featuredfall | A Joyful Riot

DIY Fall Leaves + Flowers Mobile

November 13, 2014 ·

This 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!

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

Copper Vintage Map Plaques

November 10, 2014 ·

I love vintage maps and just the other day I discovered this amazing resource called the David Rumsey collection and immediately wanted to do some projects utilizing the gorgeous vintage Atlases. Pairing them with copper actually turned out quite nice if I do say so myself! The other great thing about this project is that you can add or subtract any number of wood plaques and mix shapes and sizes to fill any wall space you want!

Wood plaques (form Michael’s or any craft store) //
Copper spray paint //
Glue //
Old vintage maps (I used ones from the David Rumsey collection which is amazing) //
Scissors //

Floral Pumpkin Garland

November 5, 2014 ·

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!

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

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.

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.

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

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.

At 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!

Cakestand Flower Domes

October 27, 2014 ·

Flowers really take parties to the next level. They have an irresistible living beauty that makes your event feel classy and expensive. Unfortunately flowers easily can be expensive so figuring out a way to make grocery store bought ones blend and not look cheap can be a challenge. Buuut, forming a dome absolutely full of clustered flower buds and setting that atop a cakestand? Beautiful all the way.

We featured this look at our birthday dinner and couldn’t have been more pleased with how it turned out. Showcased on our DIY cardboard cake stands, they were such a pretty sight!

Fresh Flowers //
Hot Glue Gun //
scissors //
Paper Bowls //
Cake Stands //

We love the selection of flowers at Whole Foods but honestly, you can find pretty flowers almost anywhere they’re sold. Grab a few bundles that look good together and bring em home! Or, if you are ever so lucky to have a variety of home grown flowers, definitely use those! Cut each stem as close to the bud as you can while keeping buds in tact. Take some paper bowls that have the appropriate size for your cake stands and cut the lip off. Dab glue on and press a flower to it! Continue until the bowl is totally covered.

We were so pleasantly surprised with how well the flowers held up too! Honestly, three days later I thought they still didn’t look too shabby.