Thursday, October 21, 2010

A is for Autumn

When we lived back east/ish in Ohio, something magical would happen every Fall. The leaves on the trees would go from green to a kaleidoscope of beautiful colors.
The vibrancy of those colors is what was so amazing.
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What I realize now is how little you actually appreciate things like Fall leaves when you live in places with trees and seasons! People would hire landscapers to do Fall Clean-ups, where they basically come in and strip the trees of all the dying leaves and pile them up and haul it all away! The tragedy of it all still boggles my mind. I mean don't the leaves fall for the soul purpose of allowing us to rake them up into great big piles and then stand backwards and put your arms out, close your eyes, and fall backwards into the pile?


Living here in the desert of Arizona, you miss out on Autumn leaves.
But fortunately, we have places like Hobby Lobby to help us all pretend that we have an actual Autumn. We can go there and buy all the fake leaves we want.
Sad, I know.
It's like all the people we see with fake snowmen in their yards and icicle lights at Christmas time around here. You just sort drive by with a sad expression of pity for all the lack snow.
Because it is A week for my Illustrations of Life Project: A is for Autumn.
So, without further ado. My version of an Autumn Wreath.

It is so easy to make I feel like it is redundant to even tell you how to make one!
Oh well, here goes.
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I found 3 of these metal stars at a garage sale for .25 apiece. ( I hate when I read that people find things at garage sales and fix them up. All that means is that the rest of us can't go buy on too!)I just spray painted it with some spray paint from another project.
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Then I went to Hobby Lobby while they were having a 50% off Fall sale. Grabbed a few of these lovelies.
IMG_0020-1 x 2 of each except the white pumpkin
I originally was going to buy a couple packages of the loose leaves that come with I think 10 or so to a pack. But then I saw the display for the garlands and they were so much fuller and this one even had pinecones on it too! ( no before pic )
IMG_0017 the wreath was .25 at a garage sale.
I gathered my supplies. Wrapped the garland in a big circle and attached it to the wreath with white twist ties that you can totally see and that bother me to no end. I am OCD so a normal person would tell you to randomly stick the accent pieces into the wreath, but I'm not normal. There is no rhyme or reason to the way I did it ( other than to me) so, randomly put your picks anywhere you please.
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I hung it from my door with one of those great removable hooks that you just pull the sticky tab and it comes off. Not sure if it is supposed to be permanent, but I am pretending, and have used it all year. and yes my door is dirty. It's dusty here ok. And we just had a major dust storm not too long ago. Yep, we are lucky enough to get dust storms. So all you people that are snuggled up to your cozy little fireplaces when it snow, think of all that your missing out on.
Like dust. On your front door.
And Cactusmen instead of snowmen..







I linked this!







5 comments:

April said...

Super cute wreath! You inspire me to be crafty, then I think of all the work and mess, and read a book instead. But I LOVE IT!

ps.
I am super excited for my first Fall in 4 years!

Kerin said...

The blue star is the perfect contrast to all the Fall colors and really makes that wreath pop!
Great job :)
I too love the leaves, and here in our little town in Utah, I am one of the last ones to get them all cleared away. When they finally get gathered up, they go into the garden mulch.
We lived in Chandler (AZ) for a while, and I have to admit... I missed Fall and the magic of a white Christmas. Didn't miss the shoveling of snow though :)
Hope you have a great day !!

Decor Createur said...

Soo cute!! Hey I'm in AZ too. I use to live in mesa and queen creek. Thank you for the sweet comment. Look forward to reading your blog

Jennifer

Ashlee Marie said...

I love Texas barn stars! This one looks lovely in your wreath. Thanks for linking up to Topsy Turvy Tuesdays!

Anna Goose Monster said...

All I have to say is HAHA at Cactusman instead of snowman, so true that it is somewhat sad. But like you said at least we get dust storms and not snow storms, right? :] Believe me I would know to take a dust storm over a snow storm any day!