Somewhere in between painting the house, buying maternity jeans, and tearing out oak floorboards, I had a chance to write six new posts for DIY Network’s blog Made + Remade, including posts for two challenges that I’ve been tight-lipped about for awhile. Happy reading!
1. I wasn’t joking about wanting to buy a badass leaf blower. I own this yard, it doesn’t own me. And leaf-blower-backpack-wearing isn’t a whole lot unlike baby wearing, amiright? I love it with all my might. And I have a few other ideas for fall yard prep too, just go check them out in this post.
2. Big, fun, awesome news #1: I was invited to participate in a Halloween Celebrate The Season Craft Challenge with Jo-Ann Stores for its #spookyspaces campaign. I accepted happily, and then proceeded to made the least spooky, most huggable craft ever, so, blew that one. Fun tutorial though, and we really love this little (big) guy – you can read all about it here. And I don’t know how long Jo-Ann will have other contributors’ projects featured, but you can view them right here for more Halloween inspiration!
3. I limited my pumpkin carving this year to making a set of planters to adorn the front porch. They were easy to do, inexpensive too, and hopefully my efforts to maintain a pretty front porch make up for the fact that we’re loudly leaf blowing 8 hours/day on our quiet little street. Hi neighbors!
4. I figured out a swell way to make rustic, reclaimed lumber a perfect counterpart for modern technology. You’ll just have to see it for yourself.
5. Big, fun, awesome news #2: I was invited to participate in a Jo-Ann Blogger Challenge on Made + Remade, for which I asked to design and photograph a special mantelscape for the HGTV Holiday House. You can see my design in full right here, and get a closer look at how I made those wooden trees in this separate post. Additionally–because I suspect you’re already vying for holiday decor inspiration–you should check out the other entrants who submitted designs shown in this post, this post, this post, and this post. The winner (drumroll!) was Amy Bell with this design (love it), but over on HGTV all of our mantel elements had a moment in the spotlight, so check out this gallery of 12 images to spy three beautiful holiday mantle interpretations using a pinch of each of our original inspirations, and this gallery of 10 images for more rustic decor inspiration.
Fun fact about my mantel: We had just moved when this challenge launched (and in moving, I lost my mantel!) so I “borrowed” a beautiful one that you might recognize from my friend Robbie’s house. Thanks Robbie!
6. Last (and least expensive), I pulled out one of my favorite childhood fall craft projects out of the hat and spent an afternoon preserving beautiful autumn leaf pigmentation. These pretty pieces have been in tact for weeks, while its counterparts have long fallen and shriveled. Has anyone else done this in the past?
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