Making the leap

I bit the bullet and finally bought a really good art fair tent :)

Actually-it found me...ha. Two different artists were retiring after the Carillon art fair and sought me out-since I had an EZ up (and I was currently holding the crossbars during wind gusts when they approached!) so I was pretty easy target. I purchased a used Trimline from one of them and am SO happy I went for it!

I had a another show a week later and was soooo nervous about set up and tear done (alone) but it was actually much easier than I expected! A HUGE plus was that during gusts I wasn't a nervous wreck! I wish I would have done this from the get-go!

So here is my new-to-me tent and my current set-up. It felt so much roomier too-which makes no sense-it's 10x10 just like the old tent. I love it!

17

How on earth has it been 17 years since the day we were married? 17 YEARS! I remember it like it was yesterday-we were married on a Friday evening and it was crisp, sunny and cool all day with all the leaves turning perfectly. (yet today I sit in shorts and most of the leaves outside are still green- lol)

Anyhow, so much has happened in those 17 years and the best parts are shown in that photo above :)
Happy Anniversary, Trav!

Fall wreath

Still having the love/hate thing going on with Pinterest over here...(love being inspired but crazy antsy when I can't do these things right NOW!) --but when the hubby is free to actually do a couple things for me for prep then I fly through a project :)

Take this wreath I have seen bouncing around on pinterest-love the simplicity of it.

source

A scrounge through the firewood pile at my neighbor's house, then Travis slicing the log up and cutting out a frame from an old sheet of thing plywood and I was good to go :)

Here I just hot glued all the thin slices of log to the framing. Took about 2 minutes.

A quick trip to Hobby Lobby for a couple things. I loved the funky little flower that has beads and sparkles embedded in the center. It's funky without being too "HEY!"

A little cluster of pheasant feathers ad a roll of burlap ribbon-only because it was 50% off.

Don't forget the 40% off coupon :)

I think total I paid around $7.

I just did a gather of the burlap after unraveling the edges a bit, tied some jute around the gather and squeezed some hot glue up in there. (I'm very technical about how I do things you'll notice)

Then trimmed the stems off of the feathers and flower, poked them into the burlap and hot glued it down.

Here is the back if you're wondering. Just very thin plywood cut into a doughnut.

I may go back and unravel the burlap a bit more-I have to live with it for a few days first.

I was worried at first that it would be heavy and clanging around on the door glass when we open/shut the door but it's surprisingly lightweight. :)

Love it!

Happy Fall y'all!

Season change...time for the dining room to change up! 

We never eat in there...almost a waste of space, really. But you have to walk through to get anywhere and you look straight in there from the family room so I like it to look cute :)

I tend to just shift things around the house or make things...I'm not much into buying seasonal items. I like to change the color of things mostly- ie: books I use for risers and stuff like that.

My big 5 was printed to fit a poster frame we had laying around and was in the foyer. I found the 5 planter at Gordman's this summer and had to have it. The 5 is how many are in our family so I like 5's.
The L stands for our last name and was picked up at Hobby Lobby years ago and just decoupaged with scrapbook paper.
The copper kettle/pot thing is an antique and just fits in the fireplace opening.

I always have to incorporate something from my grandparents in each room it seems...The bible and old book came from my grandmother.

I threw in some hydrangeas from the front yard that were changing color.

Gourds from Goodwill, old Eucalyptus I've had for years.

The cabinet and shelves we built a year ago and love them! I'm so glad we did it. We previously had an antique hoosier cabinet set back in that nook.

Again, lots of grandparent items (old sewing basket, the Bostons, books, doily, photos...) 

Added more hydrangeas and the paper flowers that were made from brown grocery bags w/ black checkers for the center I taped up to the wall behind and on the fireplace surround (that we also built last year!)

{{I really need to do before photos of that room actually now that I think about it.}}