Fall Porch and Halloween Lantern

Last year, I think our fall decor consisted of some construction paper bats and pumpkins the kids made that I stuck on our mantel. I tried for something a bit more sophisticated this year, although I've gotta say, my efforts still aren't up to par with most of what I see in blogland. It's hard to decorate for holidays when we don't have enough furniture, and what we do have is being made to fill in in awkward spaces. But anyway, I do like the way the porch looks right now and I've got a quick DIY project for you.

Here's the outside...let's pretend our concrete porch has been powerwashed. I'm seeing that it needs it. Badly. Buy anway, you can see in the foreground that our morning glory vine is still full and green...



and the purple sweet potato vine in my pots still had life in 'em, so I just pulled out the pitiful petunias and replaced them with orange mums. I like the purple vine with the orange...I think I'll use a bright green vine next year in addition.


The other mums on our bench make me happy, too. Now all we need is a pumpkin or two!



The only problem is the wreath. I love it because it's simply feathers, but it doesn't show up against the door. I think the screen storm door is the problem. It may look better when we swap the screen for the glass. We'll see...but here it is up close.



So here's the DIY craft. I had this ugly old lantern forever. For some reason I bought only one of these years ago. It was supposed to be used outdoors with a candle, of course, but it has been our garage for years. So I pulled it out and taped the glass.



Then I spray painted it black, filled it with faux mini pumpkins and wired a raven (from Jo-Anns) on top. I really like it now, and love that I got it out of the garage once and for all.



The garland around the mirror was made using a pack of silk leaves also from Jo-Anns (they only cost a buck). And my daughter and I made the acorn frame last year after collected a bucketful of acorns on the Summit County Fall Hiking Spree.

Fall Leaf Garland
Nap Rating = 1 nap (depending on how long your garland is, it could be more but this took less than an hour)

Tools & Materials

• silk leaves


• brown thread


• scissors


• needle

Steps

1. Measure the span you want to swag and double this length. Cut a length of thread to this measurement.


2. Lay out the leaves in a logical pattern that looks natural and random. This step is more important than you'd think because I started threading leaves, then discovered there were only 5 green ones in the whole pack and I had used them all in the first few inches of the garland. That would've looked "off," so I had to unthread them and evenly disperse the colors more.


3. Tie a knot at the end of the thread


4. Start threading on leaves. Do this by making a stich at the top of each leaf. In other words, thread the needle up through the leaf, and back down to make a small stitch before moving onto the next leaf. This will help keep the leaves from sliding back and forth on the thread and ending up in a bunch at one end.

Happy Fall!