BRRRRR!!! Now it is REALLY Autumn!

Fall is certainly in the air.....
At Sweetwater we try to put off starting the furnace as long as possible.....so we use the gas fireplace every evening....

See.....Marvin isn't always mischievous!!!!

Once I actually give in to the fact that summer is over....I can embrace the beauty of Fall!

I love the warmer colors and the cozy textures.....and have been gradually adding fall touches all around the house.

I will wait at least a week to get the Halloween Stuff out....Halloween Decor seems to be a bit Pavlovian for me.....I start craving candy bars.....so the longer I wait.....the better it is for my diet!!!!

I finished the mantel....

Fun to look back at the photo from last year....I think I did better this time around!

I got the pumpkin print pillow out....


If you want to know how I printed the pumpkin on fabric and made the pillow....here is the link to that post....


Pumpkin Print Pillow Tutorial....

And the Faux fur throw I made last year has been keeping me warm on these chilly evenings.....

Here is the link to that tutorial

Almost NO SEW Cozy Throws....





And you can see that Marvin has discovered them too!!!!

A few mums and artificial gourds in the kitchen window are nicer to look at than the flowers on the deck that are past their prime!

Finally....this display of white and orange mini pumpkins seems to be safe from "Bad Kitty"...at least for the time being!

If it warms up later today, I plan to get out and deal with the almost dead flowers....and the front porch....and pick the hydrangeas....and cut the last of the good flowers before it freezes....

OR....

maybe I will just turn the fire on....
and cozy in with the kitty for a nice afternoon of reading!!!

Sometimes It's The Small Victories!

Seems like I haven't been doing much for BIG projects lately....

That makes writing "big wow" blog posts kind of difficult....

I decided instead to make a list of  "little things" that felt like "Small Victories" at Sweetwater this week....

 Small Victory  Number 1!


The Sweetwater Daughter has been bugging me to try this quick dry top coat from Sally Hansen....

She was soooo right!

I did my nails last Sunday and they still look almost perfect!

Small Victory Number 2!

I was in charge of buying the "raffle prize" for our staff development day at school...


I bought this beautiful mum...worth the $11 don't you think?

But it wasn't  worth the $6 they were charging for a basket to put it in....

So...I turned a grocery sack inside out and tied some burlap in a bow.....

Small Victory #3


  I "rediscovered" this lovely copper bowl I bought at "Boutique Bonne Volante" this summer....

I love when the original price tags are still on the stuff....$4.99 for a $40 item...

I picked some flowers for the little FItz and Floyd autumn themed vase....


Added the "Boutique Bonne Volante" trivet.....

and I have a nice little burst of fall on the kitchen island.

 Small Victory #4

The little glass pumpkin is another "Boutique Bonne Volante" find ($.99).

It is paired with a simple image that I printed and framed....almost FREE!

Small VIctory #5

We picked up this bunch of weed stalks on our Saturday morning trip to the Farmer's Market.  I stuck them into the copper kettle and with the addition of a couple of artificial pumpkins and the 2 mum plants, it makes a nice simple accent in the front entry.

Small Victory #6

Would you believe this gigantic bunch of eucalyptus was only $3.00 at the Farmer's Market?

It smells great and I will be able to dry it and use it for holiday decorations...

hmmmm......wonder if Marvin likes eucalytus?

Small Victory #7

 I bought a pair of thes dENIZEN totally shaping stretch pull on jeans last week...

They are soooo comfortable...

The fabric has great stretch and is nice and sturdy...

Best...the front panel really does hold it all in...

I have already worn them 3 times......

Small Victory #8

These darling little Kindergarten kids are totally engrossed in a website that a girlfriend and I have been working on all summer.  It is a website aimed at helping families support their Kindergarten student in the immersion environment.  We tried it out for the first time last Friday....it is always so much fun to see your hard work pay off....the room was absolutely silent except for kids trying out their Spanish Vocabulary!  I would love you to go take a look at the site and let us know what you think!

Here is the Link:  PSI KINDERGARTEN FOUNDATIONAL LANGUAGE LEARNING

Actually.....maybe this last one was more of a BIG Victory!!

Gotta go now....hope your week is filled with lots of victories whether they be BIG or SMALL!

Trouble At Sweetwater!!!

Autumn officially began on Saturday....

We had to cover the flowers to keep them blooming and it looks like it was worth it....


This week has been one filled with warm days and bright blue skies.....and it seems it will stay warm for another week!





But still....it is time to start thinking about Fall Decor around Sweetwater!

The Planter on the front steps is filled with a few mums, 

some transplanted sedum and a nice ornamental cabbage....

pretty cheap buys from Home Depot!

I pulled out this door decoration from the box of Fall stuff.....

But then.....

THE TROUBLE BEGAN!!!

My lovely table decoration looked like this when I got home from work today!

TROUBLE.....your name is MARVIN!!!

And that isn't the worst of it!!!

Notice the arrangement next to the menu Pig.....

It started out on the mantle next to the mirror....

But NO!!!

Marvin the Terrible decided that he would hop up there and bat it around....

AND ....

while he was up there he tried to crawl behind the big mirror 

that is just propped against the wall!!!

SO...

rather than risk the mirror crashing to the floor....

I had to put this up on top of the refrigerator!

(at least until Marvin figures out how to get up there!!)

I put this planter with artificial leaves and cattails on the mantel along with a fall themed wreath....I think it will keep Mr. Marvin from jumping up there because there isn't enough room for him to get a foothold....we shall see!

After seeing all the cute tutorials for those stuffed velvet pumpkins....I searched through m fabric stash and DID NOT find any velvet....(guess a trip to the fabric store is in my future)!

I did have these two scraps of fall colored silk....and the pumpkin stems I had been saving since last year.....so I whipped these up!!!  Seriously....they took all of 10 minutes each to make!!!  

And....best of all....when Marvin starts batting them around they won't break....Hah...I foiled that little guy!!!

Tomorrow I plan to stop and pick up a few pumpkins and gourds....those are kitten proof too!  I just wish Maxine could teach Marvin some manners!!!

Here is a handy tip for keeping your pumpkins from spoiling!

Give them a nice good soaking in the sink with a little Chlorine Bleach.....

This kills any bacteria that would cause them to rot!

 

When I take the time to do this...the pumpkins last all the way until Thanksgiving!

Happy Fall.....and wish me luck with Marvin!!!

I shudder to think what will happen when the Christmas Decorations come out!!!

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NO COST Fall Planters!

We have certainly had some beautiful fall weather the last few days!
The temperatures here did dip into the low 40's a couple of nights ago.....so a killing frost can't be too far away.

The planters around the firepit were looking pretty sad....

to be honest....

I never much liked the plantings in them this year.

anyway.....by last weekend they definitely needed a fall spruce up!!!

And of course.....I didn't want to spend ANY money!!

Every year Mr. S and I take a drive through the countryside to cut a handful of cattails for the mantel....

We did that 2 weeks ago.....

 

 I always spray them with a little clear spray paint to keep them from fluffing all over.... fast and simple!

Anyway....back to the planters....I asked Mr. S. if he could get me a WHOLE BUNCH MORE....
What a guy....he used his lunch hour to go tramping through the bushes and cut some!

.....about a 50!!! 

I think this was almost better than when he sends me flowers from the florist!!!!

All that involves is a credit card and a phone....

this was way harder....

 And.....

Can you believe that I saw a teensy bunch of 4 cattails in the floral display at the grocery store for $3.99!

That means Mr. S. saved.....hmmmmmm........about $75.00....not that ANYONE in their right mind would spend that on CATTAILS!!!!

I stuck these into a planter so that I could  spray them with more clear spray paint.....

There are some milkweed pods in there too....another project...another day!!!!

once they dried.....

I was ready to get started!

I moved all the smaller planters down into the garden and only left the four biggest pots....

I couldn't bring myself to pull up the Profusion Zinnias that are still sort of blooming....

but I did cut out the obvious dead stuff...

I stuck the cattails in......

Took a short walk to the ditch for some Pampas Grass switches.....

And there you have it.......

 FREE FALL PLANTERS....

A fire....

A glass of wine....

A bottle of beer....

A perfect early fall evening!

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Halloween Spell Book Tutorial

This is essentially a repost of something I wrote last year.
It is WAY too early for me to start decorating for Halloween!
BUT.....
Some of YOU...are way ahead of me and actually planning and making decorations for next month.....and I thought you might like to try this fun project!

I love this wonderful decorative set of Halloween Books that my daughter gave me a few years ago.



They came from "The Shop Around the Corner" that I told you about from our Weekend Wander in Waconia!

Alas....this cute little shop is now closed....and I sure will miss it!

Last year I put the books on the entry hall  table with the Owl I splurged on....

We even saved the "perfect" branch to use again this year!

When the time comes....I will probably do something similar to this!


I loved the idea of these books  so much that I wanted some for my school Halloween display....and of course I didn't want to spend the money to buy the "real" thing....

I did a knock-off version and only spent $7 instead of the $25 for the originals.

Since this was BB (before blog), I can't do an actual tutorial with photos.....
so I will try to explain how I made them!

I bought these paper mache books in a set of 3 from Michael's for 6.99

• I painted the outside with flat black craft paint.

• I painted the book page area with metallic gold paint.

• I printed out the cover and spine images on my computer

• I used Modge Podge to attach the printed titles and cover to the books

And here is the finished result! 
I left them loose....instead of gluing them together....so I can stack them every which way!

I will put them on the center table in the Media Center with all of the Halloween books for kids to check out.....
Last year a kid actually tried to check one of them out.....He was so disappointed when he found out they weren't real!

I still have these photo albums that I bought at Goodwill.....hmmmm


I am thinking I will distress these....add some Halloween themed titles and have another set....


I meant to do this last year and never got it done!!!  Maybe this year!
Wish me luck!




Speaking of Halloween....there is really nothing better than a good spooky book to read to your kids.....check out this post with lots of suggestions!

There is plenty of time to get to YOUR library and check them out!!!

 Halloween Books for Kids!


Enjoy!!!  I am going to relish the rest of September and NOT rush into Halloween!!!

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