Dryer Vent Pumpkins!

My BFF was in town this weekend and you know when she's around there's going to be some crafting going on!  She brought this totally fabulous project with her, courtesy of some of her crafty relatives (I just wanna make sure I am giving credit where credit is due here!) and we went to work making a peck of our own!

Yes, that's the burlap candy corn bunting Sheep and I made a couple of years ago.  If you're interested, you can get all the details here, but let's get back to pumpkins, shall we?

Here's what you will need:
Dryer vent
Wire cutters
Scissors
Glue gun and/or flexible wire
Stems
Spray paint
BLING!

Dryer vents come in different sizes, but the standard vent will make approximately 7 medium pumpkins.  Our medium pumpkins measure about 9" in diameter.  We cut our dryer vents every 32 rings, using scissors to slice through the aluminum and wire cutters to snip the wire form.  They are very Slinky-esque, so just imagine cutting a Slinky every so often and you've got the idea.

I wired some together, threading a fine gauge wire through a large needle (needs to have a large eye) and just whip stitching it closed around the wires on both ends.  My BFF preferred the glue gun method, and although I think it might have burned her fingerprints off, it did seem to go faster, so I switched to glue too.  But take your pick, it will work either way.

Once your glue is dry, they are ready to paint!  We started with a can of bright orange and a can of harvest orange, but we quickly decided to raid the paint shelf and did some other fun colors as well!  The bright orange seems more Halloween-y to me while the fall orange seems like it would work well all the way through to Christmas, but having both is even better!

I started out pretty simple on my decorations, and tried to stick to decorations that I already had in my craft room - but we both knew it wouldn't last!

What can I say?  I am a chronic over-embellisher!
But aren't they adorable?!?!
I am sooo happy with how they turned out!

Most of the bright orange I decided looked best with Halloween decorations.  By this time, my BFF was getting upset with her pumpkin decorating skills and it was threatening to start raining again,so she decided to leave me to it and go paint the rest in hopes that we could make a little moo-lah for the holidays!

Simple or deluxe, I think they look great!  And I must say they are even cuter in person!

And I am working on more this afternoon!  Leave me a note and tell me which one is your favorite. I'd love to hear from you!

Sharing this sassy project at some or all of these great parties: Under the Table and Dreaming, Totally Overflowing with Creativity, Three Mango Seeds, Classy Cutter, Serenity You, House of Hepworth, Skip to my Lou, LadyBug Blessings, Nap Time Creations, The Style Sisters, Polkadots on Pararde, Rae Gun Ramblings,Costal Charm, Not Just a Housewife, Domestically Speaking, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Sumos Sweet Stuff, The Gunny Sack, Gingersnap Crafts, Southern Lovely, Lil Luna, Someday Crafts, The NY Melrose Family, The DIY Dreamer, The Blackberry Vine, Homeworks, The Rustic Pig, Cornerstone Confessions, Kathe with an E, House on the Way, PJH Desgin, Glued to my Crafts, The Crafty Blog Stalker, Seven Alive, Made in a Day, Live Laugh and Love, A Creative Place, Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson, Home and Gardens, It Happens In a Blink, I Gotta Create, Domestic Super Hero, All Pretty Things, Katie's Nesting Spot, 52 Mantels, Truly Lovely, Twinkle in the Eye, Happy Hour Projects, Six Sisters Stuff, Tutus and Tea Parties, Mop It Up Monday, Saturday Show and Tell, Moonlight and Mason Jars, The Scoop, Wow Us Wednesdays, Take-A-Look Tuesday

If you enjoyed this pumpkin decorating idea, check out these other great Halloween idea posts!
 

Pumpkin Primpin'

Meet Mumpkin!

Fab Fall Mantle

October has already gotten away from me . . . it's half over and I'm still getting out my decorations!  I guess my birthday celebration in Round Top last week was a bigger bump in the road than I anticipated - but oh so worth the trip!  Can't wait to share with you all of my "fall haul," but this quick mantle I put together last week will have to do for today! 

I made the burlap wreath last year for my door outside, but I've also got an awesome Halloween wreath as well, so I decided not to wait and use it on the mantle now.

It will carry me through to December it looks so great! 

For instructions on how to make your own burlap awesomeness, go here!

I like to add seasonal pictures of the kids.  These two are some of my favorite from Halloweens past.

Sheep in a sheep costume - How CUTE is that?!

 

 

On the other side I added some candy corn in my hurricane glass for color and placed on a stack of old books for some variation in height.

The books came from Round Top (Warrenton actually) at my friend Winnie's, who always has rooms full of vintage to comb through.  most of these I bought just for the color of the covers since I was doing a fall mantle, though I must admit 'Man Alive: You're Half Dead!' seemed apropos for Halloween!

Finished off with a few small pumpkins and . . .  I think I like it!

And I hope you find some inspiration from it too!

 

Take a good look at this mantle though, because that big, bulky (weird) chunk of wood you see hanging over my fireplace won't be there much longer . . . . yippee!

Sharing this sassy project at Mop it Up Mondays, Debbie Doo's Newbie Party, Take-A-Look Tuesday, Wow Us Wednesdays, Cowgirl Up, Whimsy Wednesdays, Show and Share, Overflowing with Creativity, Creative Me, Made You Look

Burlap Wreath Tutorial

I am LOVIN' the look of burlap and I am seeing it literally everywhere these days!  I have been using burlap for years in my fall decorating, primarily on my Thanksgiving table, because it's a cheap alternative to a tablecloth and an easy way to cover multiple tables together without even having to hem anything!  Nowadays though, it's popping up in all kinds of new and fun ways.  Just type burlap in the search field on Pinterest and see for yourself!  And if you haven't been to Pinterest yet, all I can say, is "GIIIRL!!  What are you waiting for?!?!  It is AMAZING!"  Which reminds me, I made an amazing Halloween wreath last month, and was feeling inspired (even though I am dying to get going on Christmas decorations already), so I combined a few of my Pinterest ideas and voila!!  My very own burlap door wreath that's pretty darn awesome if I do say so myself.  So easy - it took less than an hour to put it together - and so beautiful!!  Now that's my kind of craft!

Supplies:

1.  2 wire pants hangers

2.  Approximately 1 and 1/2 yards of burlap

(depends on how full you like your wreaths)

3.  Cutting utensil (I used a rotary cutter)

4.  Ruler

Remove the cardboard from your hanger and unbend.  You will need two to make a large door wreath and you can simply hook them together using the bent ends that insert into the cardboard.  For a smaller wreath, you can simply unbend and hook ends together to form a small circle, as below.

Lay your burlap out on cutting surface.  Use ruler to determine the width of your strips for your wreath.  I used 6 inches (the width of my ruler) for simplicity and because I like big loops.  I'm a more is more kinda girl!

Cut strips of burlap, from side to side across the width of your fabric.  I probably used about 12 strips.  I can't remember if burlap is sold in 45" or 60" widths, but you get the idea.  You will use more or less depending on your fullness preferences, so you decide!

Starting at one end of the strip, pinch the burlap together like you are pleating it for a bow.  You DO NOT have to finish the ends or seams at all.  This is such an easy project!

Unbend one of the hooked ends of the hanger that was holding the cardboard (You may need pliers for this, or you can use scissors, or teeth - I'm not telling you OR my mother which I used) and 'sew' it through your pinched pleats.  You will be sewing perpendicular to the length of your strip.

Push it down onto your wire loop and repeat.  You can see from this picture that I pinched and 'sewed' about every 10 inches.  Don't worry, you don't have to be exact.  Once it's all scrunched on the loop, you won't be able to tell.

If you have hooked two wires together for a larger wreath, then you will probably need to do this from both ends, meeting in the middle, where they are hooked together.  Keep sewing and scrunching!

Remember that the more strips you use, the heavier it becomes, which may become an issue when you hang it.  Mine turned out pretty heavy, but again, I'm a more is more kinda girl!  Just something to keep in mind.  OK, carry on!

Here is one strip pleated and 'sewn' onto the wire.  I have gone back and forth, or side to side, as you can see in the picture, but you don't have to because you can twist your loops on the wire once they are on there.  Again, this is a very forgiving project.  We like that!

This is the same strip now scrunched.  From her on out, just keep adding strips until you get it to the desired fullness.  Once you have 'sewn' all the burlap onto your loop, rebend the wires at the ends and hook together to complete the circle for your wreath.  Adjust burlap loops to hide any wire.  Add decorations and your done!

I liked the look of my burlap wreath so much that I decided not to put any permanent decorations on it, and because it's fabric - it will be SO EASY to use over and over again!  Rather than hot gluing my flowers and feathers to the burlap, I simply hot glued pins to the flowers and pinned them to the fabric instead.  The leaves and feathers came on wire picks, so I jabbed them into burlap (it's such a loosely woven fabric) along with the twigs.  This wreath would look great dressed up for almost any holiday - cheers!

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