut this one out and used a watered down antique wax on it. I just dabbed the wax on here and there with a sponge. Once dry, I cut fringe slices around.
Interesting note: Once I applied the antiquing wax to the black ink jet text, it turned green. I really like that look, although I didn’t plan it. Lol
I had a white shiny 4×4 tile. I first sprayed it with Mid Podge sealer to help the paint adhere well. I sprayed it with black hammered spray paint. When dry, I applied antiquing wax, let it set awhile, then buffed it. This kept it from being so black and gave a bit of a brown look to it.
I then gave the feather a few light folds and super glued it to the tile, giving it a 3D look.
I finished it off by tying a bit of twine in a knot and then superglued it to the base of the feather. Will add a hanger to the back.
Now to come up with more ideas for paper feathers. I’d love to see projects others have done. Just add photos to the comments here if you have!
Closeup of how the black ink jet script turned green after applying wax.
SharSum Paint 