Decorating Pumpkins Without Carving – Making Beautiful Harvest Displays

Decorating Pumpkins Without Carving

Picture by Joy – stop by her Flickr page!

Today I wanted to share some more ideas for using pumpkins to decorate your home & garden without having to carve them.

There are so many ways that you could choose to decorate your home for the season. For some reason, when it comes to fall decorating, many people think about the “dreaded” carving day, when they will have to display their talents (or possible lack thereof) for the whole neighborhood to see. Thankfully, there are many beautiful options available to you, where you will never even have to take out that knife

Look at the beautiful displays that some of my creative friends have put together!

From (Joy), the same gal who shared the above picture. I love how her friend has used so many different fall items such as; pumpkins, guards, bittersweet vine, colorful leaves and sunflowers, to fill this vintage baby carriage. This display is so “storybook dreamy”!

By pulling together some of your favorite bits of Autumn, you can make your home & garden the talk of the town! The best part? Most of these items can be found free by using things from your garden, and your decorating closet.

Here are some items that you could add to your fall display

rusty things (don’t you just love rusty things

A simple scattering of pumpkins & goards here and there makes everything feel so festive!

The newer white pumpkins that are showing up at farm stands around the countryside are simply stunning! They are great for decorating with, because the eggshell color goes with just about anything… even this cute little doggie

How about a pretty ribbon around the stem of the pumpkin to make is even more dazzling!

And… I think these girls are enjoying the newer white pumpkins as much as I am

Painted Pumpkin Ideas

Painted pumpkins are becoming very popular, and although they are a great project for those who are to young to carve, they aren’t just for kids anymore I have seen some absolutely stunning examples of painted pumpkins, that would be a beautiful addition to any home. You can do something very simple or extremely complex, it’s totally up to you. These painted pumpkin ideas are not only easy, but they will also allow you to use your creativity and put together something unique & inexpensive for your fall display.

Before you paint your pumpkin, be sure that it is clean & dry.

Deciding what to use to “color” your pumpkin is rather easy. Simply ask yourself… what do I already have around the house? You can use just about anything, as long as the color will stick

Here are some ideas

Choose colors that you love, and that will match your home decor. I happen to love the colors of fall, but some people wouldn’t put red or orange their homes at any cost

Here are some color combinations to spark your imagination.

blue & chocolate … do I sense a need for a quick chocolate morsal

When thinking about what types of designs to use, don’t stop at what would be considered “normal” fall decorating. Use your creativity to come up with all sorts of ideas!

Designs for Painting Pumpkins

Here are a few ideas that you might want to try.

Paint the whole pumpkin one solid color
I once saw a display that someone created, where they used several pumpkins all painted in shiny deep jewel tones. Then they were arranged into a Cinderella theme display! It was surprisingly beautiful!

Pumpkin Stencils
Decide what type of designs you would like to have on your pumpkin, then cut that shape out of paper. Tape the piece of paper onto the pumpkin, then paint over it. When you remove the stencil, you will see the stencil shape in either the color of the pumpkin itself, or the base color that you decided to use.

In this example, paper circles were taped onto the pumpkin, then it was lightly spray painted with black paint. Notice how the paint doesn’t completely cover – giving it a nice faded effect.

Stamp Designs
Why not use your stamps to put designs on your pumpkins? That way, it’s quick – easy – and you can get as intricate as you’d like… without having to have much design talent

Here’s a very pretty example of how you can use stamps to decorate your pumpkins.

Painted Pumpkin Designs
Tape a paper cut out of any shape that you would like onto the pumpkin, and trace around it with a fine tip marker. Then, fill in the shape with your desired color. The sky is the limit when choosing your design, but here are a few ideas to get you started:
leaves, acorns, dots, stars, pumpkin faces, saltbox houses, barn, etc.

You could also paint the design free handed if you’d rather as in this example.

Aren’t these sweet! Such a creative idea! And you thought argyle patterns were just for socks

Look how beautiful these pumpkins are! Although they are dressed in henna, it almost looks like toile!

If you didn’t want to actually paint your pumpkins, you could simply add stickers, or bits from your scrapbooking supplies. Look at this sweet example!

Guest Bedroom That Doubles as an Office & Crafting Space!

What’s behind those curtains?

Watch the slide show below to see how this gal turned her ordinary guest bedroom into an eye popping multipurpose space which includes a guest bedroom, home office, and crafting area!

Don’t Just Organize Them – Add a Little Pizzazz to Your Closets!

Don’t you just love the combination of colors, textures,
and wallpaper in this picture from Brocantehome!

With the heated days of summer coming to an end and chilly Autumn evenings already upon us, we know it won’t be long before we need to pull out the warmer pieces of our wardrobe. With this we also know that we will need to take a little bit of time to rearrange our closets and armoires, so that we can get to those clothes that we wear the most.

It doesn’t matter if your space is one that is out in the open for everyone to see, or a quiet little closet in the back room, we could always use a little bit of color & a decorative touch to warm things up and give it that feeling of home.

This year… along with taking some time to organize everything, why not take just a little bit of extra time and add a bit of pizzazz to your space? After all, even though no one else may see it, you still have to face it every day. So, why not make it a place that you enjoy, instead of a place that you dread digging through like a pirate after treasure!

Just a few extra touches and a bit of color can help change your whole attitude as you face each day!

I love how Pam Garrison uses pieces of scrapbook paper or wall paper to cover the walls of her closet for a wonderful decorative touch. Notice the pieces of sheet music & note paper that also cover the shelf itself.

Here’s another picture of an inside wall. The family photos added here and there are a nice finishing touch. In this case, Pam used some childhood pictures of her father.

Look at these wonderful ideas from Patricia at Vintage Treasures.

Not only does she enjoy all of her own linens, but she also has a business dealing with vintage linens, so she really needs to keep herself organized! I think you’ll agree, that she has come up with some wonderful ideas in the pictures below.

Lets have a look…

I like her idea of placing a hook, or a group of hooks, on the back of a closet door to display special things such as this beautiful nightgown. She also added some pretty little roses to dress up the hook itself. And how about that little night stand tipped over on its side to be used at a different angle!

Here’s a close up of that little night stand. It’s been given a nice “shabby” coat of paint, and lined with some wallpaper in the background.

What was once a napkin holder (or book ends) can now be a beautiful place to display an item in your closet such as the towel was in this case.

I can’t say enough about the charm that a vintage suitcase brings to any room! Look how the vintage linens pop against the deep blue velvet lid of this piece.

As in this picture, you can use shelving that can be found at any discount store very inexpensively, then use some of the items that you are storing in this area to dress up the shelves themselves – like these pretty lacy pieces.

If you have bits of trim that you haven’t found a project for, how about putting them to work decorating the edges of your closet shelves?

Amazing Way to Design Your Home, Fashion, and Art Like a Pro!

Before I begin… let me warn you… the following information could be VERY dangerous! Please continue at your own risk!

Actually, what I mean is… you’re going to love this website & the service that they provide so much, that it could become extremely addicting if you’re not careful

It’s called: Polyvore

Let me try to sum up the service that they provide their members… they give you the technology to digitally arrange all of your favorite items into one beautiful collage.

It’s very simple to get started. You just enter a few bits of information to become a member (free), and then you are able to start creating right away!

After you log in, you will see a few examples of the completed collages that other members have made. I like looking through these, as they are great for ideas! Then, you can begin pulling all of your bits & bobs together to form your own new little pieces of art

You can choose from the huge selection of images already at the site, or you can use their “clipper” tool to snip bits from around the web. If you do choose to snip something, the item is always linked to it’s original location, so it also helps bring the original owner some great publicity. For example, say you make beautiful jewelry and you list your items on Etsy. If someone where to clip your item & add it to their collages, not only would they be able to use it, but now it would be available to all the other Polyvore members as well. Now think about what might happen if several members used your item to build their collages… 100s – 1000s of people will start seeing your pieces & want to click the link to see where they can buy one!

* I’m thinking of all of my wonderfully talented friends (Madai out there who make such beautiful pieces! Now… I have some more ideas to help “spread the word” about their products!!!

I can think of several uses for this wonderful service without even giving it much thought, so I thought I’d share a few over the next few days to help get you started on your creative way!

I’m sure that you will be able to come up with many other great uses for this service… so be sure to share them with us in the comment section below!

Today, I want to share some ideas about planning out your wardrobe.

Now, you can pull all of the pieces together, and see how they look before you buy! And, since the links are all in tact for each item, you could simply purchase online & have them shipped to you – instead of having to actually go shopping

Look at some of these examples found at Polyvore.

Next up? How about planning your wedding, special party, or room deocr using this tool?

Delicious No-Bake Orange Juice Cookies

My mom & I had these tasty little treats at a recent baby shower that we went to. I had no idea what the little orange colored balls would taste like since I had never even heard of this no-bake cookie, but once I ate one, I knew I had to have the recipe! They are so simple to make, and give a real burst of flavor!

Once you try this easy recipe, I think you will add it to your list of favorites!

1 box of vanilla wafers – usually 12oz
1 6oz can of frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 box of powdered sugar – 16oz
1/2 cup butter
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 1/2 cups of coconut

Crush the vanilla wafers until fine. Mix vanilla wafers, orange juice, powdered sugar, butter, and chopped pecans. Shape the mixture into walnut-size balls, and roll in coconut. Store balls in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. Makes approx. 5 dozen cookies.

So easy – yet so delicious!