sweater jack-o-lantern

while working on another autumnal project recently, i pulled out this orange sleeve (consequently, the same sweater i used for this project). felted sweaters are one of my most favorite materials to work with!
i proceeded to cut off the cuff and use the rest of the material for my project. meanwhile this cuff was calling out to me to become a jack-o-lantern. what, don't your sweaters talk to you? ;)
i started by turning the cuff inside out and pulling it over the recycled jar i planned to use. for this lantern, i chose a squat, wide jar that had previously housed almond butter. i drew a face right on the cuff. then, using sharp scissors, i cut the face out.
here he is trying on his new face. this is where i lack in photos, sorry. i decided i wanted a more finished look for the cut-outs and added a blanket stitch around the eyes and mouth using black floss.then i painted the jar yellow. i didn't do this step at first, but i wanted to have a feeling of *glow* and depth even when the candle is not lit.
we put one of those little led fake tea lights in him and he glowed almost the entire day. at dinner, we swapped the led for a real tea light and he warmed our table beautifully.

don't have an orange sweater? how about a frankenstein or a friendly ghost?

i'll keep trying to get a better picture of him lit....just one of the many challenges of owning a crappy camera. ;)

corn husk candle holder

corn husks are one of my most favorite autumnal crafting supplies. though i have used them fresh before, i generally buy them from the hispanic/latin market in a big bag for $4.99. last week i found the same bags at our discount grocery for 99 cents!! i bought them all. sorry asheville i can be greedy sometimes. ;)
when i saw these corn husk candle holders, i couldn't wait to make them. literally they moved up my ever growing crafting list that i have little time to allot to already.

it was a fun and gratifying little project. i used a wide mouthed salsa jar from the recycling bin. i attached the husks as in the tutorial above, gluing the tips to the base, gathering them around the jar and securing them with wire. i then tied colored raffia around snugly and removed the wire that had been holding the husks in place. i tucked one of our beeswax coated leaved in the front.
viola! i love it every bit as much as i knew i would!

making fall friends

inspired by all of our nature finds, we grabbed some of our wooden pegs, the overflowing basket of felt scraps, and the glue gun. sienna created an autumn mermaid. ;)
i made these two. the taller one is a wooden clothespin. i started this one last year and left him half finished in a box of autumn things. it was so gratifying to bring him to life after all this time! the guinea feathers were not found on our adventures, but in my craft supply. this is jasper's. he cut the felt and wrapped it around the peg just the way he wanted it and i glued it for him. he had his sister draw the black face on. he is obsessed with black! apparently, this guy does not like to have his picture taken as i can not get his face in focus no matter how hard i try. could be my naughty camera's fault, i suppose.then we abandoned the wooden forms and the felt and started gluing the nature bits together. this one is sienna's. she has a wild side, this one. this is mine. he is more on the reserved side, as you can see. and here is jasper's. he chose the tiniest acorn cap he could find and had me glue it in just this spot. it is a ladybug crawling to the end of his stick. ;)

inspiring autumn

autumn is a favorite season here. one of our absolute joys in life is grabbing a basket and heading out on a trail to discover what treasures have been left for us to uncover. bringing our basket home, the items are then sorted. some are carried off to the playroom to go to work in the play kitchen, feeding dolls and the like. many are left on the table in various wooden bowls so that we may ponder what they shall become next.
we have been doing lots of fall crafting! the materials waiting to be worked with are so inviting and everyone has ideas and can't wait to get started. this weekend we dipped our first round of leaves in beeswax. a well loved yearly tradition. i have had these last for multiple years when stored away gently!
mother nature's gift of color is so uplifting! it is a pleasure to surround ourselves with this beauty inside as she has decorated so beautifully outside.
i had been wanting to transform this wreath for a couple of weeks now. today, i just dropped the five hundred things i was doing and spent a few minutes with myself and all these gorgeous treasures. such a welcome respite, even it was short lived. our shabby front door is now magnificently adorned in autumn splendor!
today kicked off spirit week at sienna's school with *crazy hair day*. still feeling the autumn love, she hit the yard with her scissors this morning and came back with these clippings and the request to attach them to her hair. it turned out so lovely!