A Joyful Riot

A Large Gathering of Happy Things

DIY Fall Leaves + Flowers Mobile

·

leafandflower_mobile27 leafandflower_mobile12This is about the time of year where I start freaking out because fall is almost over. I mean it just started and it already is slipping by! Luckily, most places still have leaves on the trees and haven’t entered winter temperatures quite yet. And we still can keep leaves and fall-y things around until Thanksgiving, right?

This simple mobile has all of my favorite fall colors, I just love it!

leafandflower_mobile22leafandflower_mobile25

 

    Materials

  • Embroidery hoop //
  • Twine //
  • Scissors //
  • Hot glue gun //
  • leaves (at least a dozen) //
  • flowers (at least a dozen) //
  • Ceiling hook //
  • Lace/ribbon/twine/embroidery floss //

Continue Reading

Party Inspiration: Copper and Purple Thanksgiving

·

It’s been a little while since we’ve done a party inspiration post! And what better occasion to pick back up than with the most important dinner party event of the year: Thanksgiving?! There are so many fun ideas out there on how to make this dinner with loved ones extra special and I am seriously loving all of the copper-related fall decor and DIYs this year. I think pairing some of these copper DIYs with purple gives the holiday *just* enough of something different while still keeping a lovely fall vibe. Ideas and links for incorporating copper and purple into your big day of eating and laughing are below. I even included a pumpkin dessert because I couldn’t resist!copper&purple thanksgiving

1. White pumpkins filled with purple flowers 2. Clay feathers 3. Copper cake stand 4. Copper leaf gourds 5. Copper striped pumpkins 6. Copper rimmed candle holder 7. Copper leaves 8. Purple twine 9. Pumpkin bavarian crepe pie 10. Purple drink stirrers

Thankful Favor Bags

·

thankfulbags8

Machelle and I really do love glitter! Remember when I made these simple thank you bags? I always wanted to make them again and when do you say “Thanks” more than at Thanksgiving? This time I added a little more to the bags and made even more Thanksgiving-themed.

Fill these bags with candy or a small gift and hand them out at Thanksgiving dinner as an extra way to tell people you are thankful for them.

thankfulbags2

thankfulbags3

    Materials

  • Kraft bags (I got mine from Target for $1) //
  • Glue (I used Tacky glue) //
  • Glitter //
  • Wrapping paper in any design //
  • Pencil //

thankfulbags5

Continue Reading

Floral Pumpkin Garland

·

floral_garland7floral_garland1floral_garland20

Pumpkins filled with flowers are everywhere – and it is easy to see why! They are so pretty and make for perfect fall and Thanksgiving decor. As I was admiring some pretty planters the other day I wondered if I could make a garland and it turns out it is pretty easy and totally doable!

floral_garland5

    Materials

  • Mini pumpkins (3-5) //
  • Flowers //
  • Awl //
  • Wire (something like this) //
  • Knife //
  • Nail (to hang) //

floral_garland12
floral_garland_steps1

1. Cut the top off of each mini pumpkin and clean out the insides.

2. Use an awl to pierce two holes in each pumpkin directly across from each other.

3. Pull the wire through the first hole. If it does not go all the way through, use the awl again to make the hole larger.

floral_garland_steps2

4. Make a knot with the wire and then wrap it around several more times so that it is secure.

5. Repeat with each pumpkin. I had about a foot of wire between each pumpkin but do more or less depending on how long you want your final garland to be. Leave a few feet on the first and last pumpkin so that you have enough for hanging.floral_garland_steps3

6. Cut your flowers and place inside each pumpkin – I used mums.

floral_garland_steps4

7. Hang the garland with nails. I placed the garland up by the wall (with Greg’s help) to see how far apart I wanted them and then hammered in two small nails. Then I just wrapped the wire around each nail about 4 times.

floral_garland7At first I was thinking this should only last for a day or two but its been up for over 3 days and is still going strong and looks great! This would be so pretty if you were eating outside, hanging from between two trees. If only I lived somewhere warm enough that I could have Thanksgiving dinner outside!

floral_garland6floral_garland17floral_garland24floral_garland23

Easy Stamped Table Runner

·

tablerunner_finished4 copytablerunner_finished5

Ok, I have to be honest. Machelle and I have not always been very big fans of Thanksgiving. It is not that we don’t love food (we SO do). Or that we don’t like spending time with family (OF COURSE we do). But we never really saw all the fuss over the holiday. I think it is because our mom always made every Sunday dinner as nice as Thanksgiving with tons of delicious food, a tablecloth, china and centerpieces. On top of that we had family dinner every night. So when Thanksgiving came around it was basically Sunday dinner with less of our favorite food (I mean who really LOVES turkey and cranberries?) and more of our family we were not close to (you know the cousin/aunt you only see at gatherings every few years who always comments on how big you are?).

But I think this year with the blog we can be more creative and do some craft projects to make Thanksgiving more of our own and that will allow the holiday to warm up to us more. But do NOT, and I mean do NOT expect any pilgrims with their historically inaccurate belt buckles to appear here.

Since we are still warming up to Thanksgiving, let’s start with a simple craft: a kraft paper table runner.

    Materials

  • Craft paper //
  • Scissors //
  • Pen/pencil //
  • Tape measurer/ruler //
  • Stamp //
  • Paint //
  • Felt //
  • Flat surface (plate, etc.) //
  • Tape //

tablerunner_finished1

Continue Reading

Recent Posts

Subscribe

Theme by 17th Avenue · Powered by WordPress & Genesis