DIY Fall Leaf Garland

Hello! In case I let you guys forget that this is a home design/DIY blog this post should refresh your memory. I worked on several oh so simple projects this weekend that I would like to share with you. Nothing out of this world but simple projects that you guys can do at home. And in the spirit of the 30 days I have done these projects with stuff laying around my house or that I have already purchased (CHEAP) and not gotten around to doing anything with. So here goes.

1. DIY Fall Leaf Garland:

If you follow me on Instagram you have probably seen a few of these pictures already but on a walk this weekend my son found a huge pile of beautiful heart-shaped leaves. It is pretty weird how much they actually look like hearts. So we gathered a big pile and my brain was already ticking as we were walking home.

After a couple of minutes I realized what a cute fall garland I could make with these. Then I started checking off the list of supplies that I needed in my head and yep, I had everything. Burlap, check; twine, check; glue gun, check; thumb tacks, check.

All I did was measure the width of the leaves and cut out burlap triangles just larger than the leaf. I traced six more, cut them out, glued the leaves to the burlap and the twine to the burlap with a glue gun and tacked it to my mantle. Easy peasy!

2. Easy fall tablescape

So this mini project was completely impromptu. Just for fun I was playing around with several items I had around the house and this is what I ended up with. The placemats are from Ikea, the gold chargers I bought from the Habitat Store awhile ago for $2.00 each, the white dishes are our everyday dishes also from Ikea, the owl utensil holder/vase is from World Market that I got on sale for less than $9.99 several weeks ago and the sticks, leaves and pinecones came directly from Mother Nature. Look around your house (and your yard) and see what you can throw together for a quick dinner party or just to feel a bit more fancy :)

{I didn't even notice the chip in the plate when I was photographing this but I kind of like it. It fits well with The Nester's mantra that it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful and I couldn't agree more. Check out her blog sometime, it is amazing!}

3. DIY North Carolina to Russia Map Art

As you probably know by now I adopted my son from Russia and we love looking at maps and talking about how mommy flew on a place across the ocean to reach him. So I had this map that I bought about 6 months ago from a local shop here called Bebe Gallini's (if you live in the Charlotte area you should check it out!) for about $3-$4 and a frame from Goodwill that I bought for $7.99, also awhile ago. Can you tell I am a DIY blogger because I buy things on the cheap because I know that I will eventually use it or need it for a project. As part of my 30 days I am trying to cut down on this though so nothing new this month!

The frame had a print of a seashell in it that was actually pretty cute but too bold for me for the fall season so I removed it and traced it to cut the paper map to size. Then little man and I got a red marker from his crayola stash and drew a heart over NC and connected the dots to Russia. We put it in the frame, hung it on the wall and he couldn't be happier. This was just a simple project with things we had laying around and it was really special to create with him. All you need is a semi-creative mind right?!?!

I hope you enjoyed this not so serious post today. Stay tuned for what's next tomorrow...I know a budget or filing or organizing post is coming soon so I had to put a little fun into today :)