Show and Tell Saturday: Cheap and Easy Decor

We love to decorate for the Holidays, but store bought decorations can be so expensive! DIY supplies can be expensive! We went a few years without really decorating much because we couldn't afford it. Or that's what we thought. The past few years we have decided that we are going to find ways to decorate the house for various holidays without having to shell out a ton of dough. Will you ever see our house in a magazine because of our decorations? Heavens, no. Are some of the decorations slightly cheesy? Yes. But we found it is way more fun to have cheap and cheesy decorations and to add some festivity to the house than it is to just wallow in our poor pity and not do anything at all. So...I know the major holiday season is still a little ways off, but it'll come fast. I'll show you some of the things we've done for each season around the house, and some of our plans for future cheap seasonal decor.

Autumn:
Our biggest "trick" when decorating for Autumn is to try and incorporate nature into our decor. Autumn is so full of great colors and textures. Take a walk in your neighborhood and see what you have around you. This can work in rural or urban surroundings. Pick up leaves, nuts,dry and dead flowers, grass, twigs, rocks, etc. You can put these in bowls, vases, on wreaths, topiaries, etc. With the rocks you can even pick up boring ol' gravel pieces and paint them (solid colors or designs) to fill a vase or bowl. A few years ago I went out in my front yard to gather acorns to put in a bowl and found that the animals had beat me to them. But, there were still a ton of the acorn "shell" tops left, so I gathered those up, along with a bucket full of yucca pods. Luckily I already had 2 Styrofoam balls on hand (I don't remember why), and so I glued the acorn shells and the yucca pods to the balls to make a topiary and a yucca ball. I love the color and naturey touch they add to the house, especially during the fall.  

Use nature items (gourds, leaves, rocks, etc.) as name "cards" for a fun autumny dinner. 

Halloween:

My husband's favorite holiday is Halloween. I'm not a huge fan of gruesome Halloween decorations, or the overly cheesy Walmart decorations, so the past 2 years I've worked hard to come up with our own style of Halloween decor. 

 From bottom to top:

Bloody Candles: Pinspired Project (see next picture).

Dried Corn: WalMart

Troll (by the corn): Gift from my brother-in-law from his time in Norway.

 Black and White Photos: Photos my Great-Grandfather (Em's Grandfather) took.

Quidditch Photo: Personal photo project. 

Boots: From a local thrift/antique/consignment store. 

Framed Leaf: Melted Crayon Project

Yucca Ball: DIY

Metal Kaleidoscope: Gift from a friend. 

To make these we lit a red taper candle and let it drip on the white candle, turning the white candle as needed.  

I found these boots at a local thrift/antique/consignment shop and had to have them as they were only $10. They are way to small for my feet but I knew they'd make a fun fall/Halloween centerpiece and/or decoration. 

 From left to right:

Witch's wreath (there hanging on the wall on the left of the piano...click the link to see it better...it was made from items we all usually throw away): DIY from previous year 

Mummy head topiary and Ghost: DIY from previous year 

Necktie Garland: DIY from previous year

Leaves: Walmart. I put them in an orange vase we found in the house when we moved in. The vase is being held up in a bowl we got for our wedding by 4 dried ears of corn. 

Halloween Silhouettes hung on a ribbon with clothes pins: DIY from previous year. These always get comments from visitors and they were so much fun and so easy to make! We keep these in a folder during the year so they don't get munched in the Halloween box. 

And then last year in the Dining Room was my Batmobile. Hehe...I'm so punny. 

The previous year these bats hung from my porch roof. 

Thanksgiving:
We actually haven't really done anything specific for Thanksgiving yet. I want to. Maybe this year? These are a few ideas I have on my Thanksgiving Pinterest board:

http://www.freshlychopped.blogspot.com/

I love the look of the leaves and clothespins. This would work great for just regular fall/autumn decor as well. To make it Thanksgiving decor each leaf could have things we're thankful for written on them in gold or black ink.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourhomebasedmom/8173548067/in/photostream

I like the quote more than the decor in this one. This could be written on a table runner, a chalk board, done up in a cool font in Word and printed out, etc.

Christmas/Winter

Our Christmas and Winter decor is all the same thing in our house. I always feel like we have a ton of Christmas decor, but then when we go to pull it out I find that we don't. Most of it is from my single days and our first year of marriage...so most of it is kinda corny and cheap. I've been working on getting a few more items made, but I haven't gotten very far yet this year (my goal was to make 5 decorations by September...I have one last one to finish up today to reach that goal). 

Tin Can Luminaries:

http://madebymarquette.blogspot.com/2011/08/tin-can-luminaries.html (this link shows step by step how I made these). 

I made about 10 of these for our 5th Anniversary dance that we held. I still have most of them kicking around. At the time I made them I used ribbons in our wedding colors to decorate the cans with, and I've just used them like that for Christmas decor, but I think this year I'm going to pull those off and use some Christmas ribbon, maybe some burlap (small amounts...I'm not a burlap-a-holic), maybe some mistletoe or pine clippings. We fill these with beans or rice for sturdiness and then add a candle (real or battery operated). We have a drawer in our kitchen where we store extra cans to use for projects like this.

Christmas/winter nature decor:

The blog this originated from is no longer online. 

We go and cut our own Christmas tree each year (we live where it's free to get a permit and the National Forest is just down the road), and it always needs a little bit of trimming up once we bring it home. Before we've just chucked the trimmed branches out in the yard but this year I think I'll save one or two and do something like this.

Wood bucket Christmas Tree stand:

We happened on this tradition completely by accident (you can read about that here). We needed to improvise a tree stand and after looking around the yard found these wood planter buckets that previous tenants had left. With the help of bricks, a no. 10 tin can, and gravel, we were able to rig up our own free tree stand. It's now tradition to use that bucket. Okay...we've only done it for 2 years now, but as long as that bucket holds up...we're going to use it as our tree stand. 

DIY paper ornaments:

http://madebymarquette.blogspot.com/2012/12/new-years-tree.html

We made these for New Years with metallic wrapping paper we bought in the after Christmas sales. But I remember making these as kids for our Christmas tree. My grandparents made these out of newspaper for their Christmas tree when they were newlyweds and broke. These look neat out of pretty paper, regular paper, newspaper, etc.

The Rest of the Year:
I'm really bad about doing any special decorations for the rest of the year. My house stays pretty much the same from when we take down the Christmas decor (anywhere from January to the end of March, lol) until we pull out the Autumn decor. I don't know why I don't decorate the rest of the year...it would be fun. I guess the rest of the year I usually just work on "regular" stuff for the house. Even during the "rest of the year" though, we keep our decorating as simple and cheap as we can. Most of what we have in our house are things that friends or family were giving away, things we found super cheap at the thrift store, and things we made. You don't have to spend a ton of money to be able to decorate. You don't have to be super artsy or crafty to create things for your living space. Don't know where to start? Start with pictures and photos. Hang them on your wall, put them on your book shelves, set them on your tables. Hang snapshots next to "formal" portraits. Find art pieces you like at your local thrift store (you can find gems amid the tigers painted on velvet, adorned with glitter and rabbit paws). Print photos your grandparents took. Write or print out a favorite quote or verse and frame it (we have some super cheap frames that I put around the house that we switch out contents when I find a new verse that inspires me, or something that I find beautiful). Don't worry about having the magazine or Pinterest perfect home. Use magazines and Pinterest as idea starters if you want, but don't think that your home has to look like that or it's not a home. Those rooms in those "manufactured" pictures were most likely only that way for as long as it took to take the picture. What makes a room feel light and loved is you. Live in it. Let it be yours. Let it have a pile of clutter...most of us do. Don't feel like you have to be Martha Stewart or a Kardashian in order to create or afford a beautiful home. It's your home, not theirs after all.

Fall Feast Food Pins Tested

Cameron and I usually do a dinner for the Autumnal Equinox each year, but we missed it this year as I was at a wedding and he was out lizard hunting (yes, you read that right...life of a zoology major). I didn't think it'd matter much, but I kinda missed putting together a fun and fancy meal (well...fancy for us...). I decided yesterday that I'd put together a Fall Feast to make up for missing the Equinox dinner, so I pulled up my Pinterest boards devoted to food, tried to find ones I already had the ingredients on hand for, made a plan and got testing these tasty looking food pins. As I was cooking though, I realized I was making way more food than Cameron and I could eat so we called Em and Chip to come over and we feasted together on the Pinterest found meal. I pulled a few recipes from our own files, but I tried many new ones this time. I figured I'd share how they turned out, what worked, what didn't, and what I would do (and did do) differently.

So there's the set up. I love my dishes, they are just so happy looking.

Alrighty, dish #1.

The Original Pin
Tomato Bisque
 This didn't actually have a picture of this soup...but here's the link:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/tomato-bisque-recipe/index.html

The Outcome

Mine came out a little more yellowy orange instead of orangey red...but the tomatoes I canned last year weren't very red...so I'm attributing it to that. I was excited to get a chance to use my canned tomatoes. Last year was my first year canning, so I'm still a little excited to be using these tomatoes. Anyway...this tasted fantastic. I loved it. Cameron's not huge with tomato soups, but he said this one isn't bad (here's the secret...there's bacon in it and the veggies are sauteed in bacon fat for 8 minutes...man pleasing right there).

I did have to tweak this one due to the ingredients I had on hand (I don't live where just running to the store is an option), but I think it came out decently similar to what it would have had I had all the ingredients. First, I didn't have carrots...so no carrots in this soup. Second...I just had normal onions on hand...no spanish onions. Third, my herbs were dried, not fresh...so I just sprinkled them in and left them in (minus the bay leaf, I took that out). Fourth, I had half and half in the fridge, not heavy cream. So I know those made some difference, but I don't think they completely altered how this turned out. I would definitely like to try it 100% true to the recipe, but even with these tweaks, this turned out delicious and was easy to make. My biggest disappointment? The bacon crisps I had ready for the end didn't float on top of the soup, they sunk to the bottom...so they just ended up being a part of the soup and not a garnish...but that's not really anything to complain about.


The Original Pin
Stuffed Roast Turkey Breast

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/stuffed_roast_turkey_breast/

Let me tell you, this was delicious. I did tweak it, but it was still delicious. Was mine anywhere near as pretty as that. Bahahahahaha, no.

The Outcome:

It's a good thing food doesn't have to be beautiful to taste good.  Don't get scared off by that picture though, it was delicious. And again...it has bacon in it and the last step before baking this is to glaze it with bacon grease. Another man pleaser (then men did love it, btw).

I actually followed the directions decently here, just adding my own twist at the beginning. The recipe doesn't call for the turkey to be marinated, but I did it anyway. I tenderized the turkey breasts, then added them to a bowl with some olive oil, coriander (whole and ground/roasted), garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and sage and let it marinate for 1 1/2 hours. For the filling, the only deviations I did was using plain boring canned mushrooms rather than porcini mushrooms, I didn't have shallots so I used onion, and the cranberries were omitted entirely. Other than that I followed the recipe and directions to the best of my ability. This turned out so incredibly tasty and moist. We could cut it with our forks it was so tender. This is a huge win in my books, I'll definitely be making this again.


Now for another side dish...
The Original Pin
Smoky and Cheesy Buttermilk Baked Mashed Potatoes

I raided Cameron's cooking boards for this one actually. Good choice hunny!

The Outcome

Poor cam was late getting home and he was bringing the taters, so we sped through making this as much as we could...so we cut out the baking part. But it still tasted great. Our main substitution: we didn't have buttermilk so I used half and half. I know...it would have tasted better with buttermilk, but it wasn't bad at all with the half and half. I loved how creamy these potatoes were with the cream cheese in them. MMMmmmm. Then we did add a small dribble of liquid smoke to get a more smoky flavor. Easy and yummy!

And what is a good meal without some sort of bread?!

Oatmeal Dinner Rolls
http://mowercooking.blogspot.com/2011/02/oatmeal-dinner-rolls.html

I've made these quite a few times actually, and they turn out good every time. Well...the didn't turn out the one time my house was too cold for the dough to rise...but every other time they turned out great. They are so quick and easy (2 1/2 hrs from start, through rising time, to finished and in your belly), and they taste great. Don't get scared off by the fact that you make oatmeal, then turn it into rolls. These are great, give them a try.

I have no idea what happened to that roll on the left...it looks like a hand with a finger pointing at me or something. Tasted good though. 

What to drink?
 Water is always a staple...but I wanted a fun drink too,
 so I found a recipe on my boards for Prickly Pear Juice. I ended up just using the recipe as a basis though and made my own deal instead. I ended up with a Pin Spin, making Prickly Pear Raspberry Lemonade instead.

Like our fancy glasses? Got them at the Dollar Tree for a buck. Love great deals like that, and they class up a meal so fast when we want to "fancy". 

 And then it was dessert time...

The Original Pin

http://mowercooking.blogspot.com/2010/09/double-decker-pumpkin-pie-autumnal.html

I'd actually made this pie twice before. Once was an overwhelming success...the other time, not so good.
I found out for this recipe, using real pumpkin is key. The first time I made this I bought a pumpkin, cooked it, and used the pumpkin goop to make the pie. It was sooo tasty. The second time I bought canned pumpkin pie filling...not so tasty. In fact, it went uneaten for the most part and I chucked the remains today. Lesson learned...use real pumpkin. It's so worth it!

 This time...the taste was great, but I tried making individual servings rather than a whole pie and that didn't go quite like I thought it would.

The Pinstrosity

These tasted great (again, not pretty, but ignore that), but they weren't quite firm enough and were hard to eat out of the paper cups. I should have just left it as a pie. Oh well. Live and Learn.

 And then finally...
The Original Pin

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2010/08/creamy-lemon-crumb-squares.html

I've had these pinned for forever. Cameron loves lemon bars, so I thought I'd try these out and see what he thought. They were scrumptious, but boy were they crumbly! 

The Pinstrosity

I mixed the crust/topping up and it just seemed too dry, so I added 2 additional tablespoons of butter. It still seemed dry, but I didn't want to add too much...for all I knew maybe it was supposed to be really dry. I'd never made these before, so I had no clue what I was looking for. I mixed the "filling" and poured it in, then sprinkled on the topping and popped it in the oven. When the timer yelled at me (mine is an excruciating whine...it was definitely designed so that it could not be ignored) I opened the oven and the crust didn't look like it'd changed at all, so I left it in longer. 10 min later there was still no change, but I didn't want to overdo anything so I pulled them out. They were super tasty, but they were so incredibly crumbly. I think next time I'll keep adding butter until the crust/topping consistency is more tacky and less dry. But they were scrumptious and Cameron heartily approved of them.

So there's a few yummy pins all tested for you guys. I'd make any of them again, they were fantastic and made for a fun meal. Thanks for sharing it with us Em and Chip!

Thanksgiving Roundup

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your family is all well, your turkey's cookin' up scrumptious, and your pies are perfect. Ok....let's keep it realistic...I hope there's not too many arguments, that the stuffing doesn't all fall out of your turkey and that your pies don't get too burned. Or maybe that's just my house, lol. But really, I hope it's a wonderful day for everyone. I think it is wonderful and awe-inspiring that we have a whole day where the nation comes together in thanks. 

I've got my double decker pumpkin pie done and in the fridge, next up...the yams. 

I thought I'd give you a roundup of the last of our Thanksgiving Pinstrosities sent in to us (and we'll even pull up a few from the archives, because they're just good). I won't go into depth today in how to fix each (don't want to get behind on the cooking schedule, lol) but we'll do what we can. 

Okay, first up...

The Original Pin

http://www.countryliving.com/crafts/projects/fall-craft-projects#slide-2

Nichole said, "I must say, I was at 100% when it came to Pinterest creations.  Everything had either tasted yummy, looked good, or at least was something that I wouldn't feel bad about.  Well, I was 100% with Pinterest until today.  Today, I attempted the multi-colored leaves sugar cookie with a leaf cookie-cutter. The original pin looked easy enough.  The description of the pin had the details written in it, add food coloring to parts of sugar cookie dough.  Put strips of each dough color in an alternating arrangement and roll the dough flat.  Cook and ta-da…the perfect fall treat!  I followed these directions exactly.  Things looked as expected, until the timer went off that they were done."

The Pinstrosity

"And this my friends, is what mine turned out like! The colors kind of lightened up.  Also, for some reason the dough lost the leaf shape that I had given it.The good news is that my one year old likes them and doesn't care about the way they look :)"

Don't you love how so many cookie recipes show an unfinished product as their advertisement? Who knows how their cookies turned out, all there is on the site is the cut out dough pieces. Oh well. Cookies are finicky. You'd think you could just "make sugar cookies" and have it be fine, but there are so many variations between sugar cookie recipes that you can get such varied results. It looks like here a stiffer cookie dough is needed. These look like the soft and fluffy cookies I love, but to have a cookie that keeps it shape you'll probably need a more firm cookie in the end. A shortbread or a stiffer sugar cookie recipe will work better with these. 

Ready for #2?

The Original Pin

http://www.creativejewishmom.com/2009/10/make-a-three-dimensional-fall-tree-with-felt-leaves.html

Calvin said, "Here at the information desk, part of our job is to decorate.  Searching for fall craft ideas, I stumbled upon this gem. 

A 3-D tree?  That works perfectly! 

Of course, I lacked some all of the required materials, so scissors, tape, and four colors of craft paper had to do."

The Pinstrosity

Not bad for improvising! 

Alrighty...Pinstrosity #3 coming right up. 

The Original Pin

http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/recipes/r-penzeysSlowCookerPotatoSoup.html

Oh man...I think I might test this one out...that looks scrumptious!!

Michelle said, "In Minnesota, fall means many things - colorful leaves, cool weather, pumpkin patches and apple farms, and hot and hearty soups.

I pinned a recipe for a delicious looking slow cooker potato soup way back in July and have been anxiously awaiting a brisk fall day to make it.

Yesterday was that day.

And this is the soup."

The Pinstrosity

"I followed the directions exactly.  I even went to 2 stores looking for Chicken Soup Base."  

"But as you can see, the cream cheese curdled immediately and floated around on top instead of ever mixing in with the potato chunks. It looked like someone vomited in my crock pot. And speaking of the potatoes, I've made potato soup in the past where you semi-mash the potatoes after they're soft so the soup gets thick.This recipe didn't mention that, and so it basically turned into cubes of potatoes floating around in water and cottage cheesy cream cheese curds."

"Needless to say, I had my husband stop and pick up some sushi for dinner.

We threw the vomit down the sink."

I'd imagine they left out the smash up the potato part when they typed up the recipe...but maybe not. I'll test that out when I make it (man...I have so many things I want to test and not enough time). This recipe just sounds so yummy (well, the original does...Michelles...not so much, lol). 

Pinstrosity #4!

The Original Pin

http://kidsfunreviewed.com/thanksgiving-turkey-rice-krispy-treats-with-oreos/

Stephanie said, "The pin is the darker, more put together looking picture...mine is the white body mess!!!"

The Pinstrosity

Now honestly, these aren't bad at all. I think it's one of those things where you can see all the flaws in the things you make but other people think it's fine. True, they aren't quite as tidy as the original, but not bad. Don't be too hard on yourself Stephanie!

Who's up for #5? 

The Original Pin

http://www.babyrabies.com/2012/10/thom-the-turkey-tulle-wreath-tutorial/#.UK5dT4fomqg

Buddy said, "So I saw this Turkey Wreath on Pinterest a few weeks back and thought that it was simple enough to make that it would be a great way to start off the holiday season. The original pinner had a bunch of different ones that celebrated various holidays. It looked simple enough right? Well the first problem I ran into was find enough tulle to do the wreath. Come to find out tulle is "not in season" or that's what the fabric department at my local fabric store told me. I ended up finding the 2 spools of the yellow and red at a local chain craft store (6" wide, 50 feet long). The orange however I luckily stumbled across at a different craft store, but had to cute it to size. The Styrofoam and yarn were simple."

"The entire project took about as long as it took me to watch the Day After Tomorrow (I blame Hurricane Sandy for the choice in movie). The color of the nose was simply painted on using 2 parts sunny yellow to about 1 part pumpkin orange. Wrapping the yarn around the base for the turkey body was pretty tedious (and probably could be been substituted for brown fabric or wide ribbon). The knot that was suggested in the directions was equally as confusing, and I ended up just trading it for a basic knot. His feathers are a little, shall we say lack luster, but still gets the point across."

The Pinstrosity

It took me a second to realize the North Carolina State emblem wasn't hanging from his beak...I was a little confused at first. Anyway...I think the main issue here is the amount of tulle and it's placement. Now there's actually enough tulle tied on there...but the ends were left a little long. I think that if they were just trimmed up a little that'll help some. And then if the tulle was rotated a little more toward the front rather than the back or it would help the tulle look more puffed out and filled in. Other than that, it really isn't bad at all. 

And then...shall we bring up a couple Pinstrosity pictures from that past that fit in with Thanksgiving? I think we should. 

There's this one that Emilee posted up a few days ago:

The Original Pin

http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/11/thanksgiving-entertainment-for-kids.html

The Pinstrosity

http://pinstrosity.blogspot.com/2012/11/turkey-trouble.html

 It still cracks me up, I love it. 

And then there's this one that we posted back in July:

The Original Pin

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/turkey-cookie-treats/31890610-3bcf-4d9e-8706-91445256525b?source=searchresultpage

The Pinstrosity

http://pinstrosity.blogspot.com/2012/07/turkey-trouble.html

BAhahaha, I still LOVE this one. 

Well, that's it for today. Again, I hope your day is wonderful wherever you are. Life is what you make of it, so make it wonderful! Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Trouble

You found the craft on Pinterest, you fall instantly in like, you grab the kiddos to do the craft with you, and then you grab the supplies. Trouble brews. You don't have what you need on hand to do this particular craft, and Wal-Mart doesn't sound too appealing right now (does is ever?), so what would any good DIY-er do? Improvise right?! As we say time and time again, making it your own is awesome! But sometimes what you are expecting to turn out awesome and original unfortunately falls short. Juliana had this happen to her here, check it out:

The Original

http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/11/thanksgiving-entertainment-for-kids.html

A cute little craft and the supplies would generally be found lying around your kitchen,  sadly not for Juliana.

The Pinstrosity

Trying to salvage a craft by using what you have on hand is resourceful, but not always very pretty. If you 

have been following Pinstrosity you should recognize that this happens with probably 50% of the projects we feature, they fall short because crafters are trying to substitute for supplies they don't have. 

Keep in mind sometimes substituting can take a craft from mediocre to something that screams of your own personality, and sometimes turns it into a Pinstrosity. The line between those two however is very fine.

 Here's what Juliana had to say about it:

"... I teach a mommy preschool to 2 and three year olds and I thought that this would be a great textile craft before the upcoming holiday. Several things played into the utter collapse of this project. One, I did not prepare because I assumed, like all good Puertoricans, that I had multiple kinds of dried beans in the pantry. I was wrong -'we were out. I did however have sunflower seeds. The next issue was that instead of using an adult hand we used the itty-bitty toddler hands whose finger sizes didn't allow room for the seeds. And to top it off I forgot to use a white paper plate for contrast."

How to fix this:

Make sure you have the assorted beans/kernals/seeds/noodles called for in the original.

Use a paper plate as your base

Toddler hands are kinda small, but they CAN work for this, for more craft space though I would suggest using an adults hand.

Keep on craftin' Pinstrosipeeps! Happy Wednesday!

Pumpkin Patch Babies

You know what I love about pumpkins? Everything. They happen to be the best color in the world (there really aren't enough people in the world that have orange as their favorite color), they're super yummy, they're nutritious, you can decorate with them from August through Thanksgiving and no one gives you weird looks (well...usually), and they are just fun. 

We had two submissions the past little while that included pumpkins, photos, and some very unhappy babies. I knew we had to get them up on here. 

The Original Pins

http://www.thephotographerswife.com/play-dates-and-pumpkins/

http://blog.gracobaby.com/2011/11/16/babies-bundles-bumps-70-little-pumpkin/

The next generation of Cabbage Patch Babies...Pumpkin Patch Babies! Aren't they cute? Marie and Melanie saw this idea and loved it. They carved out the pumpkins and put their adorable cherubs in and these are the shots they got:

The Pinstrosities

http://raiseaboy.com/2012/11/the-things-moms-do-for-a-picture/

"This is my granddaughter, Elli, and my son is holding her up in her version of the cute Pumpkin Baby on Pinterest." -Marie

Oh those shots make me chuckle. If we could only find a way to communicate with babies just how cute of a photo it will be and how much they'll love it when their older (especially when those photos are pulled out to show their dates, hehehe). 

Taking photos of babies can be tricky. One day the baby could be happy as a clam (apparently clams are happy) and do just fine, only to be not so cooperative the next day. You just have to be patient and be willing to try again later if the timing is not quite right. I'm no expert on this...I'm still learning myself, but here's a few tricks I've learned when it comes to photographing babies:

• Take pictures when they are happiest. Does your baby wake up super happy in the morning? Take the photo then (even if you are still wiping the sleep crusties out of your eyes). Have an afternoon baby? Take the photos then. If the baby is already happy, the picture will be a lot easier. 
• Have the prop/area warm. Now I've never sat in a pumpkin before, but I'm trying to imagine it. I'm imagining a slimy cold pot that I can't get out of. I think I'd probably react the same was as the babies in the pictures. There are things you can do though to help minimize that. Let the pumpkin sit in the sun for 20 min. or so before trying to take the picture. Put a blanket (that you're okay with getting messy of course) in the pumpkin first and then put the baby in it, tucking the blanket out of site around the baby. I think this is what they did in the 2nd picture of the Original Pins. If you look at the left leg, you can see blanket or clothes there by her leg in the pumpkin. 
• Sometimes it's just the initial displeasure of being messed with that gets a baby upset for photos. Sometimes the baby is unhappy at first when you put them in an item (a small crib, a scarf, a pumpkin, etc), but they may settle down after a minute or two. If the baby's unhappy at first I will usually try to rock them in the item and talk to them. This can calm them down...it can make them more upset. There's no clear cut equation with babies and pictures. 
• Have everything set up before hand. Have the pumpkin in place, the blanket in the pumpkin, any other props you want, a heater if need be already blowing warm air on the pumpkin, the camera set on a tripod, etc. The more you have set up, the less time the baby has to just sit in the pumpkin awkwardly while you get things just perfect. 

Those tips may help...but they may end up not doing any good for you. I don't have any babies of my own yet, but one thing I can predict about every baby is that it will be unpredictable. Just be patient and be willing to try again later when the baby's happier; you may end up with the perfect shot the next time...or you may find out that your baby hates pumpkins with a passion. 

Wreath Woes

I am the Queen of eyeballin' projects. Sometimes this ends in my favor and I just get lucky, other times, not so much. In all reality it usually happens because I am just too lazy to go back to the  store...boo on my part right?! Who am I kidding, we have all been there. Anyways lately we have really been pushing the Pin Spin idea, take a project you see on Pinterest and make it your own, or if a project isn't going your way tweak it to work! For the most part we have seen some great results, until today...

The Original

http://blog.pacificmutualdoor.com/2010/11/22/thanksgiving-door-decor/

The Pinstrosity

Several thing happened here:

Annie loved this fall wreath idea (and so do I...something about colored corn that really makes the season extra exciting for me), so she bought her wreath form, and corn and went to work. Shortly after she realized she didn't have enough corn, and decided it would still look good with spaces between the corn, and well it didn't add up to all that she was hoping for. Bummer, don't you hate that? Well she did add a cute little owl, but there are some other tricks to make this end well.

Her wreath form is way too small, either that or the original used tiny corn, if that later is the case, where can I find some?! Cute!! If however it is the first problem (which is what I suspect) then I suggest when you get your wreath form (the original used a straw wreath form) make sure it is approximately the right size in order to accommodate your corn. Also Annie's is shiny, like perhaps there is cellophane or something on there still, I really like the look of a little straw sticking out here and there, but that is just me, so there is another thing to decide.

Also, if you count the corn from the first, there are 29,and depending on your corn size you might need to add or subtract one. Another thing to consider using is the fake corn you can get at Micheal's or Hobby Lobby, which the animals won't eat. Last Halloween we had a little critter slowly eat each and every last corn kernel off our several cobs on our porch display. Happy for him, sad for our porch display. I know it's on a door and all, but critters get creative when they are really hungry, so don't underestimate them!

Anyone have any critters get into your holiday display? What did you do to defer them?! 

Thanks for tuning in Pinstrosipeeps! Happy Wednesday!