I love Halloween! I know that not all of you do, however it is one of my family’s most fun holidays. Since I love it so much, I thought that I would share some Halloween pillows and a giveaway!

“The Witch Is In” pillow is from Sams and definitely one of my favorites.

What can I say? So true!

Let’s start with the basics.

I’m a firm believer of having a basic pillow or two, followed by something with a theme or a large print, on my sofa.

I wish I were one of those talented ladies that can put any pattern together and have it work for me, but that is so not me!

These black and white buffalo check pillows with poms fits the “basic” bill for me.

Plus, it’s a bonus that you can use them year round!

This Halloween truck pillow , from Kirklands, is hands down one of my favorites!

Wouldn’t this sweet black cat pillow be cute in any child’s room? So cuddly!

As a true fan of the movie Hocus Pocus, I truly believe that these should be somewhere in my house!

You know that I am the Queen, so this pillow definitely is high on my favorites list!

Next, two super fun pillows that I found at my local Market Street.

I’m not sure where I would put this pillow, but I loved the color and texture!

This one definitely represents me lately!

Well, the tired part anyway.

I know that I said that I was sharing Halloween, however this fall pumpkin pillow was too sweet not to share.

Now for the giveaway!

I am giving away this piece of Fall artwork. You can see more photos here.

The rules are simple.

1. Leave a comment on your favorite pillow here on the blog.
2. OR Head on over to my facebook page, like, follow and tag 2 friends.

We will announce the winner next Friday, October 11.

Sorry, but you must be in the United States to enter.

Good Luck!

Until next time….

I’m so excited to be a part of this months DIY Challenge Tablescape Inspiration!

Each month our hostess Terrie, from Decorate And More With Tip and more, challenges us to make a fabulous DIY project. This months challenge was to make something for our Thanksgiving table.

On a recent trip to Hobby Lobby, I saw the cutest burlap placemats that had words of gratitude printed on one end.

I was in a rush and thought that I’d come back later and pick them up for my Thanksgiving table.

Can you say bad life decision?

Of course, when I went back, they were sold out!

My solution? To make my own.

Step 1:

I found my burlap material at HobLob, for $3.88 per yard, less my 40% coupon.

Cut out a 14 x 20 rectangle from the material.

One rectangle for each placemat you plan to make.

Step 2:

Once you have your rectangles cut out, sew one half inch all the way around each placemat.

Step 3:

Once you have sewn the outer edge, start pulling strings off of the edge to give it a tiny fringe.

Sewing around the outer edge of the placemat stops your placemat from unraveling more than you want it to.

Step 4:

Now to put the words of gratitude on the placemats.

You could use any stencil you have to put the words on the end of the placemat, however I didn’t have one that would fit.

I made my own stencil using my Silhouette.

Step 5:

I knew that I probably wouldn’t use these again, so I made my stencil out of vinyl.

Simply, cut it out, then using transfer tape, peel it off and stick it onto the placemat.

Step 6:

Once that was done, it is simply a matter of adding paint.

Give each placemat 2 coats of paint.

Once the paint has dried, remove the stencil

I love that the words on the placemats are subtle.

I feel like this DIY is super simple, but has a lot of impact.

Which is my kind of DIY!

Now my Thanksgiving table is ready for the holiday.

I hope enjoyed my DIY challenge so much that you will join me in visiting my fellow DIY Challenge bloggers.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

I’m so excited to be sharing Halloween at Market Street with you today! With our house being on the market, we get kicked out a lot for showings. Let’s face it, there is only so much shopping or errand running that you can do. A few days ago we had showings scheduled from 11:00 – 2:30. The hubs suggested we go to the coffee shop at Market Street. Well, that was fine by me because they have a fantastic gift shop too!

First off, let me start with the pumpkins!

So many styles, mediums and textures.

I’m in love.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I want to be Roxanne Spradlin when I grow up.

Her art, y’all!

These stacked pumpkins were some of my favorites.

Sorry that the photo isn’t better.

I swear I had about 10 different sales associates come by and ask if I needed help.

I’m sure they were wondering what the crazy lady was doing taking so many pictures!

Here’s is a close up of all the herringbone goodness.

Love!

The texture on this knit pumpkin was just so beautiful and cozy!

Next up, animal themed items.

I know that I said I was sharing Halloween, however I couldn’t help pick out a few Thanksgiving items to share as well!

This wooden Lab complete with Pilgrim hat and a turkey tutu had me at hello!

This squirrel in a pumpkin is so sweet.

Who wouldn’t love a felt pumpkin with a tiny little mouse peaking out?

They had several sizes and styles of these.

Moving on to random things!

I am in love with these turkeys.

Wouldn’t these be super cute as place card holders on a children’s Thanksgiving table?

There were a few items that just cracked me up!

This mug makes me think that I just might need to gift a few of these.

Maybe even keep one!

Next, this tea towel.

I may, or may not, be addicted to snarky tea towels!

Not only is this soap pretty, but it smells like my childhood Halloweens.

At first, I thought it had a hint of licorice. No…

Then, I thought maybe it smelled like those wax orange harmonicas.

Kind of, maybe?

I’m not really sure what it smells like, but I love it!

These cat glasses would be perfect for fun or as a great costume accessory.

Many different colors and super fun!

There were so many awesome things that it was hard to pick just a few.

However, all would be great as a gift, or as a treat for yourself!

Halloween at Market Street y’all.

Until next time…

If you liked it, be sure to Pin it!

Happy Fall y’all! I can’t believe that it is officially fall, especially as it is still in the 90’s here. Since it’s the beginning of fall, it’s time to start decorating with pumpkins.

There are as many ways to decorate with pumpkins as there are the different types of pumpkins themselves!

The possibilities are endless.

Today I’m going to share with you a few ways that I’m decorating with pumpkins this year, as well as a few of my favorites in the past.

Over the years, I think that I’ve used just about every pumpkin there is out there.

Here, you see a light up glitter pumpkin on my Halloween mantle.

I’ve even hung pumpkins in the trees!

I love sitting out here in the fall with these fun lanterns swinging int he breeze.

Of course, you will always find pumpkins on my front porch!

Some of my favorite pumpkins are these blue and white decoupage pumpkins!

These are super easy to make!

You all know that there will almost always be painted pumpkins here at the castle!

I can’t remember a time when my fall mantle didn’t have pumpkins of some kind on it!

These “fancy” pumpkins have a special place in my heart and I will be using them again for Halloween!

Pumpkin season here at The Castle lasts from September through mid-November.

This pumpkin was my Thanksgiving center piece a few years ago.

My hands down, all time favorite pumpkins have to be my velvet pumpkins!

As you can see my love of pumpkins is huge.

Whether the are real, faux, painted, sewn or lighted with glitter, pumpkins will always be a staple for fall here at The Castle!

So break out the pumpkins, y’all.

Fall is here!

Until next time…

If you liked this post, please Pin it!

A few weeks ago, my friend Shelli sent out a shout out on Facebook. Who would like to go to a goat milk soap class with her?

I told her that I would love to take the class with her, but wondered why would you want to use Goat Milk Soap over other soaps?

There are suppose to be many benefits of Goat Milk Soap for skin.

Goat Milk has many essential nutrients and has deep moisturizing properties. ( Which as I get older this girl needs!)

It provides a deep yet gentle cleanse, while providing anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties.

Uh, hello? Who doesn’t need that?

Along with containing anti-bacterial properties, it also protects your skin from the sun.

The people teaching the class were Stone City Farm from Tenino, Washington.

Super helpful and friendly!

They also provided soap and soap holders for sale at the end of the class.

I couldn’t resist buying a few!

When we arrived, the instructors had everything ready for us.

We started by putting on protective eye wear, aprons and glasses.

Next, we were asked to choose an essential oil and an exfoliant to add to our soap.

I chose lavender essential oil and oatmeal.

The first thing we did after donning our aprons, gloves and protective eye wear, was mix the frozen goat milk with lye.

I won’t bore you with all the details but I will say that we spent most of our time mixing and mixing and mixing.

Once the lye and goat milk was mixed.

We took our oil and added essential oil and exfoliant.

Then we mixed the goat milk mixture with the oil mixture.

And mixed, and mixed…..

Once we had it mixed properly, we poured our soap into a mold that they provided.

Ta Da! The finished product.

Now, we wait for 2 days before taking the soap from the mold to cut it into bars.

I have to say that it was a fun class!

It helped that the class was held at a local brewery and there were libations to sample, even though I am not much of a beer drinker.

This is what the soap looked like after 2 days.

I carefully removed it from the mold.

At this point, it is still not totally set.

Then sliced it into bars, using a non-serrated knife.

Now, my soap has to sit for 6 weeks!

I’m not sure I can wait that long!

Until, next time…

On a recent trip to my sister’s house, we decided to break out her fall decor and create a fall front porch!

For those of you who haven’t seen my sister’s front porch before, it’s an old craftsman bungalow that has a ton of charm and a lot of patina!

Actually, her house is in the neighborhood that we grew up in and has large trees, big sidewalks and quaint homes.

Before we started decorating we did a little planning ,shopping and crafting.

These cute pumpkins were made out of left over fence posts.

Believe it or not, we scored some super cute outdoor pillows at WalMart!

Both were $5.00!

Our decorating vision included corn stalks tied with beautiful ribbon to the front porch posts flanked by mums and pumpkins.

Honestly, in the heart of Oklahoma you would think that it would be easy to find corn stalks, but no!

We even sent out a plea on social media asking where we could find corn stalks?

The most common answer? In a corn field.

Well, duh!

We scored big time on these HUGE mums.

They were each $10.00

Here in North Texas these mums would easily have been $25.00 or more!

These comfy rocking chairs are a new addition to the front porch.

My sister plans on painting them white sometime in the future, however for now they fit her fall theme perfectly!

We tied orange bandanas around her summer pillows for a inexpensive fall look.

The purple asters may possibly be my favorite fall flower.

So bright and pretty!

My sister’s fall front porch just yells “It’s fall, come on over and sit for awhile!”.

Honestly, we did spend quite a bit of “sitting” time on this front porch.

In fact, it was hard to do much of anything else.

Until next time….

A few years ago this was my fall mantle. Lots of rich color, a few feathers and I loved it. However, lately I’ve been wanting to go in a different direction. More of a simple fall mantle that has lighter, brighter colors.

If you’ve been following along, you know that I’ve been adding a lot of navy and orange to my house as my fall color theme.

Since my living room was already orange, navy and white it only make since to keep that theme in the living room.

I started with these cute white faux pumpkins.

While doing a little grocery shopping, I spied these faux pumpkins at my local Kroger.

They had 4 different sizes and were the perfect size to fit on my mantle.

You can’t tell, but they are a medium size pumpkin that would normally be around $15.00 to $20.00 in most stores.

However, I scored with these as they were on sale for $5.00 and $4.00 each!

Before placing them on the mantle, I placed some fall leave stems on the mantle for a base.

Then added a few berries.

Once I had the pumpkins in place, I twisted a bittersweet vine in amongst the pumpkins.

The candle sticks were some I’ve had for years from Southern Living At Home.

At this point I loved the simplicity of the mantle, but it still seemed a little bare.

Mainly because my fireplace wall is HUGE!

So I decided to make a banner.

This was a super simple project that I will share with you later!

I had these lanterns sitting on the hearth.

They’ve been empty awhile while I was looking for something other than candle to go in them.

On a whim, I placed the blue and white vases inside of them and add a cute orange and white bow to tie in the orange and blue theme of the living room.

We are really loving a simple fall mantle!

On a side note, I found these super cute tags at Hob Lob recently.

I’m in LOVE with them.

At first, I thought about making my own, but at $3.99 less 40% I couldn’t resist picking up a set.

Aren’t they cute?

It’s like adding jewelry to a little black dress!

Who doesn’t love a pumpkin that has a little bling?

I’ve enjoyed putting out my fall stuff so much that I’ve decided to head to my sisters house and help her get her fall on!

Stay tuned for that!

Until next time…..

It’s Ten on the 10th! I look forward to this day every month because we usually have ten or more super talented women get together and share super cute ideas for under $10.00! This month we are shy of ten because #life. Since September is the beginning of the fall season, I decided to share fall in a jar with you.

Before I go any further, I want to thank Patti from Pandora’s Box for hosting this month!

Our theme this month is upcyled or recycled.

So many things came to mind, however my procrastination reared it’s ugly head and eliminated a lot of things due to time.

I have a closet full of things that I have rescued, pulled out of the trash, or bought at a garage sale.

When I began sorting through my junk I found a ton of Ball mason jars.

Clearly they needed to be used!

I decided to make cute little peek-a-boo jars to give out as happy fall gifts to a few neighbors and friends!

These are super easy to make.

Cut out a vinyl maple leaf, then placed it onto the jar.

Then tape off the areas that you do not want to paint.

Step 2:

Next, spray paint your jar.

Make sure to do two or three light coats in order to avoid having runs.

Step 3:

Once the paint has thoroughly dried, remove the tape and vinyl from the jar.

This is what your peek-a- boo jar should look like at this point.

Step 4:

The plain silver lid looked a little too plain for me.

I cut out a circle from some burlap ribbon I had on hand and mounted it onto the lid using spray adhesive.

Step 5:

Add cute ribbon and your peek-a-boo jar is finished!

Now the the jars are finished you must be wondering what I plan to put in the jars.

Well, I have to admit I had several things in mind.

Maybe a small flicker votive in one to create a nice warm fall look?

However, I went in a different direction.

I mixed half cashews and half candy corn for a wonderful treat that tastes like a Payday candy bar!

Most people use peanuts, but we like the taste of cashews better here at the castle.

I think these jars filled with a sweet fall treat would be a perfect gift to welcome in fall!

How much did these jars cost?

The jars, ribbon, spray paint, vinyl and tape were all things that I had in my stash.

The candy and nuts cost $1.66 per jar.

Fall in a jar y’all!

Now please join me in visiting my fellow Ten on the 10th ladies!

Blue Sky at Home

The Apple Street Cottage

Pandora’s Box

Decorate and More with Tip

Remember these painted pumpkins? They were the jumping off point for my navy and orange fall porch.

I painted them to match my front door and my new doormat.

Normally, I tend to stay with black as my “neutral” color, then add all the wonderful fall colors from white to a deep orange.

But this year, I felt the need to change things up a bit.

Go with something a little unexpected.

I shared this new fall doormat with you a few weeks ago.

Have I told you how much I love it?

Sorry! But I really do!

Well, this doormat sealed the deal.

Navy and orange were officially my fall front porches colors.

I ordered a new fall garden flag to match my new colors.

Which was harder than it sounds, as not many retailers have navy as a fall color.

This picture doesn’t do this cute little flag justice.

It has lots of textures and the colors just pop off of the navy background.

I put my favorite fall sign up also.

This sign has been on our fall front porch for a few years now.

I’m debating whether or not to paint the black navy so that it will match.

What do you think?

All my fall front porch needed was a wreath on the front door.

I made few of these last month.

The Dollar Tree had these sweet happy harvest truck signs in both red and blue.

I wanted the blue, however my Dollar Tree didn’t have a blue one.

While I was disappointed, I figured that the red would still match my front porch.

Then my sweet friend Darlene called and told me that she found a blue truck for me in Dallas!

Woo hoo! That girl is just the sweetest!

My hunt for mums ended this past Saturday.

Everywhere I went I asked for mums and got “the look”.

You know the one, the one that you get a lot from guys who work at big box stores when you are wanting something outside of the box!

Yeah, that one.

Yes, I know that it’s over 100 degrees, but this girls got a blog and needs to get her mums for the front porch!

While they did not have any white ones, that’s okay.

By October, I will probably need to buy news because, yes it is 100 degrees and mums just aren’t that happy in hot weather.

My navy and orange fall porch is complete and I couldn’t be happier with it.

Until next time….

It’s the first Wednesday, which means that it is time for the September DIY Challenge. It’s my first time to participate and I’m so excited! I’m sharing how to make some DIY fall art!

Terrie at Decorate and More With Tip is our hostess.

She put out the challenge to take scrap wood and make it into fall decor.

Lately, I’ve seen a lot of the sweetest small farmhouse artwork which had galvanized tin ribbon used in place of a wooden frame.

I’ve been wanting to make some for awhile now, so when Terrie sent out the challenge I knew exactly what I would be making!

The first thing that I did was grab a piece of 1 x 6 scrap wood from The Hub’s wood pile.

The Hubs was kind enough to cut out several 6″ X 6″ wood pieces for me.

Once the wood was lightly sanded, I gave each piece a base coat of paint.

For this project I used acrylic craft paint.

When the base coat was dry I painted the back ground, before drawing the pumpkin design that I wanted to paint.

In the interest of time, you can see how to paint a pumpkin here.

These are super easy to paint, I promise!

It was so much fun painting these that I made several, all with different designs.

Once my pumpkin was painted, it was time to add my galvanized ribbon trim.

I found 30 feet of galvanized fluted tin ribbon here.

NOTE: this tin has sharp edges. Safety first people! I recommend using gloves when handling the tin. I didn’t and I have the cuts and scratches to prove it. Don’t be like me.

To determine how much of the tin that I would need to use, I simply multiplied 6 x 4 and added and inch for overlap at the top.

I used a pair of tin snips to cut the tin.

Remember that I said that the edges of the tin was sharp?

Once the ends are cut, they are super sharp!

So sharp, that you don’t even realize that it is cutting you sharp.

I took a piece of sandpaper and sanded the cut edges until they were dull and smooth.

At first, adding the tin to the wood was a little challenging, but once you get it started it comes together quickly.

Starting at the top, in the middle of my artwork, I used small brad nails to attach the tin to the wood.

I spaced the brads evenly, approximately an inch and a half apart

When I hit the corners, I pulled tightly, then bent the tin all the while trying to keep the tin as close to the wood as possible.

I did this all the way around the piece until I was back to the top of my artwork.

To finish them off, I added a picture hanger to the back.

These are my finished pieces and I couldn’t be happier with them.

My plan was to hang them on the wall in my kitchen.

However, I’m loving how they look standing in my hutch!

I think that my DIY fall art will be staying here awhile!

Now please join me in visiting my fellow September DIY Challengers:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Hello! Can you believe that we are days away from September? I know not all of you are football fans, but I can’t wait for football season to start. When it’s football season it’s time to decorate for fall. At least it is here at the Castle! Going through my fall stuff I realized that my pumpkins had lost a little of their orange luster and needed an update. I decided to paint some buffalo check pumpkins!

I’ll be honest, I found this idea on one of my binge sessions on Pinterest.

Jennifer from Dimples and Tangles blog shared the cutest hot pink buffalo check pumpkins ever! She calls hers gingham check. So cute!

Step 1: Paint the pumpkins white!

To get great coverage, I did 3 light even coats of Martha Stewarts Multi-surface paint.

I loved Jennifers hot pink pumpkins, but decided that I wanted to go with blue ones.

I love how navy looks with orange!

Since you need two different colors of blue, I simply mixed white and navy together to get a lighter blue.

Step 2: Paint vertical stripes.

I would love to tell you that I mathematically figured out spacing, but we all know that my math skills are severely lacking.

Using a blue pencil, I light marked off where I thought my stripes should be, then started painting.

Once my vertical stripes had dried, I then marked where my horizontal stripes should go.

This time I did want my stripes to be the same size.

It’s hard to see, but I marked the width on a piece of plastic and used that as a guide for my spacing.

Yes, a ruler would have been my first choice, however mine seems to have gone missing!

A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

This is what my pumpkin looked like when I was done painting both the horizontal and the vertical stripes.

Time for step 4!

Using the navy paint, I painted the square where the horizontal and vertical lines meet.

Ta Da!!!!

My Buffalo check pumpkin was done.

Time to decorate the front porch.

I love how the navy pumpkin matches the blue of my front door.

It was so much fun painting the buffalo check that I decided to paint another one.

This time with orange polk-a-dots.

Hello pumpkin!

Now to decorate the rest of the porchlette!

On a side note, I am wondering why I always work on the porchlette after the sprinklers have run and the mortar is still wet making it look like icky mold?

I’m filing that under things to improve on!

Hope that you all have a wonderful weekend.

Until next time….

My name is Tammy and I am a throw pillow addict. Throw pillows, throw blankets and accessories are the first things I reach for when I’m decorating for a new season and holidays. This pillow started a search for all things fall this year. So stinkin’ cute! However, I needed more pillows to go with it. So began the search for affordable fall throw pillows.

Today I’m going to share a few of my favorites with you!

This pumpkin pillow from Pier 1 is so pretty! I love that it’s a mix of traditional fall colors with the cool blue tones.

The texture is perfect for fall also.

Now all I need is a fall scented candle and I’m ready for fall!

This could quite possibly be my all time favorite pillow.

Since our sweet black lab, Sadie, passed this summer this pillow is a great reminder of her.

Also from Pier 1 and a great price.

Remember I said that I had an addiction to throw pillows? So true.

So much so, that over time, I had created my own storage nightmare.

The heavenly choir sang the day that I found out about pillow covers!

Easy to change out, easy storage and great on price.

I’ve even made a few of my own!

These pillow covers are from Amazon and come in sets of two for under $15.00.

I know that navy might not be what most of you would consider a traditional fall color, but it is for me.

I love how crisp navy and orange look together.

And since my living room is basically blues and neutrals, these navy and white buffalo check pillow covers would be beautiful.

For you more traditional fall color lovers, they also come in a variety of colors, including black and white.

Halloween anyone?

Again, the come in sets of 2 and are under $15.00.

Don’t you love a little velvet in the fall and winter?

Soft and cuddly!

These navy velvet pillow covers are a perfect pairing with busier patterned pillows.

Again, I’m loving the navy!

Also available in many colors!

They also come in sets of 2 and are under $15.00 for the pair.

So, what did I end up with?

Why , the navy velvet, of course!

I couldn’t resist this happy fall y’all pillow. Especially since it matches my front door fall wreath.

Last week it was on sale for under $15 ( see a theme here?)

This week it is a little more, however it is totally worth it.

Even at full price, I still put this pillow in the category of affordable fall throw pillows.

I also snagged a new blue and white throw to tie it all together.

Bring on Fall y’all!

Until next time….

My BFF, Roxanne, went to Magnolia this past weekend. She found this wonderful basket in the dent and ding section and thought of me. Honestly, I am in love with it. It is HUGE! So huge it takes up almost the entire end of my dining table. Once I got it home, it was time to have some fun. I’ve spent the morning decorating a Magnolia basket!

Did I mention that she only paid $15.00 for this basket? Original it was $88.00.

What a steal!

I knew that I wanted to decorate my basket with fall decor.

In my mind, the basket would be decorated with lots of white pumpkins, some soft sage greenery and maybe some filler.

However, as I was unpacking my fall decor to see what I had and what I needed to buy , I saw that all of my velvet pumpkins matched my dining room chairs.

Since this basket was definitely going in the dining room, wouldn’t velvet pumpkins be a good fit?

So, I thought why not?

I could always try it out and if I didn’t like it, I would only be out my time.

I stacked the pumpkins in the basket and stepped back to see how it looked.

Right away, I noticed two things.

One, that white sweater pumpkin was too white to be with the rest of the pumpkins.

It had to go!

Two, it needed a little something else, besides pumpkins!

A little more texture, something to break up all of the velvet texture.

After digging through my stash, I found this simple berry vine.

And you know what?

I really like it!

Don’t get me wrong, I may still change it to the white pumpkins and sage greenery, but for today I’m loving all of the wonderful fall colors.

Decorating a Magnolia basket was a lot of fun!

So much fun that I see a lot more playing with my basket in my future!

Until next time…

Hey y’all! I have to say that it’s hot. I mean really, really hot. Like 111 degrees hot. Hotter than Hell’s basement hot. It’s so hot here at The Castle we’ve got a whole lot of nothin’ goin’ on! It’s even too hot to get in the pool.

Seriously, I’m so over this heat, I’m ready for fall to hurry it’s self up and get here!

Between the heat and our house being back on the market, yes, I said back on, we are hard pressed to do much of anything.

We did take a few days and head to Oklahoma for my niece, Beep’s, second birthday!

I can not believe that she’s already 2!

She loves flamingos, so that was the theme for her party.

As my Granny used to say, She’s so cute I just want to pinch her!

With the house on the market, I can’t do a whole lot of projects.

Especially those that take any amount of time, you never know when you’ll get a call to show the house.

So, I’ve been doing a little shopping.

I found these sweet Halloween pillows.

Y’all know I have an addiction!

However, the skeleton will be going to my youngest’s house, so I’m not feeling too guilty.

The skeleton came from Home Goods and the Witch Is In came from Sam’s!

My house shoes bit the dust, so I was on the hunt for something cute, light weight, with a hard sole for summer.

Tall order.

Until I found these!

I know, just what you wanted to see, pictures of my feet!

These sweet things came from Amazon!

Totally impractical, but a girls gotta have some glam once in awhile.

Did you know that Bath and Body has been having sales on their Fall products?

Last week if you ordered $25.00 worth of product, you were gifted this pumpkin wall plug in with fragrance refill!

I’m on the fence about the gold leaves, but over all it’s cute .

And the smell is divine!

So what did I order?

Bath and Body Works hand soap!

Next, this may be my favorite thing I’ve purchased this month.

This adorable Fall sign!

Not only is it cute, but….

It is reversible!

One minute it’s Fall, then it’s Boo to you!

So stinkin’ cute.

Too bad it’s not nearly time to put it out.

However, until it is time I’ll be sitting here at The Castle where we’ve got a whole lot of nothin’ goin’ on!

Until next time…

Hey all! I’m back with more of my Dollar Tree haul. Today I’m sharing a Dollar Tree pumpkin makeover! As you can see they have a ton of baby pumpkins, but some are not in the colors that most of us decorate with.

Over the years, I’ve decorated, carved and painted a lot of pumpkins, but I’ve never given a makeover to a Dollar Tree pumpkin.

Shocking, I know!

However, don’t pass those deals by just because they aren’t perfect.

It’s so easy to custom make them to fit your home!

Using chalk paint, I gave my baby boos 2 coats of chalk paint.

I left those bright green stems on to have a handle while I painted.

Trust me, those will be removed later.

Once I had two good coats of paint, I removed the green stems and added a stick from my yard.

Using a craft knife, I cut a hole out of the top of my pumpkin slightly smaller than the circumference of my stick.

Once, my stick was in the pumpkin, I added a little bit of hot glue to hold it in place.

While I was waiting on the pumpkins to dry, I made a few bows to go on the top of my pumpkins.

Each is different, as I made them to go in my sisters homes as well as mine.

One sister has more of a glam style, while the other is more stream lined.

Of course, mine is somewhere in between.

This pumpkin will go in my sisters home that loves a more stream lined look.

She lives in a craftsman bungalow and all of her colors are warm earth tones.

Sister #2 likes lots of girly glam with turquoise!

I knew she would love this ribbon and for a little added glam, I added a fun old ear ring as an embellishment.

And last, but not least, my baby boos!

I wanted a more traditional, shabby chic look.

I have to admit that this Dollar Tree pumpkin makeover was super fun, easy, and took very little time.

My kind of project!

Until next time…..

Remember last week when I shared my Dollar Tree haul? I found so many good things, I couldn’t wait to get started using them. Today I’m sharing how I made a happy harvest wreath. It’s super easy, took less than 1 hour and cost under $20.00.

Here is a list of the supplies you will need:

One 18″ wire wreath – WalMart $2.77

1 1/2 rolls Burlap ribbon – Hobby Lobby $9.99 on sale 1/2 price.

Wire – free as I already had it in my studio

Ribbon for a bow – about 3.00. I bought 2 rolls of ribbon and made 3 bows.

Happy Harvest truck sign – Dollar Tree $1.00

This burlap ribbon is perfect for my wreath for a couple of reasons.

It’s a wire ribbon, which means that it will be easy to use and keep it’s shape.

Any pesky loops going the wrong way?

Simply twist it around to where you want it!

Also, I liked the lighter, more bleached out color of this ribbon.

I won’t bore you with the actual how to on this one.

However, in case you want to know how to make one, there are a ton of how to make a burlap wreath video’s on Youtube!

I found one to refresh my memory and I was surprised to see that the lady giving the tutorial said that it took about 10 minutes to make one of these wreaths.

She must be a ton speedier than I am for sure!

Honestly, I’d estimate it took me about 25 – 30 minutes to make this wreath.

While not hard to make, it is a little time consuming.

Once my wreath was made, it was time to add the embellishments.

This Happy Harvest truck sign from the Dollar Tree is definitely the star of this wreath.

I love everything about this sign with one exception.

The super shiny silver leaf that came on it.

However, that was a super easy fix.

I simply added a few coats of Martha Stewarts Multi-Purpose metallic gold paint.

To hang my sign onto my wreath I used about 12″ of light weight wire.

To give my wreath a little more color, I added this bow that has a ton of fall color.

Honestly, I love my happy harvest wreath.

I can’t wait to hang it!

Now, if it would ever get cool enough here in North Texas to feel like fall that would be awesome.

Right now it’s 105 with no end in sight.

Come on fall!

Until next time….

It’s Ten on the 10th and this months theme is Garage Sale. Which really could mean several things. For me, I’m sharing a garage sale find that I’ve had for awhile. I bought this and quickly added it to my stash of things to do. Only problem was I never got around to doing anything with it. Until this week!

Before I go any further I want to thank Carol from Blue Sky at Home for being our fearless hostess today. When you are done here, be sure and check out her site, along with all of the other fun and talented bloggers.

Now down to business!

At first, when I spotted this silver tray I had hopes that it could be cleaned and restored back to it’s pristine finish.

But, no.

Once I knew that it couldn’t be cleaned, my plan was to make it into a seasonal display.

Step 1: paint the bottom of the tray black.

This is a metal tray, so not all paints will work.

Be sure to use a multi-surface paint, like Martha Stewart’s, to make sure the paint will adhere.

While the tray was drying, I painted these wooden cut outs that I found at Michael’s.

I plan on painting different cut outs for different seasons and holidays!

Since Fall is just around the corner I went with a fall theme today.

Once the black paint had dried, I glued a fall bow in the upper corner with a tiny bit of glue.

This can easily be removed to put co-ordinating bows that match each seasonal cut out.

At first, I thought that I would attach the wooden cut outs to the center of the tray using velcro.

However, if I put velcro in the center of the tray, I wouldn’t be able to use a cut out with an open center.

Command Strips to the rescue!

Total cost for this project: $3.00!

Not too bad for a garage sale find.

Now please join me in checking out all of my fellow Ten on the 10th bloggers!

Carol at Bluesky at Home

Ann at Apple Street College

Kim at Exquisitely Unremarkable

Patti at Pandora’s Box

Susan at Homeroad

Katie at Let’s Add Sprinkles

Terri at Decorate and More with Tip

Since our house is on the market, I’ve been limited on the projects that I can do. The house must be clean at all times and let’s face it, my projects can get a little messy! However, it hasn’t stopped me from a few small projects and a little shopping to get a few things from the Dollar Tree!

Dollar Tree has some of the cutest things this season.

Unfortunately, since we are planning on moving soon I had to leave quite a few of them at the store.

However, there were a few things that I knew if I didn’t pick up, they wouldn’t be there after our move.

This is my all time favorite!

So cute, right?

Especially since I had seen a similar one at Hob Lob.

This is the one from Hobby Lobby.

Is it cuter than the one from Dollar Tree?

Yes. But, it’s price is $15.99.

So, is it $14.99 cuter?

I’d say probably not.

Dollar Tree’s website shows a blue truck along with the red one, however my Dollar Tree didn’t have the blue one.

I love them so much that I bought 3.

Oh, the plans I have for them….

I snagged these super cute napkins for fall.

Tip: They are great as hand towels in the bathroom for guests. I use them there all the time!

My last buy was something that I have no idea what I will be doing with it!

But these galvanized metal words were so pretty I will definitely find a project that they will be perfect for!

All three signs came together for $1.00.

There was a ton of cuteness that stayed at the store, but sadly this girl is on buying restriction.

But you might not be. Run, run now, before they are all gone!

Until next time……

To wax or not to wax, that is the question. I’ve been a professional painter of faux finishes, murals, furniture and much more for over 20 years. I love painting because it allows me to use my creative side and I am so lucky that I get to do it for a living! However, along with the creative side I like that there are general rules to painting.

I know that I’m going to clean and prep whatever surface that I’m painting every time.

Oil paints and water paints don’t mix.

You see where I’m going here?

One thing that I’ve struggled with over the past few years is wax.

Wax is fairly easy to use and is a great way to finish furniture.

However, look closely at the photo above and you’ll see what I don’t like about wax.

It easily scratches and scuffs.

I KNOW that I can buff this out, but am I going to do that every time there is a scratch.

No.

If left alone over time wax gets really hard and durable. My China cabinet was one of the first things I ever used chalk paint and wax on and it’s still as beautiful today as it was years ago.

But it doesn’t get the same day to day wear and tear as my end table.

I lived with this sad end table for awhile before I said enough was enough.

Time for a do over.

Step 1: Repaint.

The beautiful thing about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is that you can paint right over the wax.

So I did.

One good coat was all it needed!

Step 2:

Normally, at this point I would have put a nice poly coat on top and called it good.

But I wanted a little less shine and a lot more of an old patina look for this piece.

Miss Mustard Seed Hemp Oil to the rescue!

Just apply according to directions, which is basically wipe it on, and let dry 24 hours.

Super easy!

This is what my table looks like now…. no more scratches!

Here’s a reminder of the before and after!

MAJOR difference!

This isn’t the first time I’ve used Hemp oil, but it is the first time I’ve used it on a surface that gets a ton of use.

I will keep you informed!

So here’s the recap:

I’m thinking if it is a piece of furniture that gets average to little use I will be using wax as a finish.

However, if it is a work horse it’s a no for me!

Until next time….

Today I’m sharing how to give an old tray a makeover. Nothing earth shattering, just a reminder that a little spray paint can go a long way!

This is what my coffee table looked like this morning.

Kind of summer casual in style.

But, just like the dog days of summer, it was looking a little tired.

Definitely time for a refresh!

After digging through my stash of decor, I found this pretty mirrored tray.

I love it, however I was looking for something gold to go with the rest of the gold in the living room.

My solution?

Spray paint it, of course!

Before I spray painted it, I needed to tape off the mirrored section.

For years I would tear off an inch or two of tape, slide it up as close as I could to the edge and repeat this process until I had the entire mirror covered.

It took forever!

Then one day a few years ago I had a “Duh” moment.

If I just taped the area off in larger sections, then burnish the edges I could do this:

I could use a very sharp craft knife and cut away the excess tape.

This method takes less than 5 minutes!

So much easier.

Moments like these make me wonder why I am left alone unchaperoned!

Once I have the edge taped off, I usually use newspaper or scrap paper to cover the center of the mirror.

Literally, the entire process took about 5 minutes peeps!

Now, I’m ready to paint!

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times Rust-Oleum metallic gold is my favorite all time spray paint!

For this project it was a “one and done” coat of gold spray paint.

That’s just how great the coverage is!

After letting it dry for awhile, I pulled the tape off and it was time for the fun part.

The decorating!

I love my new tablescape!

You can’t see it here, but the gold ties in with the rest of the gold I have sprinkled around the room.

See? A little spray paint really does go a long way and I think my old tray makeover was a success!

Until next time…

A cordless vacuum review isn’t normally the kind of thing I share with you. However, it occurred to me that if I was having a hard time deciding on which one to buy, that maybe you might be too.

Now, before I start with this review, you should know a couple of things. I am not getting paid to review this vacuum and I am no vacuum expert! Just a girl who wants a good, reliable vacuum that works and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg!

What started my looking for a new vacuum was that the hose on my upright broke.

Hands down, there were two vacuums that were referred to me by almost everyone that I spoke to.

The Dyson cordless vacuum and the Roomba.

Now, I like the thought of a Roomba, but know myself enough to know that I would need a vacuum that had attachments. So the Roomba was out.

P.S. I have not one but TWO girlfriends who have Roombas that they love so much that they have names for them. Think Sergio….tempting, but no.

I loved the features that the Dyson promised but hated the price tag that went with it.

Then , I saw a fellow blogger on Insta say how much she like this vacuum.

Two days later, the Hoover vacuum was on sale on Prime day.

Sold!

It came with a ton of attachments, including a wall hanger.

It was super easy to put together, light weight and it easily fits under the edges of furniture.

The thing I like best about it – it easily can reach under my coffee table as it can almost lay flat and still have suction.

That’s a big win for me!

Also, it is not only great on carpet, it rocks on hardwoods AND medium weight throw rugs.

Which is a huge plus for me, as I have a house full of hard surfaces and rugs!

Now for the list of cons.

This vacuum only comes with one battery.

Which, is not that big of a deal, unless you are doing some heavy duty cleaning in a large house.

The good news is that you can purchase extra batteries, which I will be doing!

Another negative is that the canister is small.

For me, this isn’t that big of a deal, but it may be for some.

I like that there are no bags and it is recommended that the filter be rinsed out in the sink.

Since I bought my vacuum in a bundle on Amazon Prime day, the cordless vacuum came with a hand held vacuum that also runs on the same battery.

I love this!

I love that this hand held picks up the slack for the cordless.

One last negative, which may or may not be a negative for you, there is no storage for all of the attachments!

My OCD goes a little crazy on the small details. Sigh.

That’s everything. I hope that this cordless vacuum review helps those of you, who are just like me, lost in the world of vacuums.

Until next time…

We put the Castle on the market a few weeks ago. Which has put quite a few of my projects on hold for awhile. Since I can’t work on projects, I have been shopping! Have you been shopping lately? All of the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas decor is everywhere. I’ve only got one thing to say – it’s too early!!!!

While I feel that it is way too early to be shopping for the fall holidays, as a blogger, I acknowledge the need to work ahead.

So, what does that mean? It means that I couldn’t help myself from taking a little stroll through the isles!

This Jack-O-Lantern ribbon was one of the first things I spied.

The pumpkins remind me of the Halloween art that was around when I was growing up!

This trick or treat sign is one of my favorites.

However, I found few more like it that I’m also in love with at Hob Lob.

I may have to make a few of my own!

This trick or treat pillow caught my eye….

We all know that I have a throw pillow addiction, so this would be a fun addition to the thousands that I already have!

This super cute glitter skull door mat is so cute!

I love it.

It’s the perfect combo of cute and spooky.

My second favorite door mat was this sweet Boo! mat.

Nothing spooky here, just a ton of cute!

Not only did they have a ton of Halloween decorations, but they had some very cute Thanksgiving items as well.

I loved the smell these Vanilla/Pumpkin scented wax squares.

For me the house needs to smell like fall as well as look like fall.

And, if you know anything about North Texas, you know that we really don’t have much of a fall season.

So we create our own!

Aren’t these cute fall camper and truck decorations cute?

I honestly would have taken that camper home, except I hope to be moving soon.

Okay, remember I said throw pillows may or may not be an issue for me?

My name is Tammy and I’m a pillowaholic…

I saw this sign and couldn’t help laughing.

This one is so true, whether we like it or not, Christmas is coming.

No matter how much fun it is to stroll through the isles, day dreaming of the fall to come, I have to admit that I’m still in summer mode.

I’m still enjoying sipping sweet tea, watching the fireflies and floating in the pool!

It’s too early, and too hot, to even think about the upcoming holidays yet!

Until next time…

It’s Ten on the 10th where ten fun and talented bloggers share fun ideas and projects for under $10.00. This months theme is BBQ. We love BBQ here at the castle so this was right up my alley! I saw this pail and knew it would be the perfect thing to bring in some flamingos at the BBQ.

Before I go any further, I want to give a great big shout out to our hostess Terrie from Decorate and More With Tip. Some days I think hosting must be like herding cats! Thank you Terrie.

When we BBQ I love to set a fun table.

Even more than that, I love having everything contained and in easy reach.

This cute little pail fit the bill for both of those things.

Even better – it was 75% off!

This sweet pale cost me $6.25. Woo Hoo!

My theme for my BBQ is pink flamingos with lots of navy.

First step, cutting out a stencil on my Silhouette from scraps of vinyl I had in my studio.

Once the stencil was cut, I simply applied it to the pail.

Then using pink acrylic paint, I stippled the paint onto the pail.

Once the paint dried, I peeled off the stencil and painted a pink band on a raised area on the pail.

Once the paint dried, a few painted details made my flamingos come to life!

Since I used multi-surface paints, no sealing was required.

After adding a few bows, my pail was ready for the BBQ.

This sweet pail was the perfect size for keeping the napkins, straws, and utensils all together, nice and tidy!

As an added bonus, the pail makes a perfect centerpiece!

It also matches my pink flamingo plates from the Target dollar spot that I purchased last year.

I had all supplies other than the pail in my stash. Which helped bring this project in easily under $10.00.

Yep, there are definitely pink flamingos at the BBQ!

Please join me now in checking out all of the other wonderful ideas at my fellow blogger’s sites:

Laura with Decor to Adore

Terrie with Decorate and More with Tip

Patti with Pandora’s Box

Kim with Exquisitely Unremarkable

Katie with Let’s Add Sprinkles

Ann with Apple Street Cottage

Carol with Bluesky at Home 

Susan with homeroad

It’s been 14 years ago this past April that we moved to Saddlewood Ct. 14 years of Halloween parties, Christmases, Thanksgivings, birthdays, 4th of Julys, BBQ’s with the family and so much more. Through the good times, and the not so great times we’ve loved every minute of it.

This past December The Hubs decided to retire and we took stock of where we are and where we want to be in the future.

While we love our house, we decided that we needed one story, less to dust, a bigger workshop for The Hubs and a few new decorating projects for me.

With all of that in mind, we put our house on the market this week.

So, in honor of our home, I’m sharing her one more time with you.

The pictures aren’t mine, rather ones that the listing agent had taken.

After I saw the video he took, I told my realtor that I wanted to buy my house. He’s that good!

At least I know all of the work we did getting the house ready to sell paid off!

It occurred to me as I was looking at the photos that there are a few rooms that I have never shared.

Not once!

Some of the rooms I will really miss as they probably won’t be in our new home.

I give the photographer props, there are rooms so small that they are almost impossible to photograph, like these bathrooms.

Never say never, but this will probably be our last pond.

We are great at growing and putting together an eco-system but we can’t keep fish alive for anything.

However, Frogs LOVE us!

I’ve spent a lot of time in my studio.

I’m gonna miss her!

However, IF she sells, I know that it’s time to let another family enjoy living here.

Hopefully, a new family who will love our house as much as we do.

Saddlewood Ct., y’all!

Until next time….