fall mantle

Happy Monday, everyone!  I hope that your weekend was as great as ours was! 

We had so much fun while my mom was here.  It was rainy and gray, so we didn't take many pictures, but we shopped and ate and talked and had a big time. 

The cloudy skies have put me in the mood to settle in for the season and enjoy the comforts of home.  Last week, we dragged the boxes of fall decorations out of the attic.  I haven't quite finished, but I did get the mantle and a few other key places done and now I can't wait for pumpkins on the porch! 

Want to know what's up there and where it came from?  I'll do the usual mantle rundown, but I must tell you that all of these items are at least a couple years old, so my memory may be fading. 

From left to right:

Dried seed-pod pumpkin (TJ Maxx)
Various orange and maroon candles (Pier One, Target)
Tiles to set under candles (Lowe's)
Metal grate (The White Elephant)
Bittersweet vine (Michael's)
Artificial leaves (Michael's)
Glass canister (The Beehive) filled with fake pumpkins and gourds (TJ Maxx)
Ceramic pumpkin with lid (Target)

To spruce up the candles, I tied a fake leaf to each one with some garden twine.  This is an inside trick that I'm sharing with you: everything looks cute when you tie something else to it.  Just try it. 

Over the next few weeks, I will be simultaneously prepping for a craft fair and piecing together our winter quilt, so there are lots of pictures to come of half-completed projects, fabric laid out all over the living room, and me covered in little bits of thread.