DIY Life

Fall is all about the delicious smells and colors of crispy autumn leaves. So bring more of the fall indoors this year! Coming up is a slideshow of clever ways to craft with leaves. They range from super-simple to slightly more involved, but none of these crafts are terribly time-consuming and most of them are budget-friendly. The leaves, obviously, are totally free!

If you snag a little precious you-time this weekend, why not celebrate the season by trying one or two of these crafts? Happy leaf hunting!

With fall comes cooler weather, and with cooler weather comes bigger appetites (I'm not alone in this, right?). With the air turning chilly right before our eyes, it's time to start thinking about those dinner parties we can't wait to host. Whether you plan to invite over a few co-workers or are getting a jump-start on holiday plans, saving money is at the forefront of everyone's minds.

Why not create a few simple table settings with items you already own, or better yet -- items you can find at your own local grocery store? Here are a few fun, seasonal centerpiece ideas to send you well on your way to entertaining in style this fall:

1. Crafty Cinnamon:
Fold cream napkins into simple, chic squares, and lay a mini bundle of 3 cinnamon sticks atop each napkin. Tie a scrapbook tag onto the bundle with deep orange rafia, and use the tag as a place card - or embellish it with an autumn-themed scrapbook rub-ons featuring words and phrases such as "give thanks, ""blessings," and "fall."

2. Lovely Leaves:
Why shop for centerpieces when you can gather them from your own backyard? Arrange a few twigs and leaves in a hurricane glass and accent them with white miniature pumpkins. For visual inspiration, Toast and Tables has a few gorgeous tables you can gawk over!

3. Gorgeous Gourds
Take a cue from Williams-Sonoma and carve out a few gourds to create homemade candleholders. Simply place a miniature votive in the center of the gourd and presto -- instant mood lighting. Scatter a few leaves around your gourd candles and include a dark table runner to accent the look.

4. Amazing Apples
Last, but certainly not least? Place a few green apples in a basket from your home for an instant touch of fall. Or, for a more modern and elegant aesthetic, arrange a few green apples in a hurricane vase and pair them with crystal wine glasses and cloth napkins.

Proof that food can be both the entertainment and decor for your evening dinner parties!

With Halloween coming up faster than I've realized, I'm researching a few easy DIY costumes for my two pups. Yes, dogs are allowed to embark (pun intended!) on holiday festivities, as well. Luckily, I've spotted these darling costumes from Woman's Day, complete with a Frenchman get-up that's sure to make the ladies go ga-ga!

To make the Frenchman's costume (which works best with small dogs), you need just a few materials:

• 11/2 feet. blue-and-white-striped material
• Piece of black felt 10 inch square
• Iron-on stiffening 10 inch square
• 2 feet red fabric
• 11/2 feet white bias binding
• 10 inch black bias binding
• White Velcro fastening

Easy enough, right? Of course, there's a free pattern download right here to make it even easier. Hurray to Woman's Day for giving our furry friends a cute, sassy and simple Halloween! I can't wait to Trick-or-Treat with my two pups, although I'll admit -- they may be fighting over which one gets to be the chef...

With cooler weather on the horizon, my thoughts are turning toward pumpkin, spice and everything nice. Today, I've rounded up a few of my favorite pumpkin and fall-related tutorials for sprucing up your home and welcoming autumn with open arms!:

1. So Simple Felted Pumpkins
If you love felt as much as I do, you'll love this simple tutorial from Country Living. Why not display a few felt pumpkins this year? They'll never spoil, and you'll get a few surprising looks from family and friends.

2. Sugar Pumpkin Centerpiece
Don't feel like fighting the seeds of the real thing? Create a lovely centerpiece with sugar pumpkins (fake or real: your choice!) and a bit of ribbon. Good Housekeeping shows you how! (I love the look in a bewitching black cauldron!)

3. Pumpkin Hurricane Lighting
Also from Good Housekeeping is this luminating idea: Simply cut off the stems of a miniature pumpkin, replace with a votive and hurricane glass lantern, and poof! -- A gorgeous candlelit centerpiece to set the mood for autumn lovebirds.

4. Polymer Clay Pumpkins
Want a more kid-friendly DIY to tackle? I love these polymer clay pumpkins, courtesy of Craft Ideas. A step-by-step tutorial is provided for your convenience, so the project couldn't be simpler!

5. Plastic Bottle Jack-o-Lantern
Put all of those sugary drinks to good use by turning a soda bottle into a luminary with these cute idea from Fave Crafts Blog. Why not host a mess-free Jack-o-Lantern competition in your neighborhood with a few empty soda bottles, spray paint and markers? The kids will love to use their ingenuity, and you'll love the [very!] minimal cleaning!

6. Paper Bag Pumpkin Craft
Want another child-friendly DIY with materials you more than likely have at home? Try this paper bag pumpkin craft from Kaboose that uses a bit of paint, a paper bag and some construction paper/raffia. For additional fun, place some candy for your kids to enjoy in the bag itself --- not to opened until after Halloween, of course!

7. Paper Strip Pumpkin
Of course, nothing's easier to use than the trusty scissors and paper, so why not tackle a simpler project like this one from Crayola? Grab your kids and get to work!

Here's hoping the above project ideas will help you welcome in the autumn -- whatever your skill level. Happy crafting!

Fall: my favorite season! Admittedly, autumn here in Florida lacks the spectacular foliage and delightfully chilly air enjoyed by those in northern states. This makes me rely all the more on décor to evoke that Fall atmosphere in September. Okay, so Fall does not officially arrive until September 22, but I'm so ready now!

Now, don't spend big bucks decorating for fall. It's really not necessary, and I also think it goes against the spirit of the season a little bit. Isn't autumn a time for celebrating the simple abundance of nature, above all else? With that in mind, let's take a look at budget-friendly ways to gussy up your house and yard for Fall.

First up: do buy at least one largish pumpkin. For a $10 or $15 investment you'll get weeks of big-time Fall attitude for your front porch.

OK, I usually don't go for the "household item" craft projects... oftentimes, they look just like what they are. The pasta necklaces? They're nothing but macaroni on a string.

Better Homes and Gardens has changed my mind, though, with their pasta tree centerpiece project. This fancy little number is hip and funky, and doesn't look like old pasta at all.

All you need are a few simple materials; BHG promises that the project will cost less than ten dollars.

I'm loving this idea for keeping little hands busy on a cold afternoon: make a Hands-and-Feet Turkey decoration. The finished masterpiece can be used to decorate the house for Thanksgiving. Alternatively, it could be a cute dining table adornment for your Thanksgiving feast. Help your children make these every year and you'll have an adorable record of how their hands and tootsies have grown.

I found my instructions on the website, Kaboose. Let's start with tools.

You will need: light card stock or construction paper in autumnal shades like leaf brown, rusty red, pumpkin orange, or forest green. Extra points if you start with white paper and have the kids paint the paper themselves! You'll also need scissors, a stapler, glue, and a pencil or marker pen.

Step one: help your children trace their feet onto the paper. Keep shoes on for this step. Then trace their hand prints. Make one set of two hands on three different colors of paper. Then trace one final hand print on a fourth color of paper.

These autumn themed napkin rings will make the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving table. They look so delicate in their design, but will hold up for many years. You can get the whole family involved in crafting the napkin rings.

Materials

1. Salt
2. Flour
3. Water
4. Rolling pin
5. Cutting board
6. Cookie sheet
   
7. Aluminum foil
8. Golden yellow paint or some other autumn color
9. Fine tipped paintbrush
10. Ribbon in a dark autumn color
11. Leaf button or small leaf stamp
12. Sharp kitchen knife
13. Fake autumn leaves (found in most craft stores)
    
14. Hot glue gun

In the full instructions for making Thanksgiving napkin rings you'll find each step and tips along the way. You can choose ribbon and paint colors that match the rest of your Thanksgiving centerpiece. You could even play around with different silk leaves or flowers. If you're not hosting Thanksgiving this year, make a set of rings for your hostess. She'll appreciate the gift, you'll have fun making them, and the cost is next to nothing.

First, try and share the planning (and expense) with others. If not a neighborhood association, then hopefully a few neighbors will agree to work with you on this.

Second, a fun Fall theme definitely helps put people in a party mood and also makes a party more memorable. Here are some suggestions for an Autumnal celebration: put up a welcome banner decorated with real or faux (paper) Fall leaves. Arrange pumpkins and hay bales at each end of the section of street that's been designated the party area. Balloons are always fun to have around: look for some in Fall hues, like orange and brown. Decorate the table/s with Fall-themed table runners or be creative, arranging small pumpkins, pine cones, apples or leaves amongst the plates and dishes.

Pumpkin vases are simple, and leave lots of room for your own creativity. You can choose flowers or leaves in colors that match your Thanksgiving table setting. This autumn decoration can be quickly transformed into a Halloween accessory by draping it in a spider web.

What you'll need

1. Pumpkin
2. Carving tools
3. Spoon
4. Vase
   
5. Flowers or leaf branches

After the break I'll explain how we make the pumpkin vase. Make sure you take a look through the gallery for pictures accompanying each step.

My sister has a wooden tree swing in her yard. The children love it, often choosing it over the metal swing set that sits nearby. It's a nice place to sit and watch the children play, or just swing for a while, taking in the crisp autumn air. The wooden swing was there when they moved in. It probably had years of enjoyment before them, and they will leave it for the next family, I'm sure. If you think this would get the same kind of use in your yard, why not build one yourself?

Jon Vivian teaches us how to build a sturdy wooden tree swing. He refers to the swing as something "your children and grandchildren will remember you by." He says that you don't need any major carpentry skills. It's a project the whole family can get involved in. After the break I'll tell you how.

Put on a happy face this Fall: plant container mums by your front door! The chrysanthemum is an inexpensive yet high-impact plant that will provide a colorful focal point for your home. Its cheerful, compact blooms look good in any context, while the myriad rustic shades of brown, red, orange, and yellow are perfect for autumn.

Here are a few tips for success with container mums this Fall.

First, consider impact. One lonely pot of mums does not look good unless your home or apartment is right up close to the street, in which case you might be able to get away with it. A much better strategy is to mass at least three plants in separate pots. Place them in a casual-looking cluster or in a row descending your front steps. Another option is to plant several chrysanthemums in one large pot.

Get creative with your gourds. I mean, what gourd wants to be seen during the holidays just sitting on a table? If you were a gourd, I think you would rather be stylin, smooth, and be the talk of the party. Like Sharon says to Jill, hey, look at Bob, he had all kinds of body-modifications done, he got a mouth, and now he's chasing those bad dudes all over the place. How cool is that. I so want to be Bob.

This is not about you and me, this is about the social and emotional health of your family gourds. They want to be seen at parties as fun, hip, and young too. The evil folks at that Mad Science place have cooked up -- ouch, bad choice of words for a gourd to hear -- a nifty idea to bring some old-school back to the new-school, er, something. Making popular video-game icons from gourds is a great way to liven up your holidays and theirs too.

There aren't any steps listed on how to do this, but it seems pretty obvious to complete without problems. Then you can chase your family around the house with these goofy guys all day, or at least let the kids do it until they fall asleep, which sounds good too. Pumpkins work great too for this.

There are so many opportunities to get great photos around Halloween. We have the changing leaves, the bright orange pumpkins, the carved jack-o-lanterns with flickering lights, the costumes and make-up. You just don't find this richness in the other seasons. For me, Halloween shots are among my greatest photographic failures. I cannot, however, seem to properly photograph a jack-o-lantern, or catch the mood of a haunted evening. The Ghoulish Guide to Scary Snaps is exactly what I was looking for.

The collection of Halloween photo tips covers everything from appropriate lighting to photographing your jack-o-lantern and frightening costumes. They suggest that the best Halloween pictures are taken at dusk. There is enough natural light to go without flash, but still show off the candle lit pumpkin and bright costumes. They also have some great recommendations for designing your jack-o-lantern so that it can be easily photographed.

Once you've mastered your Halloween shots, get ready to enjoy the rest of the season with their 12 Fantastic Fall Photo Tips. Next time you're out raking leaves with the children, make sure you bring the camera along. Armed with a beautiful setting and your new knowledge of fall photography, you're sure to have some beautiful photos.

Rain, rain go away, but it won't considering it's Autumn, and that's what the weather does best in the Fall. It's almost time to put away that old umbrella of yours though. Before you know it, the snow will be falling gently and you'll forget all about your need for a new umbrella.

When the time comes for you to get a new umbrella, don't throw out the old one -- turn it into a kite for your kiddies! The Sampler has instructions complete with diagrams on how to turn your umbrella into a kite. You use all the parts from the umbrella, so therefore there will be no waste. All you need to make your umbrella into a kite is a sewing machine, an umbrella (of course!), kite string, scissors, pliers, and a permanent marker.

I know this project is geared more toward spring, but since winter is coming soon, you might as well get started on this project now, that way you can actually have a kite by spring, AND remember that you need to buy a new umbrella to boot. If you are one of the fortunate few who do not know what winter is, then this project can be done this weekend, so you'll have a new kite to fly by next weekend.