When Pumpkins Fly

Nothing beats the romance and adventure of soaring through the sky aloft in hot air balloon. Although such a flight is still on my "must do someday" list, for now I'm happy to settle for airborne delights on a much smaller scale.

Last winter I set mini polar bears in flight in tiny baskets suspended from Christmas ornament "balloons". Now with Halloween, one of my very favorite holidays, fast approaching I thought I'd give pumpkins their due.

Tending to embrace the more whimsical than ghoulish side of the holiday, I created this easy and not-at-all scary DIY using basic and inexpensive craft supplies and odds and ends.

The fun part is making each balloon a unique creation. I settled on a traditional mostly orange black and white color scheme but any style or palette can be fun. Simply pop in some quirky pilots and send them up, up, and away.

image from my Polar bear Club Post

Digging through my "treasures" I pulled from seasonal crafts, ribbon, and unused jewelry findings.

I Used:

Faux pumpkins

Ribbon

Small baskets

Passengers

Fish net stockings

Accessories and accents

Printables

images (left to right) ebay,  vintage fan girl, the New Yorker

There are many fanciful balloon designs online and in books for inspiration, some historically accurate and some pure whimsy. Apparently, flying pumpkins have been around for some time.

A Royal Raven takes flight outdoors (actually he's hanging from a garden shepherd's hook) My balloons aren't designed for permanent outdoor display but are fun to set out temporarily for a party or event.

The balloon starts with a white painted foam pumpkin spruced up with quick and not too fussy painted patterns

The basket handles pop off easily.
You can leave them as is but I gave them a quick spritz of white and sage green topped with glow in the dark spray paint for night flights.

I used black craft wire to attach baskets as a sturdier and tangle-free alternative to string or fishing line and is easily thread through weave of basket.

A raven gets a quick paper crown

Scrap ribbon, faux jewels and a printable banner make fun adornments and are held in place with hot glue. 

A smaller pumpkin dons fishnet stockings in a quick makeover.

 Simply pull foot of stocking tightly over pumpkin, tie a knot, and snip. 

A cute craft store halloween cat serves as pilot.
An unused multistrand choker glued in place makes a sturdy hanger. 

I kept one pumpkin fairly simple just adding some ribbon and an owl passenger on a twig perch, fashioned from a toilet paper roll and faux wood contact paper. 

The oh so simple supplies

Wired ribbon and a vintage printables from images from the Graphics Fairy make fun topper flags.

Though not traveling by balloon, I will be away from my blog for a short time. I love getting questions and comments about my projects so I will be sure to respond promptly when I return!

Cheers

Happy Fall!

A Big Thank You, or Danke Shoen!

I was so thrilled and surprised to open an email the other day with the nicest message from Susan Clayton of the delightful blog The Eclectic Shorebird choosing me as a recipient for the Leibster Award. (cue happy dance!)

This is an award given to newer or smaller bloggers (with fewer than 200 followers or so) by their fellow bloggers as a token of recognition and coming from a blogger I truly admire makes it all the more special! Part of the award involves answering a series of original get to know you questions and then in turn nominating a blogger (or several) of your choice! What a fun way to share a little "Liebe"

I'll be announcing my Liebster blogger picks in the upcoming weeks!

I can't wait to share some of my favorite blogs which have been inspirational to me!

But for Now

Make sure to pop over to visit The Eclectic Shorebird featuring Susan's beautiful photography and thoughtful and humurous commentary. I especially enjoy her

Tea in the Library Series:

 lovely tea sets and words of wit and wisdom

  

And now for the Q&A part of the Award

              Susan came up with some really fun questions:

  

Woodland Tea

  

As summer starts to come to a close, it's fun to make the most of those still light and warm early evenings by entertaining outdoors. Why not include some furry and feathered forest friends on your guest list and host a whimsical woodland themed tea party? It's easier than you may think to turn your backyard or park into an enchanting forest for the late afternoon with some simple nature inspired DIY crafts and simple "semi-scratch" recipes. 

For this idyllic setting, my gracious neighbors let me commandeer their exquisitely landscaped backyard.

Tea, sweets and fruit make the perfect late afternoon pick-me up

Mushroom Cottage 

                 Oversized Toadstools add a touch of whimsy to your decor. Of course adding a mini door and window makes it the perfect cottage abode for tiny friends.

You'll need
Pool noodle
Plastic bowls of appropriate size
Popsicle sticks
mini mirrors
Spray paint or acrylic which will work well on plastic
Glitter or sparkly paint
Moss, rocks, tiny creatures or any accessories

 wood base (on clearance) plastic bowls and a pool noodle

 Cut the pool noodle to desired lengths using a serrated knife. I varied the sizes for a less uniform look. Spray noodle "stems" and bowls desired colors. I chose a natural color scheme but you could even go with bright playful or flourescent colors depending on your event.

 Noodles soak up much of the paint so I gave mine three generous coats. Some of the original color may still show through which I didn't mind. Other items (cardboard tubes etc) could be used as stems as well, but I liked the mushroom-like texture of the noodle. I also quickly spritzed the bowls with white so the acrylic would adhere better.

While paint is drying I quickly constructed a popsicle stick door for my mushroom cottage. For more detailed instructions, you can follow the tutorial for my whimsical elf door from my Scandinavian Christmas post. Some tiny mirrors glued on a square of paper and a scrapbook flower box from the clearance section of my craft store make a little window

I used a deep red and brown for the bowl mushroom tops. Although the original bowl color was fun, a coat of paint plays down the plastic finish. I then sprayed the tops with clear coat and added glitter. For a quicker fix, keep bowls unpainted and pop on small round sticker labels as dots.

Attach window and door and moss with hot glue and let set.

After marking the desired spots on my wood base, I hot-glue two long wood screws onto the wood for extra stability. Then simply pop on mushrooms, add moss and add any finishing touches.

Woodland Log Cake 

& Five Minute Marshmallow Mushrooms

Last holiday season I made an easy "semi-scratch" Buche du Noel, or French Yule Log cake using a storebought bakery cake roll. Although traditionally frosted with sugary snow and served at Christmas time, with a few tweaks it works wonderfully with a woodland theme any time of year.

 To see the winter version, click here.

Simple supermarket supplies: a  roll cake ($3.99 at Giant) and ready to go frosting. The star icing tip is perfect for creating a bark-like texture

Once iced, cut a diagonal slice off of the cake to create a branch and attach to side of log (cake can also be left as is, if desired) Garnish with "mushrooms", berries and fresh mint.

Five Minute Marshmallow Mushrooms

Using icing, attach cookies to marshmallows (I chose sturdier ones out of the bag) Make dots with white icing "writer" and let set.

Night Lights

Extra little lights add a cozy warmth and sparkle to any event, even before the sun goes down.

Since I love the idea of reusing items, I repurposed my firefly globes from my Fourth of July post by adding a butterflies.

Moss covered glasses with flameless votives help illuminate the evening without being a fire concern. A touch of hot glue keeps greenery in place. 

Thanks so much for visiting and hoping everyone is enjoying the waning precious days of Summer!

PennyWise Tips

These woodland ideas can be adapted easily to any whimsical event: An Alice in Wonderland tea or Boy's Bug themed Birthday perhaps?

This would be a lovely theme in Fall or Spring as well: For Fall, simply add some faux leaves in orange and golds and for Spring lighten the color scheme with cheerful floral accents.

If the weather doesn't cooperate or you have limited outdoor space, set up an indoor picnic by purchasing some faux grass carpet (sold inexpensively by the yard) at your home improvement store for an instant indoor forest floor.

Getting Creative at Home Blog Tour: My Summer Recap

I'm so thrilled to be part of this fun blog tour!

Maybe it's the fact that September is around the corner, or that I've already seen Halloween and Fall decor in stores (Pumpkins, aisle five!) but it seems this summer has breezed by in the blink of an eye. So when some bloggers got together and suggested we revisit some of our favorite previous posts for the fabulous Getting Creative at Home Tour, I figured I would embrace this seemingly shortest of seasons with a quick recap of some of my favorite fun and as always, budget friendly summer projects.

In August I enjoyed the sport of kings (on a pauper's budget) and created an equine themed DIY Polo Picnic

                                                

Dollar store ponies and a faux silver plate turn into trophies with the magic of spray paint and Modge Podge (1,3). Ready made dough makes horse shoe bread twists (2) and computer printouts dress up budget bubbly (4)

Mid summer was perfect for a trip to a local lavender farm where we bought goodies for projects celebrating this delightfully scented plant in the post Lavender, Sweet Lavender

A bit of Provence in a window box. A milk carton farmhouse with a fake fingernail "tile" roof rests in a mini lavender farm of one's own. Lavender adds a unique flavor to white chocolate truffles. Photos from the farm.

We celebrated the 4th with vintage inspired candy cones, an allergy friendly and oven-less watermelon "cake" and easy DIY firefly globes. Check out these simple DIYs on the Red, White, and Blue Birthday post

Summer fruit becomes a healthy and eye catching dessert. Open face globes light up the evening with foliage and flameless votives. Images from the Graphics Fairy lend a vintage air to a bag of dollar store party hats.

I'm so delighted to be in the company of so many wonderful creative fellow bloggers on this tour! 

My Fellow Friday Bloggers
Circa 1929

Elegant Nest

A Nest for All Seasons

To find oodles of inspiration and ideas visit the links from the weeklong tour below or if you're an avid pinner like me, on Pinterest:Haven at Home 

    

Many, many Thanks to Julie of Lilacs and Longhorns who came up with this idea, created the graphics and kept us all on track with grace and humor!