Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Top Three from Be Inspired and an Invitation

Thanks so much for the great turnout last week at Be Inspired. We're all getting back into our routine after the Labor Day Weekend, and now we're ready for some Fall Fun. Here are the Top Three Visited Links from last week. You'll see why...take a peek!

Julia from Vintage With Laces has been working on some Fall creations and shared this wonderful fabric pumpkin. Don't you love the rusty bedspring pedestal?




Dru from The Country Farm Home gave us part 2 of her reveal of her wonderful Farm Kitchen in all it's vintage farmhouse glory.



And Tammy from My Flower Journal gave us an amazing watercolor she painted after her trip to the English Countryside. She also shares her review of one of our favorite artist and author's newest book, A Fine Romance, by Susan Branch.


If you haven't visited these talented ladies, please check out these links for more inspiration. Thanks so much Gals!

And if you're local here in SW Missouri,
 you won't want to miss the Fall Soiree Celebration at 


Vintage Suitcase & Veranda Tea Room 
724 S. Scenic Ave
417-224-5300
417-866-1145 for reservations
 Don't miss our Fall Soiree Celebration!
Friday, September 6th: 10am- 9pm
Saturday, September 7th: 10am-5pm
We've got tons of fabulous new Fall decor 
and Halloween merchandise to debut!

On Friday the Tea Room will be serving lunch from 
11am- 2pm and dinner on the patio from 5pm- 8pm.

On Saturday lunch will be served from 11am- 2pm. 
Reservations recommended but not required. 
































Today's the last day to enter my 4th Anniversary Celebration Give Away



see ya tomorrow for 
Be Inspired.

xoxo,

Easy as 1-2-3 Custom Look Wreath

It's September, and you know what I'm doing...

This last week I started decorating for Fall, and one thing I wanted to do was put together a new wreath for the Dining Room mirror. I love a lush twiggy grapevine wreath with lot's of naturals and florals, but I don't want to pay a "custom" price for it. So, no matter what the season, I have an easy method to get a custom look.





Here it is out on the Sunporch. I'll be showing you the Dining Room a little later, but for now it's on one of my old "Fall" quilts on a wicker chair.



As you can see it's pretty wild, and pretty big;
Fall berries, leaves and Hydrangeas.




I've been making my own wreaths for years, and I almost always use this quick method.  One of the best things about it, besides that it's quick, is that this method is easy to take apart, redo, refresh, or reuse at another time.

 Start with your basic grapevine twig wreath. 
The more crazy twigs the better...
I like a wild, natural, just picked look.




Since I'm a bad DIY blogger, I didn't even think to get pics until I had that wreath hanging up on the mirror, and at that point I wasn't going to take it apart again to show the steps.
sooo...
I just used a few other elements to show how easy it is..
please don't get confused because there are two different wreaths.
I know...I know....
bad blogger.

End of Season sales are a great time to pick up those basic garlands and candle rings. I think this one was a large candle ring that came from Michaels a few years ago. The basic garland ring is of just little Lady Apples. I added the sunflowers a while back so I could use it on my front door, which requires a "skinny" wreath.

Then start layering. I left the Sunflowers and Black-Eyed Susans on the basic apple wreath then added in some Hydrangeas. You can add any blossom mix you like for your season. A Spring wreath might have Tulips and Lilacs on a Forsythia garland. This one I used faux Hydrangea stems, but on my Dining Room wreath I used real dried Hydrangeas. With faux Hydrangeas I sometimes trim the large blooms down.



Now you can see we're adding layers and depth and a lot of interest
 with the Apples, Sunflowers and Hydrangeas.



This grapvine twig wreath is actually a little small for this garland, but I wanted to show you how it all goes together. Just use some gardener's twine or floral wire to secure the garland wreath to the twig wreath. 



Here's the finished product. I just randomly put this together because
I'll be taking it apart again, but you get the idea.

  1. A grapevine wreath for the base.
  2. A garland or large candle ring on top, just tied on with gardener's twine.
  3. Florals to tuck in for added interst and depth. Sometimes I hot glue them on, other times I just tuck them inside and through the vines.




This one is a little wonky since I didn't secure all the layers... just wanted to show you how easy it is to put a wreath together. I didn't need any special tools, and it doesn't make a big mess.
So here's my original again. It's a little more "Fall", whereas the "step by step" version is a little more "Summer".


You can put together a wreath like this in about 15 minutes.
Super quick and versatile.
If you want to change up your basic wreath each season it's easily done.
Just 1-2-3!


Now, have some fun making your own!


I'll be joining in on these great weekly parties:

Whipperberry
A Stroll Thru Life
Tuesday Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
The Scoop at Cedar Hill Ranch
Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House
WOW Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo,

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