Make An Autumn Fall Wreath

I made this Autumn/Fall wreath from gathered materials in the woods and fields around my house and from some supplies from the dollar store, Michaels, and a yard sale. 

It's a fun, eye catching piece.....it really makes you want to look closer to see what's on it. And, best of all it really reminds me of the time of year we're in and what I love about Autumn. 

Want to make one?

Here's how I did it. 

You'll need:

Wreath base (styrofoam or wicker-yard sale find)

Spanish Moss (Dollar Store)

Brown  Grasses (Dollar Store

Hot glue and glue sticks

Feathers (reduced price at Michaels and in also in the woods)

Leather Flower Embellishment (Michaels)

Green Moss- Gathered 

Pinecones- Gathered

Acorns- Gathered

Birch Bark- Gathered

Shell- Gathered

Muslin piece

 - Pull out that spanish moss. It will stay in a bunch; try to elongate the bunch without breaking it too much (this stuff is messy) and then hot glue a small section of your wreath and place the moss on. Then repeat that process over and over again. And over again.

 -Once your wreath is covered with the spanish moss, flip it over and hot glue some of the loose pieces to the back of the wreath to help it all hold together. 

-Now, you can start adding your bought and gathered decorations. I places the grasses around the arc of the wreath, hot glueing all the ends together and into place, then glueing at a spot in the middle of the grasses, and then again at the end. The base of the grasses was then covered with a layer of feathers, and then the leather embellishment was added on top of the base of the feather to cover an spots where the hot glue might come through. I also used the green moss to fill in some space on the wreath where the grasses arched out, and I used it on the opposite side of the wreath as well. 

-Add what you like, where you like it.....but test it out first without glueing it down. Step back from your wreath to get a good sense of the balance of the piece. 

 I got a chance to use the osprey feather I found a few weeks ago!

 -Acorns look really great, and are in abundance right now in the woods!!

I live near some brackish water and there are always mussel and clam shells nearby. 

 I collected the green moss from fir trees near the water, like these above.

I think the leather adds some fun texture to the wreath (even if the leather isn't real). 

Someone else likes my wreath too. 

You can find this kitty (and many other funky creations made by me) here.

I shared this post at all of the parties listed on my "parties" page above and at the following parties:
Between Naps on the Porch
Link Party Palooza
Monday Funday

A Marvelous Mess

Welcome to the 

party!

And I hope you're happier than Chloe. 

The post I'm going to feature on my sidebar for a week is...

Notebook Handbag from Jelly Fish Jelly

A great idea!!

Thanks to you all for linking up to my party! If I featured you, don't forget to grab a button from the sidebar!!

Now, on to the party!!

Chloe and Buddy

This recent move of ours has taken a toll on Buddy. 

Not as much exercise recently and we live in a smaller space.

On the plus side, he gets to sleep on our bed in the mornings.

But, he is bored.

Can't you tell? 

It's definitely time for a little playing *ball*

or maybe go for a *walk**?

That's the head tilt Chloe makes every time we say "ball" and "walk.

She has been settling in well with this move, as she gets more time to snuggle under blankets in her kennel. Though Chloe is a pretty athletic dog, when given the opportunity to sleep in her bed or burrow underneath someone sitting on a couch, she'll take it every time. 

Buds, on the other hand, loves to be on the move:

We have got to take these doggies for a walk.
*Boston Head Tilt*

A Marvelous Mess Party and A Laundry Room Sign!

Hi!!

You here for the party?

Can you wait just a second?

I wanna show a project I finished recently:

It's to fill up some wall space in my Laundry Room. 

With two dogs, we have a lot of dust bunnies around.

To make this I just used a piece of plywood and painted it white.

Then I painted it, very sloppily, with orange.

Then I printed out an image of a feather duster from the graphics fairy and glued it on.

I used transfer paper and traced out the words I had printed, as well as the bunny image, and painted them black:

You know, that fast bunny image actually reminds me a bit of Chloe:

Ready to zip off after the next startling sound. 

Of course, she isn't always as fleet as a rabbit.

Sometimes, she's quite slow.

Actually, I'd say quite a bit of the time she is pretty darn sluggish.

What is that saying?

 "A rolling stone gathers no........stones?":

You can find this project linked at any of the parties in my "parties" tab above and these ones:
Making The World Cuter
Between Naps on the Porch

Alright.....

Enough from me and my doggies.....

What about you??

Here is my fave from last week:

Eggs in a Muffin tin by One Little Project

Congrats!! Don't forget to grab a button from the sidebar to show off!!

Now, on to the party:

Can I just show you all something????

This is a puff pastry filled with lemon curd, topped with fresh maine blueberries, and homemade whipped cream. 

I had this for dinner last night.

In a school cafeteria.

True story.

Boston Terrier Birthday Cake

Disclosure: I receive payments for people referred (and you will too if you use Social Spark!)

Somebody asked me to make them a Boston Terrier birthday cake. 

Here is what I came up with:

Inspired by my very sweet, but not edible, Chloe Biscuit. 

That's a super goofy picture of her. But, Boston's eyes really do kinda "pop" out (especially when they see something of interest....or are carried into a room where they had just *pooped on the rug* and know they're in for it). I was inspired to make my cake Boston have those eyes. 

The cake is a alternating yellow and chocolate layers with a very simple vanilla buttercream frosting. 

To make the ears, I just used leftover pieces of cake (I made a whole bunch of 9" ones and then trimmed them to the size I wanted) that were triangular in size and (with a little frosting) stuck them to circular top layer.

The grey frosting is just my regular frosting mixed with black tube gel frosting. I used the black gel to decorate the rest of her face and to place little dots around the sides of the layers.
I also used a little edible "pearl" dust and sprinkled it all over to make this cake shimmery.

I even made the parties "goody bags" into "doggy bags" with this stamp:

and this paw print stamp:

Super simple. 

The "treats" inside were little safari brand plastic doggies. 

And some cow tails, which doesn't follow the theme.... but, darn it all, they just taste good. 

Anyone else done a puppy themed Birthday party?

I've got plenty of projects that have been inspired by Chloe:

Bulb Box to Dog Bed

Squeaky Leather Lion Toy

Pallet Bed 

I also wanted to tell you about the awesomest blog advertising company out there:

Social Spark is great. 

I totally recommend it!

Disclosure: I receive payments for people referred (and you will too if you use Social Spark!)

You can find this project at any of the parties on my parties tab above, or at these lovely blogs:
Between Naps on the Porch
Craftionary
Making the World Cuter

I am Hunkering down today

It's turned into one of *those* days. 

You know those days? 

Chloe  and Buddy will show you what I mean.

*sigh*