Handcrafted Sunflower

I have been thinking about fall.
Once summer break is over, I'm always ready for that first cold snap. Okay, in Texas it isn't a cold snap. It is just an inkling of cooler days to come.

A perfect transitional decor item is the sunflower. 

 I bought some fresh ones.

They were fun to use in some vignettes.

I saw these cute sunflowers on e-bay.

I was trolling the internet for ideas for my nodders.

I am still tweaking those and will reveal my fall nodders next week. 

I had never seen grungy sunflowers like these.
I love the artisans that sell on e-bay.
 If you enter what you are looking for ( pumpkins or scarecrows) in the Antique's category, all kinds of fun primitive crafts are for sale.   I was going to order some of the sunflowers, and might have in years past, but I decided that I could make at least one to see how cute it could be.
 That's what I did with my apples.

Fabric Apple

Read about them here. 

The sunflower was easy once I figured out how they did it. I was trying to make it waaaay more complicated than I needed to. I had been mulling it over for a few weeks. 

I had some perfect yellow gingham.

I cut two circles of the gingham and I cut one circle of burlap.

The burlap make a wonderful seed pod.

  I sewed the burlap to the center of the gingham leaving a small section open to stuff the sunflower.

 Mr. Bill had a thin dowel rod in the garage. 
After I sew it, I cut the "petals."

 I grunged it up with coffee grounds.  

 I added the sunflower tag and the burlap leaves.

I planted it in a chalkboard painted flower pot.

I put moss around it but I didn't like it.

I love how Pottery Barn does their flower pots. What ever they use looks like soil. I decided to use some soil and mulch from the yard.  I hot glued it on the foam. ( I have since found a tutorial on how to make Pottery Barn looking soil. I will try it out and get back to you.)

 I think this fabric sunflower is pretty cute.

Gingham Fabric Sunflower

This weekend my sister in law, Amy and I will be getting crafty. I will probably make a few more to put in my  wreath on the front door.
Sprinkled with sunflowers,
Katie
P.S. If you read this blog often and saw my typos in the preceding post, I am terribly sorry. I made a last minute change and didn't proof well at all. Yikes. I hate that.

I hope everyone has a restful Labor Day Weekend!
Linking with,
Feathered Nest Friday 
Savvy Southern Style 
Common Ground 
Rooted in Thyme

Mantel Details

I wanted to talk about the items on my new fireplace mantel. Have I said how much I love my makeover to it?
Read about it here.

Almost everything on the mantel was thrifted. 

Two things were gifted.

Can you guess which are the gifts?

You know the clock is thrifted because I already talked about how I got it at Goodwill for $4.99.
Here.

It received a much needed makeover with white paint. 

The darling milk glass pitchers came from the thrift.

I doubt I paid more than $3.00 each  for them.

The square McCoy-ish planter was only 49 cents. It isn't marked but I think it is vintage ceramic's shop. These can be super good buys because they were glazed by hobby-ests. I love it's delicate charm. 

The velvet hydrangeas in the planter were only .29 cents. I got them in all the colors the store had.

The window frame came from the screen guy's salvage yard. 

It was a dollar. 
Read about it here. 

The wreath came from Arlington Resale. It was $3.99.
It looks real to me.

The darling vintage oil painting was also from that store. It was only $4.99.

The ice cream bucket turned wood holder came from a garage sale.

Mr. Bill used it in the garage to hold wood scraps. I confiscated it for a planter. It got the rust from one season on the porch.  Perfection.

So the two things that are gifted are the Pottery Barn lantern 

and the outdoor wall planter. 

They were both things I won at our family gift exchange for Christmas. Actually, the Pottery Barn lantern I brought to the gift exchange, nobody wanted it, so I took it back. Can you believe nobody wanted that? It is as cute as can be.

I don't know where I got the backwards books. 

Some of my old crusty books came from family and others came from yard sales.

So there you have it. My thrifty and cute mantel.

It was fun to realize that just about everything came from the junk stores. I only spent $36.00 on the new surround and about $20 on the accessories.

Those are the cheap thrills of the mantel. 

Sprinkled with junky finds,

Katie 

Linking with,

The Brambleberry Cottage 

Savvy Southern Style 

Beyond the Picket Fence 

Elizabeth and Co. 

Feathered Nest Friday 

Common Ground 

The Charm of Home

Apples, Apples Everywhere

I  usually pull out my apple stuff in August right before I head back to work. I am usually tired of the sea shells and what ever seasonal fruit I have had for the summer.  
I had cherries this year. 

Read about it here. 
I loved them.

I have gotten tons of cute apple things from students over the years. Most of them stay at school but the rest I bring home.

I've been teaching again for the last 17 years, so there are just too many cute things to keep at school.

I decided the red and white transferware made a nice background for my apples. It also made is it super easy because I didn't have to do anything to change out the china in my display niches. Read about them here.

Franciscan's apple pattern has been continually produced since 1940. 

I shared with you about my fabric apples. 

I schmooked white paint on an apple I got from Kirkland's a few years ago. It goes better with all the white I have going on. 

My darling daughter dabbles in art, she did a couple of oils for me a few years ago. 
I love  the turquoise and the red.

A few years ago Cracker Barrel had a sweet apple display. I got  the cute white apples there.

I shared with you about an applique skirt I got from my step mom. I framed each little fruit applique. The frame was gold but I painted it.

The sifter came from Bill's Granny Vi.

I'm loving my mom's antique chalkboard. 

I bought this chalkboard at Michael's. I bought it before I remembered I had  the antique one. 

The darling a.b.c. blocks came from garage sales and thrift stores years ago. You can get them at Mardel.

I only had two purchases.
I got this label off of e-bay.

This one I got at an antique store in town.

 I have been enjoying all this for the past few weeks. It is seeing me through the transitional period before the pumpkins come out.

What decorations do you put out this time of year?

Sprinkled with apples,

Katie 
Linking with,
Lavender Garden Cottage 
I want to say thank you to Lavender Garden Cottage for featuring my easel/desk last week. 
Between Naps on the Porch 
Debbie Doos 
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia