Fall in the Dining Room

My fall tour continues here in the dining room today.  I told you've I've been putting out fall everywhere didn't I?  Well, this room is where it really shows.  

Before we get into more fall decor, I just have to share this little find with you.  

Look what I found at one of my most favorite resale shops.  I admired this quite a bit when I first saw it but didn't buy it even though it was only $13.00 for the whole set.  After I found out I was going back to work I went back and bought it.  LOL! 

I am so glad it was still there.  I just love the grapes and shape of this one and that is also came with the plate underneath it too.

Here's my other tureen.  I don't have a bottom plate for it, but I absolutely adore this one too.

I can't help but wonder what in the world I am going to do with two soup tureens though?  But, they are sooo pretty ya know.  Yeah, I'm justifying here!  Mercy, I may have issues y'all.  LOL!

Okay, let's move on and get back to the fall decor.

I love the color combinations that I used on this table vignette.

I moved the candlesticks that I usually keep on fireplace mantle here to my side hutch along with a few more touches of fall.

I brought back out the Mr. pumpkin tassel that I made last year to hang on the china cabinet key.  You can go here to see how I made it.

On the top of my china cabinet I took an easy (lazy) way out and just added another beaded garland to the existing floral arrangement.

Inside the china cabinet I added a few more fallish goodies.

I love seeing these colors mixed with the white!

On another entirely different note; are you also seeing blogs on your blog roll that you do not follow?  I am!  It's weird because they are an auto blog link that is showing up with a different post for all sorts of different cars, and there is a lot of them!  It is coming up as Bonafied Southern on my roll.  Do your remember I told you my roll disappeared recently?  Now this!  It's crazy!  I was just wondering if anyone else is seeing this too?

Thanks again, so much for taking my dining room tour.

I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Have a great day friends!

Fall Wreath Redo

Hey Again!  I'm going to be bombarding y'all with my fall decor this week.   I feel like I'm working blogging on borrowed time, so I hope you'll bare with me.  I explained why on yesterday's post if your interested you can read all about it here.

  Today I want to share my fall wreath redo along with a few photos of the front porch.

This was last years fall wreath.  It's one I've had for a while but had added a new bow.  

Well, this year I decided to stream line it, just like most of the other fall decor I've been doing this year.  I am very into simplicity this year!

And here's the new look!

I took everything off and kept my vine wreath to use again.  

Then I added all my fall leaves back on.  I stopped using glue on my wreaths years ago because I like to reuse them so much.  It's so much easier using wire!

And then, I simply added the new fall acorn picks I purchased recently from Michael's.

I know it's pretty simple and yes, I've seen similar ones available for purchase.  But I can assure you it cost me a lot less to redo this one then start all over.

  I love it, because I plan to use this as my base for my Halloween wreath addition and my Thanksgiving wreath addition.  I have an idea I am trying this year that will basically make this a three in one wreath with interchangeable parts for Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving.  But you'll have to come back to see that later closer to Halloween.

Before we get on to the rest of the porch decor, I want to show you a far out shot of our yard.  Do you see the grass?  Woohoo!  I have grass again!  Earlier this spring I showed a picture of our yard almost completely dead.  We previously had St. Augustine, which is a shade grass in our front yard. When we bought the house we had quite a bit of trees. We have since cut down many of the trees and the grass was dying off.

  Since we built the pool and knew we would be sodding, we decided to roll out the front and side yard with Centipede too.  I am so happy to have grass again, even if it is going to turn brown with winter soon.  Please excuse the  shots of our fancy sprinkler system, that's going to be next years project, another one I am really looking forward too.

My pumpkins are back out, see!

I picked up a few Mums from Walmart...

...and from Lowe's.

My potato vine is still hanging in there and I don't have the heart to pull them up yet.

This is as far as I've gotten with this area.  I need to get more ribbon to work on the topiary's?  I would love any ideas you have for these!

And on the other side a few repeats from last year.

Except, I changed it up a little bit!

Well, that's the end of today's fall front porch tour!

I am joining BNOTP for 

Metamorphosis Monday

And the 

It's Fall Y'all Party

because things are changing quick around here.

Hope you'll come back again to see more soon!

Have a great day!

Praising God's Blessings!

Isn't it wonderful how the arrival of fall brings a reminder to all of us to count our blessings and to be thankful.  That's one of the things I love about fall!  With our recent blast of cooler temperatures it was wonderful to see so many of my FB friends status's reflecting gratitude.  Along with that, it's interesting to read all about what everyone is looking forward to with the arrival of fall. 


 This change in season can also remind us of time and our own mortality.  It is a time to remember our maker and a time to give thanks to God. I generally give thanks to God daily for all sorts of things in my little conversations with God.  However, this time of year often brings about a deeper reflection for me of all that I am thankful for.  Does the arrival of fall also do this for you?

In my foyer I've set a warm welcome of fall for our guests and for our family, along with a gentle reminder.

I found this pumpkin a few years ago at Carolina Pottery.  I love the message on this pumpkin.  I can immediately even hear the church organ every time I read it.  My husband and I have been a member of a few different denominations over the years, Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian.  It is a doxology we are well familiar with and enjoy singing heartily even though each denominations music is different.

"Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow"

Another doxology in widespread use in English, in some Protestant traditions commonly referred to simply as "The Doxology" and in others as “The Common Doxology”,^[3] is "Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow". The words are thus:

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

(taken from Wikipedia)

These have been very trying times for many!  I myself was also a casualty of the downward spiral in the job market.   I worked in a small private owner gift and embroidery retail shop.  It was in this position that I realized my love of arranging decor through merchandise displays.   It was one of the things I enjoyed most next to getting to know our customers personally.  

Over the last few years I've been fortunate enough to enjoy being at home while looking for another job that would allow me to continue to work in an environment I enjoy.  It's been a long and tedious search with a few disappointments along the way.  I've come to terms with the fact that another position with a small private owner retailer in my area is very rare as most are still hanging on by a thread. 

After several prayers and answered blessings I am happy to say I am going back to work this fall.  I feel so blessed for the time I've been at home.  I am so thankful to have been available 100% for my husband and his family during his father's battle with terminal cancer.  That is a time God has given me that I will never forget.    It has also been very fun catching up on several decor projects, learning how to blog, taking and downloading pictures, and especially learning how to tablescape.  I have loved it all and am so thankful for each and every day.  I've learned much about myself these past few years.  I've also learned to appreciate how much I enjoy employment.  Working for me not only brings about an extra income but also a sense of personal fulfillment.  I've held so many various part time positions over the years and feel so blessed for the experience that each and every one has offered.  My resume is quite diverse to say the least.  I am very happy for this opportunity to return to work in retail again.

  I've accepted a position with Stein Mart.  They are building a new store in one of our busiest shopping areas located only 2o to 25 minutes from where I live.  I will soon be among several who will be stocking and setting up the store.   I've done this before many years ago when Kohls first came to our area as well.  It is hard work, but also lot's of fun. I know I'm weird that way!  I'm actually thrilled to have the opportunity to start out this way so my memory gets the chance to know each and every corner.  I am hopeful that all will go well and the doors will open on time, October 15th.  I know, wow, right?

I've got one more week of freedom before I start the schedule shuffle.  I am not sure how my blogging is going to play out but I'm planning to hang in there as much as I can.  I hope all of you who follow will hang in there as many of you have.  I've been putting up the fall decor as quick as possible lately, attending my yearly Dr.'s appointments, helping finish off the pool area, sailing, and so many other life events I don't blog about so I do hope you understand why things have slowed down from me.  

I plan to keep visiting you as often as possible but please feel free to drop by and remind me to stop in and say hello anytime.  I really do appreciate the reminders too!

I am linking this to The Tablescapers

Seasonal Sunday.

Please visit the link above for all things related to the Season.

Praising God from whom all Blessings Flow!

Have a Blessed Sunday!

Fall Mantle 2011

Yay!  We definitely have cooler weather today! How about you?  Fall has finally arrived and I sure hope it hangs around for awhile.  Yesterday, I showed you a few fall arrangements I've been working on and I'm still at it today.   I also went to Michaels yesterday and came home with several fall picks of all kinds.  I'll be working on revamping my fall wreaths today.  I just love when I get an inspiring idea, don't you?  But you'll have to come back to see that later.  Today I'm showing you my fall mantle.

I do apologize for the photos y'all!  I am back to using my camera.  I was using the Mr's yesterday because I'm having a few issues with mine, but he has his with him this morning so this is all I got.  If you read yesterday's post you know that I'm feeling very streamline with my decor this year.  

I worked on this mantle for several hours the other day, only to pull much of it right back off.  I think it has to do with where this mantle is in our room (centered on the long side wall) that makes me want to back off of putting too much on it.  It just overwhelms me when it's too much.  Since this is the only den we have, I've got to be able to sit in there without cringing so this is as heavy as it gets. Well, for this year anyway!  :))

I used these black and white plates last year and absolutely loved it so I knew they were coming back this year.

I found these adorable checked pumpkins in the Target dollar isle last year after another blogger showed some she had purchased.  The orange pumpkin with leaves was part of a three pack from Ross? or Marshall's?  The small filigree pumpkins were from Hobby Lobby.

I just recently purchased four of these lanterns on clearance from Lowe's for $1.50 each.  Can you believe that?  I know crazy!  I wanted to buy a whole pallet of them.  LOL!  Anywho, here's a few of the picks that I purchased yesterday from Michaels.  One is a glittery leaf pick and the other is pumpkin and pine cones.

I added a few older small leaves I had and ribbon to my candle sconces.

The other side is basically the same except for the filigree pumpkin is a different color.

Well that's my 2011 fall mantle!

Hop on over and check out more

Fall Mantles at the It's Fall Yall Party.

I'm really getting in the fall spirit now and loving this cooler weather.

What a blessing!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Easy new Fall Decor Creations

The temperatures are dropping, or so I'm told they will be and fall is on it's way.  I  spent yesterday putting out a few of my fall things and putting together a few new fall looks as well.  The candle with shells and the tray of shells on my coffee table has been replaced with a new candle for fall.

I am pretty pleased with this.  You should know I like to keep things fairly clutter free.  This creation fit's the bill for being large enough to be a nice statement and allows me to keep the rest of table clear.

I especially love that I used everything I already had for this as well.  The basket I purchased at a thrift store some time ago and had already spray painted black.

I also had already created the candle last year by adding the small pine cones (prepackaged filler) with the candle wedged in.  I never dissembled it, so was quite pleased to be able to easily center it in the basket.  I used some old books to raise it up level with the side of the basket.

Then I added the beaded fall garland wire I already had.  It is wrapped around the base of the glass.  I gotta have some sparkle and bling in there somewhere!

Finally, I added several branches of fall leaves that I've had forever.  

And there it sits.  I just love it.  Pretty simple, huh?

I put the next arrangement together using mostly everything from the DT.  I am still so amazed at how many cute arrangements that can be put together using things from the DT.

When I found these adorable little metal pumpkin bowls I knew I had to do orange flowers.  I mixed in a few smaller yellow and orange and topped it all off with the brownish pink grass stuff.  Not sure if I am really diggin that so much but it's staying for this year anyway.

And finally, I added a bit of black and white polka dot ribbon to give it one more punch of cuteness.  The ribbon came from Hobby Lobby on sale.  

So there you have it!

Now if that colder weather would just move on in, I'll be all set.

I am linking to the Share Your Creations party at Kristens Creations today.  Be sure and visit the link to see more.

Thanks for stopping by!