Our Autumn Mantle.

 

Since being home, I've enjoyed having more time to spend creating. Rosemary and I have a lot of fun making things together. She chills on the table and keeps me company while I get busy with arts and crafts. (I can't wait until she is old enough to help.) Nothing beats painting pretty pictures while your baby girl kicks her legs and coos beside you.

My mantle has remained mostly the same since I married Timmy and prettied up his former bachelor pad. But now, hours spent nursing on our couch, staring at the mantle, gave me great plans to switch things up. And so, our Autumn Mantle was created.

1. Autumn Canvas Painting

 After designing Hattie's wedding invitations, I realized that the illustration I used for those would make a perfect fall canvas painting. Using a projector, I transferred the illustration onto a large canvas and used black tea bags to stain the white canvas a pretty, natural off-white color. The rest of the painting is done with acrylics. I used to paint all the time in college and then I met Timmy and got completely distracted by his pretty blue eyes and I haven't really done much painting since. All it took was another pair of baby blue eyes giving me the ability to stay home, and my love for painting has been renewed.

2. Chalkboard Canvas

I got the idea to do a chalkboard canvas here. I decided to change it up a bit and give the chalkboard a decorative border. The edges are painted a pretty sparkly gold, and it's quite fun to switch up the chalky writing.

 

3. Feathered Friends

Timmy bought me a cute owl that he named Morpheus. Morpheus and little bluebird are besties and they add a lot of cuteness to our autumn mantle. (And I think they will fit in quite nicely with any future season mantles, too.)

4. Stacked Gourds

Stacked gourds on candlestick holders make me smile. I got the inspiration for these here. These cuties are stacked and held together with a LOT of hot glue. (I didn't hot glue them at first, but then I had the unfortunate experience of having a gourd topple off and land directly on my toes. No fun.)

5. Yarn-Wrapped Vase

I have seen these yarn-wrapped vases all over the place on Pinterest, but don't really have a specific link that inspired me. To give my vase a more rustic feeling, I used natural jute. This project took way longer than I thought it would. Over an hour of wrapping and hot gluing and lots of burned fingers later… my pretty vase was done. I bought some pretty fake fall leaves to put in it. (I briefly considered bringing a real branch with real leaves inside but then I thought of bugs and spiders that might be living on real leaves and branches…)

 

 

Ta-da!

It's kind of funny that I posted this on the day we had our first winter snow. I guess I had better get started on our winter mantle…

Two Bits of Fun News:

#1: Timmy found and bought me non-toxic, all-natural nail polish in a pretty shade of purple. I haven’t painted my nails in years, after learning about the toxicity of regular polish.
(The brand is called Piggy Paint and it looks just like regular nail polish. Only this stuff doesn’t have the ability to kill you with its harmful ingredients.)

#2: I can still reach my toes.
(Timmy did offer to paint my toesies for me, if I couldn’t manage to get past my ballooning belly. I almost let him, because I think lots of giggles would have resulted from his attempt.)

Happiness Happened This Week…

 (cute wooden baby toys)

The car seat I have been stalking at Target went on sale today for $100! It is normally $159.99. We snatched that deal up within ten minutes of me texting Timmy with an opening line of “Oh my goodness!”
 
Rynn and Caleb came over for our weekly dinner date. After we all admitted that none of us felt like actually cooking, we high-tailed it to Chipotle for a leisurely supper of burritos and chips. As we enjoyed their company and they talked of missions trips to foreign countries, I was reminded afresh of how special this time is. We may not always live in the same city, and I like having our little lovebirds nearby.
 
Tim and I both got off work early one day to go to a midwife appointment. Hearing Baby Love’s heartbeat always puts a smile on my face, and getting Tim to myself for the whole afternoon and evening put an extra bounce in my step. We opted to go to the Budget Cinema for a matinee viewing of “Jane Eyre” – a movie Timmy agreed to without really thinking about what he was getting himself into. The result was a bored husband pretending to make out with me and whispering hilarious comments during all the most serious parts. Meaning we were cracking up while everyone else was wiping away tears. I think we looked like ridiculous high-schoolers on a date and for some reason, that was fun.
 
My friend loaned me several big bags of maternity clothes. Getting dressed in the morning feels like Christmas, I have so many cute new things to wear. Also, I have duly noted that actual maternity clothes are probably worth the expense, as it’s much easier to breathe now…
 
We visited Barnes and Noble with the intention of buying a book. As we moseyed past the toy section however, I squealed. I had no idea that B&N carried my favorite line of baby toys, HABA. They’re wooden, all natural, and European (and that makes everything seem more glamorous, no?) and THE CUTEST TOYS EVER. They are simple and gorgeously painted and honestly, even I would be entertained for hours with some of them. In conclusion, we left B&N with two unexpected treasures.
 
Our mailbox was stolen last week, but it has now been replaced with a shiny new model. Tim also gussied up our post with a fresh coat of paint. We now have the prettiest mailbox on the block, thanks to my handy husband. (Our new mailbox also appears to be a little more spider-proof, so getting the mail no longer involves cautiously poking my hand in and shaking if off each piece as soon as I pick it up.)
 
Jamie has been doing a cute series of outfit posts this week, and her amazing style has me taking notes and pre-planning post-pregnancy outfits. Daily blog posting from Jamie is definitely a reason to smile. 

I don’t eat eggs and I don’t typically like touching them. But, organic, free-range brown-speckled chicken eggs nestled in a recycled egg carton – those little guys make me happy happy happy. Timmy says they don’t taste too different, but I’m convinced they add some special magic to a dinner of scrambled eggs on English muffins.  
 
There’s a new Winne the Pooh movie out this weekend, and I want to see it. Does anyone else have a sweet spot in their heart when it comes to that silly old bear?