Stained Harvest Crate

Today is the first official day of Fall. That is nature's way of saying that I can put my sandals away and get my boots out.  Since Fall is here, I can also now buy all the pretty gourds and squash that I want. My front step is just asking to be all tricked out for the Fall.

Last year I just stacked them around my front step. This year I wanted something different.

I wanted a crate. But not just any crate. I wanted a Harvest Crate.

Good news is you can now buy unfinished plain old crates at almost any craft store. The bad news is that in all their new and shiny glory they don't look very old and harvesty.

We can fix that though. All we need is a little bit of stain. 

I found this spray paint stain. Guys, it is GLORIOUS. Glorious I tell you.

You just spray it on. I sprayed on two coats.

Then you wipe it off. You spray and wipe to get the look you want. Less coverage or more coverage. You decide.

Once the stain has dried, you can stencil it. I cut my stencil out of vinyl.

I painted a light and rough coat of white paint. I did a light coat because I want it to look weathered.

Remove the stencil while the paint is still wet. Let the paint dry.

Now it can be filled with all kind of gourds and set on your front porch.

I pretty much love it. Now all I have to do is add a few more touches to complete my Fall front porch.

Oh I am so happy it is Fall. This is my favorite time of year.

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Green and Orang Hoppy Easter Mantel

Happy Easter...or should I say HOPPY Easter?!

I went a little cray with the HOPPY theme for my Easter decorations.

After I made the Easter Teacher Appreciation gifts for this year, I fell in love with the whole bunny thing. I also happened to become obsessed with using green and orange for my Easter colors.

With my bunny love and green and orange obsession in mind I went to brain storming.

In the middle of that storm my brain settled on something that I was rather giddy about.

I am in love, love I tell you, with the oh-so-popular song by Pharrell Williams "Happy".

My love of this song sparked me to make a printable to go along with my Green and Orange Hoppy Easter Mantel.

Drumroll...

Ta-Duh!

Oh heavens! I really love these clipboard signs. It was one of those moments when I actually felt a bit clever. Just a bit mind you.

A funny little Easter homage to my current favorite song.

Download HERE

I paired my happy...er...uh...hoppy signs with a lot more green and orange, including some tissue pom poms. I do love my tissue pom poms.

I also am a big fan of decorating with candy, because well, duh I LOVE candy.

Another thing I love, giant kelly green bunny art. Now I haven't always been in love with giant green bunnies. That is new.

Thanks to this.

He sits there rather jollily.

I also added in these ceramic bunny garden stakes to some IKEA fake grass. I found these sweet little bunnies at Target. I simply spray painted them orange to fit into my green and orange theme.

Then it seemed best to throw a carrot printable in. Ya know the whole bunnies like carrots and carrots are orange and green thing seemed to fit.

So I created these simple carrot prints using PicMonkey. Then I put them up with some green washi tape next to my giant green bunny.

Download HERE

There ya have it. My whole green and orange obsession right there in one Springy and festive place.

I hope you enjoy my bit of spring and Easter.

I hope you enjoy these printables...especially my little ode to Pharrell Williams' HAPPY. 

Thanks for reading!

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Simple Easter Decorations

I finally put up some Easter decorations.
 

I love these blue/green colors. I also love the simple pop of pink.

 

I was inspired by the new line of paper and elements by American Crafts, Dear Lizzie Fifth & Frolic (now available at JoAnn's). The line features refreshing and crisp blues, greens (which I obviously LOVED), pinks and yellows.

There is also absolutely delightful glitter paper.

The paper inspired several projects, including some much needed Easter decorations.

I used my Silhouette to cut out a lot of bunnies in the blues and greens and one in pink.

With the help of Mr. Elmer, I attached my bunnies to a blank canvas.

I spaced them out "evenly", or as "evenly" as I could eye ball. 'Cause that is how I roll.

I also cut out some 1/2" strips.

I glued them to a piece of cardstock paper.

On the back of the cardstock I drew an Easter egg shape.

Then I cut it out. I flipped it over and it gave me a lovely stripped egg.

I put it in a handy dandy frame from Ikea.

I had some leftover scraps of the strips, so I started punching out circles from the scraps and from another piece of pink paper.

I sewed them all together to make a little banner.

Now I have a little spot befitting a little Spring festiveness.

I have another project using this paper that I am excited to show you next week sometime if I can get my act together between two birthday parties and Easter. A sweet and lovely girly project. The kind of project I don't often get to do in this house full of boys.

Thanks for reading!

Have a fabulous day.