It's beginning to look & smell a bit like Fall

Posted by: Paulette

Dave and the kids were working out in the back yard today. They cut down one of the dead branches from one of the many trees. And since the leaves are all over the lawn,  I got to get a little taste of Fall, by crunching through them. The weather here has been stiflingly hot. My energy levels are down. All I want to do is stay in the relatively cool air of my house. Because walking outside, as my aunt says, feels like you're sucking on a blow dryer. Or walking into an oven. Blech! This is what it looks like right now just outside of Mesa. Actually, this is pretty much what it looks like year round. LOL! Now imagine living near this desert in 114 degree weather during the day and 98 at night.  Summer here starts in March and ends at the end of October.

Superstition Mtn

Every year at the beginning of September, I pull out the fall leaves garlands and the gingerbread spice candles. Dave always makes fun of me and says that I'm pretending that it's fall. Grrrr!

One of my favorite things about fall is hot apple cider. It's too stinkin' hot to be drinking hot apple cider. So I settle for some homemade pot-pouri. A few cloves and a sprinkle of cinnamon with some orange peels, an apple core and a little bit of water simmering on the stove brings in that ambiance that I'm looking for. And then I begin decorating.

 This year I collect a ton of inspiration pictures from my new best friend, Pinterest. 

Here's some of what I have so far. I have started the decorating, but I'm waiting until I'm finished to post pictures of what I've done. I've got so many irons in the fire that this is going to take a while.

So enjoy.

This window gave me an idea to use something that I already had sitting  in the garage. It needed some repair, and some paint, but it will do nicely!

 This picture caught my eye because of the "fairy lights." That's just what I call them when Christmas is past. I love the galvanized container and have just the thing to copy this look. I even have some dead tree branches, as I've already mentioned!

 Mercury glass is so hot right now. And I've seen lots of tutorials on how to copy this look. I'm not sure how I'm going to pull this one off, but I have a few ideas brewing. They involve paper mache`, and some spray paint.

 I, Like many others have fallen in love with this embroidered pillow that can be purchased for an arm and a leg at Pottery Barn. My idea involves some $1 pillow forms bought at Goodwill, and some fabric from Joann's. I've completed two pillows and have a few more to do.

I love the organic look of the unshelled nuts in the vases with white pillar candles. This is a fantastic idea for Thanksgiving for down the center of the table. It's a more updated look than the cornucopia.

 Isn't this wreath gorgeous? I have several autumn leaf garlands, and I've already re-purposed two of them and an old grapevine wreath to get this same look.

Another beautiful Autumn leaves wreath. This one has been hung in an unconventional way and has mini pumpkins attached. They have small votive candles in them. What a fantastic idea! I think two of these will be great hanging above the kitchen table. I'll be on the look out for matching grapevine wreaths at the thrifts stores.

 Since I've been incorporating aqua  and turquoise through out the house, I'll be mixing in a bit of that too.