Autumn and Thanksgiving
Fall Decor Ideas
Sometimes, when I set about creating, the projects I end up with don’t always relate one to the other. Such was the case with the following. Hope you enjoy this autumn mix and find inspiration for your fall decor.
Flowered Candle
You will need:
- a pillar candle (colour of your choice)
- twine
- one medium-sized faux autumn flower
- two small faux leaves
- hot glue
Wrap the twine around the middle of the candle several times, securing the end with a dab of hot glue.
Glue the two leaves to the underside of the flower head as here.
Apply hot glue to the back of the flower off-center and apply the decoration to the twine on the candle.
Applying the glue this way will ensure that your decoration has an upward slant so it can be seen.
Make-Your-Own Cloth Napkins
Cloth dinner napkins always add class to a holiday table setting. While department store prices mean that fabric napkins aren’t very budget-friendly, here’s an easy alternative.
All you need for this project is a large tea towel, some scissors, straight pins and your time.
I found this autumn-inspired tea towel at Dollarama that was 18 by 28-inches. After I washed and dried it, it did lose some size, but was still large enough for my purpose.
The first thing I did was to snip off any tags and this hanging loop.
Next, I folded the tea towel in half width-wise and cut it in two.
To finish the cut edges, I made a hem of about 1/2 an inch (on the wrong side of the fabric), pinned it in place and used my sewing machine to stitch it in place.
One tea towel makes either two napkins that are a little larger than a paper luncheon napkin or a pair of placemats. Not bad for a couple of bucks!
Leafy Doily
While at a friend’s house recently, I noticed a doily that was constructed entirely of leaves. I didn’t get the chance to ask her whether she had made it or bought it, but I was intrigued and wondered if I could possibly make something similar. Here’s what I came up with.
Materials Needed:
- one 12-inch square piece of burlap
- 3-4 bags of flat maple leaves
- Mod Podge
- 1/4 inch paint brush
- two sheets of waxed paper
Begin by positioning the burlap square on the waxed paper. This is to protect your counter or table surface from the glue and to make it easy to move the burlap after the Mod Podge has dried.
Position the first two leaves in the center of the burlap as shown above and glue into place using the mod podge.
Continue to overlap and glue leaves outward in a circular direction, making sure that no burlap shows between the glued leaves.
I didn’t quite hit the center of the burlap, so this is what I ended up with before I added the final row of leaves. No worries; I just cut off the excess fabric (not too close to the leaves) and continued adding leaves so that the final row hung over the edges of the burlap.
I added more Mod Podge to the top of the outer row of leaves and checked the rest of the centre leaves to make sure all of the edges were secured.
After the Mod Podge is good and dry, you can use your new leaf doily to help showcase some of your favourite pieces.
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