Just a Little Cubicle Decor {Fall/Autumn}

Happy Hump Day!!  And depending what calendar you look at, it's the third day of Fall or the second day.  At least that is what confused me.  Anywho, I wanted to share a quick little autumn decor that I put up in my cubical at work.  Ain't it pretty??

The owl is from WalMart and the beautiful, golden leaves are from Hobby Lobby as well as the pumpkin pick (40% off).  And that's it for this post.  Just a short little showing of how I dressed up my little work area.  I plan to do more next week for Halloween but now I'm leaving it like this.  The owl is too pretty though so I'm going back to get one for my house.  And I'm off!

My Autumn & Thanksgiving Decor

Y'all!  It's almost Thanksgiving!  Am I the only one that is more excited to eat stuffing than turkey?  I mean I eat turkey year round, but stuffing ohmygawd I love stuffing.  And the stuffing I love to eat the most is my mom's and my hubby's Nana's stuffing.  Two different recipes but equally delish.  I look forward to that dish(es) in particular every Thanksgiving. Mouth.Is.Watering.  Okay on to my little bitty decor I have to show ya.  

I know lots of folks are already decorating for Christmas but I like to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to bust out my jolly decor.  And since it is Thanksgiving week and I never got to show you guys what I have, well here it is.  No drum roll needed.  I don't have a lot but I like to make my mantel and fireplace look cozy with what I do have.  

Most of what you see here was purchased at Hobby Lobby, Michael's or the dollar store over the course of a few years.  And the majority of it was purchased on sale or clearance.  But of course.

On the mantel I have two pictures of what I am most thankful for: my husband and our marriage...

and a picture of my babies.  One of my favorite pictures of those two.  :)

and here's a close-up of the fireplace area.

This broom was purchased from my local grocery store (HEB) a couple of years ago.  It was cinnamon scented and the smell was quite strong.  Nice but strong and it took a couple of years to actually wear off.  I stuck a couple of autumn picks in the broom to dress it up for the season.

My dining room table is plain Jane compared to others I have seen.  You see, we don't have Thanksgiving at our house.  We always go to our parents/grandparents homes.  So that is one reason why I don't have a table setting but the other is that I'm just not fancy like that.  We had turkey day at our house once and it was only a few family members.  We totally did the sturdy paper plates and plastic cups.  And it was buffet style and sit where you'd like style.  Maybe one day I'll go all out but right now this is the real deal.

Another reason why my dining room table is plain.  It doubles as a homework table.  :)

But do you like my cornucopia and owl table runner?

I scored that owl table runner at my local Dollar General store.  I snatched it as soon as I saw it.

And I know other parts of the country get some beautiful autumn colors this time of year; but it is not too common here in Texas (in my neck of the woods).  But because the central Texas area has received so much rain lately, our tree leaves have been able to produce these gorgeous bronze-like colors and I'm loving it.  Here are two trees on the side of my house.  Beautiful!

I posted this pic on Instagram (@pinktexaschick) and used the Kelvin filter to bring out the gorgeous color.  I ooohed and awed the first few days because we never get to see such gorgeousness.  

How about some straight up cuteness?  My friend's daughter made this adorable candy turkey centerpiece.  Seriously.  I could eat it (pun intended).

Sorry,  I have no step by step pics but the body and head are made with styrofoam balls.  The head is a 3" styrofoam ball cut in half and secured with toothpick and a low temperature glue gun.  Obvisouly, the rest is candy and sadly this is not in my house.  I just wanted to share with you all the talent of  an artistic 6th grader.  What a  great centerpiece for a kids table! 

This wraps up my short show and tell.  I really wish I could deck out my entire house with gobs and gobs of autumn decor.  Every year I buy a couple of things here and there and I patiently build up my stash.  I hope you all have a blessed and safe Thanksgiving holiday.  Peace.

My Halloween & Fall Mantel

First, I’d like to say that my heart goes out to everyone in the east coast and I really do hope everyone will be okay in the end.  The whole nation has your back!

 

I thought I would share my Halloween/Fall mantel with you all.  Of course after today it will be a Thanksgiving/Fall mantel  and hopefully I’ll be able to add some turkey-type touches to it.  That’s if all the stores have not rid of their autumn related merchandise (a pet peeve of mine.)  I was inspired to do this mantel after pinning several pumpkin and witch ideas on my Fun Halloween Ideas board.  On Pinterest of course.  I realized just this Halloween that I have an attraction to pumpkins and witch hats over other Halloween decorations.  So instead of having it spread throughout my house, I decided to put it all together on my mantel and fireplace. 

I really do love pumpkins and witch hats and after putting this together I wish I had more.  Clearance sales here I come!  Most of these items were purchased over the years either on sale (a good sale) or on clearance.  It’s my M.O.    I did, however, buy a couple of bags of decorative squash.  After reading a short article on pumpkins, squash, and gourds in the October issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine (p. 105); I was not only educated but inspired to use these as part of the fireplace décor.  It was fun to learn those tidbits from the article but so did my son and he is going to share that information at school in a “Show and Tell” type way.   Confession: I made him read the article but then he was intrigued and had the “oh that is kinda neat” reaction.  Yay me.

 

The witch pumpkin, boa and other pumpkins are all from Hobby Lobby. The black crow from Michael's and that witch hat is from my local grocery store. The hat was a $1 clearance score! 

This black lantern is from my friend's wedding.  I knew I would use it for something and it looks perfect with a mini pumpkin and squash.  The candle votive is from Hobby Lobby and the witch pumpkin from Kohl's.

See the pink witch hat?  I have some masking tape holding it down on the tile. And I used the black tulle to cover it up.  Thinking, always thinking I tell ya.  

See that ash in the fireplace?  Ignore it.  Hubby was told asked to clean it out and he has yet to do it.  Ahem.

So there ya have it.  My lil 'ol Halloween mantel.  Forgive the bit of blury-ness.  I have no fancy smanchy camera yet.  Anywho, I like the pumpkin and witch hat combination.  It suits me.  heehee.  Kidding.  Happy Halloween!

Oh and I'm sharing this post with Young House Love, Bower Power, the Ugly Duckling House and Our Fifth House.
 

 
 

Goodbye, Summer ~ Hello, Fall

Good golly Miss Molly am I glad summer is over. Really, I never thought I would say that but the summer of 2011 took a mean beating on us Texans. No rain, not even when we washed our cars, triple digit heat day after day and certainly no backyard bbq gatherings unless there was a pool involved. Our town and state has suffered one of the worst droughts on record and we are all PRAYING for rain. Still.

Ah but the changing of the seasons was definitely a breath of fresh air for me and I began to think of the fall decorating and baking I have planned for the next couple of months. I always like to decorate for the season on the first official day and yesterday was that day. Well I forgot that my son had a Cub Scout meeting so after work I picked up the kids, served a quick dinner and we were off again. I did manage to hang a 'Welcome' sign with a friendly looking scarecrow. Aw, he's cute.

Last weekend I started my annual fall cleaning and I got in over my head just a lil bit. My mission was to clean out all closets and get rid of all things that are never used whether it be toys, books, kitchen gadgets, clothes, etc. Lemme tell ya, my house looked like a screen shot from one of those hoarder shows. It took me a whole week but I finally got eveything boxed up and is ready for donation.

Now I can decorate with help from my kiddos (and the hubs) and start working on those craft projects for Halloween. I am little girl excited.