Jack o Lantern Fun

I snatched this idea from a friend on Pintrest earlier this week.

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But Jodi, that is a snowman and it’s fall.

Yes yes.  I know.

How about a jack o lantern instead?

Monkey wanted to make a happy pumpkin.  I used white chalk to outline our facial features and Monkey cut most of it out.  I just used rolled scotch tape on the backs and let the kids put them where they wanted.

Easy peasy fun.

My Little Wooden Pumpkin

I found these adorable pumpkins while perusing the web a few weeks ago.

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I just happened to see them while our carpenters were here putting in our new windows.  I grabbed a few pieces of small scraps off the trash pile (ok – I grabbed more than a few but I set a bunch aside for future projects ;-) ), grabbed the drill and got to work. 

This:

is now this:

I knew the back wasn’t going to show so I screwed the 3 pieces of scrap together with a small scrap of strapping on the back.

 

I took the paints to it yesterday.

 

I like the new colorful addition to my fall decorations!

I found these pumpkins a few days later:

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I’ve already found wood in the garage to make something similar to these as well.  I’m hoping to get to work on that today but it looks like rain so we may not be playing outside today.  Too bad.  I’m itchy to get started.

Next up – wreaths!

Linking up here:

Pintrest Inspiration

Fall Edition

Pintrest is such a great source for inspiration.  I find myself adding to my inspiration files on a very regular basis.

How cute is this?

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Simple centerpiece for a dinner party, perhaps?

 

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It almost seems a shame to cut up an old book like this, but look how cute this pumpkin is!

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Our front door still needs a wreath.

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Easy pumpkins – there is always scrap wood lying around here.

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I think these adorable pumpkins need to hit my to-do list.

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And after a hard day of crafting, enjoy some pumpkin cream cheese muffins.  YES, please.

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Oh yes.  I love this time of year.

We’re getting Halloween decorations ready…  and I may already have a pretty big inspiration file going to Christmas – gifts, projects and decorating.  Dangerous.

Linking up here:

Fall Fun

Yes, it’s mid-September but here in Northern Maine, the fall weather hit us this weekend.

I picked up a bunch of mums to swap out my summer annuals, rearranged all of my outdoor vignettes and pulled out the Halloween tote.

Better.  My doors need some attention – and I have something fabulous in mind – but I’ve promised T I’d finish some other projects before starting anything new.

Those poor milk jugs of mine needed some love.  The stone paint had all washed off in the rain.

Fresh paint and a fresh look.

I’d put our old wine barrel in the middle of a flower bed this spring and it ended up being covered by the flowers (I was not expecting 7 foot tall flowers!).  We moved it out to a more prominent position.

We didn’t have any luck with the pumpkins in our garden.  I also haven’t found a new “go-to” pumpkin patch for cheap pumpkins.  So for now, this will do.

We’re getting our Halloween decorations ready with some new homemade goodies.  We’ll put them out in a few weeks but it doesn’t hurt to get ahead of the game in crafting!  My favorite so far?  This repurposed screen headed for the trash:

I found a witch image online to mentally guide myself with, but I freehanded this bad boy.  I’m quite pleased with it.  I have a second trashed screen waiting for a similar treatment.

Enjoy the change in the seasons.

 

I’ve linked up here:

Leaf Peeping and Apple Dumplings

We’ve finally managed to get rid of the crap/cold/flu/whatever that has been plaguing our house for the past month. 

We decided to take a drive yesterday to do some leaf peeping and bring a picnic lunch for the kids.   In the Bangor area, the leaves aren’t very colorful yet.  However, just an hour north, the leaves are beautiful.

When we got back, I decided I needed to make some apple treats.  I was going to make an apple cream cheese cake, but then saw it needed to sit overnight.  I wanted instant gratification so opted to finally make T those apple dumplings he’s been hankering for.

Old Fashioned Apple Dumplings (recipe from Straight from the Farm)

I started by getting the insides ready.

4 tbs sugar

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/3 cup Craisens (optional – kept to the side)

4 medium baking apples, cored and peeled ( I had small apples so made 6 total)

Then I prepped the syrup supplies.

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Next, I started on the crust dough.

2 cups AP flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup chilled butter, cut into cubes

1/2 cup 2% milk

1) Preheat oven to 375.

2) Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form.  Pour in milk and stir to form a dough.  Add flour if too sticky.  Do not overwork.  Divide in half.  Roll one half on a lightly floured surface to 1/4” thickness.  Cut into squares.

3) Cut off top and bottom of each apple.  Rinse in cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.

4) Place 1 apple in center of each dough square.  Fill cores with Craisens and sugar mixture. Sprinkle sugar mix on apples.  Wet edges of dough and seal corners at the top of the apple.  Pinch to seal.

5) Place all dumplings in a baking dish, 1” apart.

6) Bring syrup ingredients to a boil, remove from heat and cool slightly.  Pour around dumplings and sprinkle 2 tbs sugar over top  (I used more sugar mixture from the insides on the top of the dough).  Bake for 45 minutes.  If browning too quickly, place foil on top for final 10-15 minutes.

Fresh from the oven:

We enjoyed them for dessert:

I opted for a small scoop of ice cream with more of the syrup drizzled on top:

Delicious.  

A beautiful day to play outside

It was a beautiful fall day outside today. We spent much of our day outdoors. I spent much of that time in just a t-shirt! I love days like this.


Monkey and I spent some time doing some winter preparations. I needed to trim down some perennials and dig up some bulbs. Then I decided to take a few pictures of our fall decorations. Most of these will transition into winter decorations very easily.


The front of the shed has an old busted out window hanging on it (there was glass when I first put it up but a wind storm had the window banging around a bit to much one day.). I finally added the wreath today. It makes it feel finished.


This old bike sits in my flower bed. It is the bike I learned how to ride on. It did have training wheels at one time but heavens knows what happened to them. The basket was an ugly yellow and green. I gave it a spray paint treatment and attached it to the bike to hold flowers. Now it holds apples and pears from our trees. And when the snow flies, I'll put pine cones in.

I also have an old chair in another flower bed. I'll change out the faux (I know!) leaves for some pine and evergreen branches once the snow flies. My father-in-law found the old rusty watering can in the woods on a walk one day and knew I'd love it. He was right.

This poor old rake got tied to a porch rail. T isn't allowed to use it anymore. I should have something on the milk can, but I don't have anything on hand that "goes."

I tried to save money this year by forgoing the mums. I'm hoping to try planting my own next year. We shall see. We also didn't get to go to the pumpkin patch. When T stopped in one evening to check the situation, he was told the picking wasn't very good. So we didn't feel too badly when the timing just didn't work out for us to go.

I've also added to my stairway. The baskets are all full of fruits and veggies. I still haven't found pretty and practical shoe storage, though. I really need to because I spend my days tripping on shoes when I'm going up and down the stairs (it wouldn't be a big deal if my washer and dryer weren't in the basement!).

I got my hanging mirror secured to the wall. I need some hooks but screws are doing the trick for now. I had this painting from my junking trip sitting in my room. I like the unfinished edge and the pop of color it adds. I haven't decided if I'll leave as is or if I'll put a wreath, as I was originally thinking.

I also played with the top of my dresser a little tonight. I got this adorable little thing on my junking trip with my mom back in May. T gave it a paint job for me (when he had me on his own version of modified bed rest) and we changed out the handles for some cute little glass knobs my mom gave me.

The painting was a junk store find. My dad built the frame for me (you're going to see more about this frame soon). I also got the candle holder and silver trays at the junk store. The glass goblets were also from my May junking trip. I don't have much jewelry and it just seemed perfect to store the little I do own on/in. I think it needs something still, but haven't decided what. I'm thinking I may put a glass plate under the candle set up. Yet another one of those things I haven't had the time to try. (Having 2 little ones is so much more work than I expected - but I do love every minute of it).

So there's a peek as to what I've been up to. I tend to get a lot done when I'm not getting much sleep and I've been suffering a bout of insomnia the past couple of weeks. I may have much more to show in the coming weeks. (Hopefully not. I'd rather sleep. haha).

I hope you've all had a wonderful and productive weekend.

PS - I'm linking up with Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Specials. Check it out!

Some of you might want to strangle me

I've got the Christmas bug. Badly. It's taken all of the strength I have to not start pulling out my plastic totes and tubs full of Christmas decorations.

So I'll share a couple fall pictures one more time to try to keep myself from being one of "those" people.

Raking is such tough work. I need a break.

A family of scarecrows. I shudder at the thought of when I took them apart. A mouse decided to start a nest in the Jodi scarecrow. UGH. (This would be the day after we found a HUGE nest in T's snowmobile and saw about 10 jump out. That really gives me the chills!)

It's difficult to not want to jump to the next season now. It's been dreary all week.