More Pumpkin Carving

We carved a pumpkin in art class again this year (You can see the pumpkin I carved last year here).  It is such a fun, low pressure activity.  I really don't stress over my design as I know it will be in the compost bin in a weeks time. This year I went with a ginkgoesque type leaf.  I love ginkgo trees so this seemed like a fun image to wind around my pumpkin.

These little pie pumpkins got turned ...

into these ... and then we had a little impromptu pumpkin photo-shoot.

I love adding a carved pumpkins to our front porch as it is a little different than the usual jack-o-lantern and I'm much more into pretty than scary.  I also bought a pumpkin and an assortment of squashes to decorate with.  The squash have the advantage that we can eat them when Hallowe'en is done (we don't eat the pumpkins that we carve as they are watery - grown more for size than taste).  

Have you carved your pumpkins yet?

A Sweet Note and a Fall Wreath

A few weeks ago I sent these candy posters off to Kate and William who are away at University. I know being away from home during family holidays like Thanksgiving can be difficult so I thought a "sweet" care package would be just the thing.

I stood in Shoppers Drug Mart for ages trying to select the best chocolates and candies - ones that I could work a silly note around.  I didn't have it written ahead of time, it was more like I wrote the note to match the candy I found (which you will probably be able to tell when you read the note below).  It actually wasn't the easiest thing to write as you can see by my arrows and crazy writing all over the place, but I'm sure the kids got the hang of it and enjoyed the treats.

In case you are interested, and/or want to steal some of the wording for a candy poster of your own, this is what it says:

Happy Thanksgiving/Hallowe'en:
This is just a little note and a few treats to give you some EXTRA love.  I know school can be EXTRA stressful, but taking an EXTRA break can be a real LIFESAVER. Having a few SNICKERS with your friends in the HALLS at university can make all the difference.  You have the SMARTIES so don't let the workload give you the SCARIES. I say relax and ponder the deeper questions, like do you want COFFEE CRISP or with DAIRY MILK?  Personally I am a milk-in-my-coffee sort myself.  Love you to MARS and back.  Miss you lots.  love,Mom

And in other news - I finally found a fall wreath for our front door.  It's not that I've been looking and looking and not been able to find one.  It was more like I've been wanting one and thinking about how I'd like a wreath that had bittersweet berries on it and seeing pretty wreaths all over blogland and a wreath didn't magically appear on our door.  Then I happened to be at the grocery store on the weekend and found this one for 50% off because it was a little damaged - nothing some reddish paint couldn't fix though.  I love the colour of the berries with the door and brick and now I can relax and stop pondering our naked front door.

    

WISH Wednesday #61

A perfect Christmas door - loads of pine cones, lots of red, a touch of sparkle, and some beautiful lanterns. Isn't it classic. Isn't it perfectly Christmassy.  

Have you decorated your front door yet?  I have a wreath on the door and a pile of evergreen branches lying on the porch waiting to be made beautiful.  Coming soon!

Pumpkin Carving

Every Tuesday evening I attend an art class run by my friend and it is lovely and relaxing and soothing and inspiring and creative all at the same time.  She gives us tea and a little treat to nibble and then we learn a little something about art techniques and even sometimes about artist's lives.  Then we do different creative projects.  We get to play with lots of different materials and techniques and colours and do all those wonderful things that I haven't done since I was in high school art class.  I never seem to make time to do painting or sketching or artsy projects at home so my evening out every week at the art class is time set aside do to just that.  And I love it.

One of our projects recently was to paint or carve a pie pumpkin.  I chose to carve it and it was so much fun.  We carefully carved the outer layer of the pumpkin, while still leaving the inner layer intact.  I'm not sure if the pumpkin will last until Hallowe'en, but I'm sure enjoying how it looks on our front porch nestled in with the other pumpkins and squash.

It was amazing how many different designs we came up with in our class.  It felt a bit like making a Ukrainian Easter egg which I love doing as well.

So if you have a few minutes and a sharp tool nearby why don't you give some pumpkin art a try.

Linked to Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

WISH Wednesday #53

Last week I asked if anyone wanted to do a WISH Wednesday post and Ricki Jill from Art @ Home volunteered.  I love the photo she selected - it is a pretty front door decorated for fall.  
Here's what Ricki Jill said about it:
I love the simplicity of it and the colors: the golden yellow door, the orange stripe on the antique bucket, and the hypericum berries and hydrangeas are a pretty early autumn arrangement.

BHG

Thank you Ricki Jill. Great choice of an inspirational photo. I finally got around to putting up some Indian corn tied with a pretty brown bow on our front door.  Do you decorate your front door for the season?  What have you used to create a pretty entryway for the fall?

p.s. If you would like to contribute a WISH Wednesday post then feel free to drop me a line (aliasgracie@gmail.com). Here's what you do - find a picture that totally inspires you and relates to the season we are in and then you write up what you find compelling about it.  One of the things I love about the internet is all the great inspiration out there so the more people finding amazing photos the better.

WISH Wednesday #38

Summer is here and the weather is steamy so a beautiful porch seemed just the thing for my WISH (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonal Home) Wednesday photo.

There is so much I admire about this porch which was decorated by Michael Penney (love his style) and appeared in Canadian House and Home. I adore porch swings - we have the exact same one in our backyard which you can see here. The vintage furniture gives the porch a cozy country feel. And finally, I love the aqua and tomato red colours used in the pillows and throws and the sweet little table.  Did you notice that I couldn't resist a little red, white, and blue for a July 4th post.
This looks like a front porch to me and although we have furniture on our front porch, I never sit there.  I wonder if the owners of this porch actually use it.  Are you a front porch sitter or do you usually sit in the backyard?

Michael Penney, Canadian House and Home

Autumn Wreath

Our front porch still has the flower containers, willow chair, and wooden bench on it that have been there all summer (you can see it here).  While it looks nice, I really am feeling the need for a little fall action out there.  A friend and I had been trying to find a free evening to get together and create some autumn-splendour wreaths.  The stars finally lined up last night and we got them done.  

We started off with a table full of grasses, seeds, weeds, acorns, dried corn husks, dried chilli peppers - and two naked grape vine wreaths.

My aunt showed me some gorgeous soft grass up near our cottage that I picked a few weeks ago for the wreaths.

Here's a photo of my mother cutting some for us.  Aren't I the helpful one - holding the camera and the bag.  Thanks Mom!

I love how soft this grass is.  My aunt cut some last year for her living room and it stayed looking perfect all winter.

Anyway, back to the wreath-making.  After a few hours of cutting, and glueing, and poking bits in here and there we both had fall wreaths for our front doors.  

Here is my friend proudly holding her finished wreath -

and a close-up of her gorgeous wreath.  I love the little bundles she tied with corn husks, chilli peppers, and the japanese lanterns.

This one is mine on our front door.  The orange and red are perfect contrasts with the blue paint on the door.

My friend sewed the chilli peppers together to make a bundle which I glued on at the bottom and I used some of the japanese lanterns from our backyard.

Ahhh, doesn't that look better.  Our front porch looking a little bit more like fall has arrived.  Pumpkins coming soon, but I really have to take this fall decorating business one step at a time.

I have a feeling the whole wreath will blow away in the first strong wind so I had to take a photo of it quickly to show you.   

Anyone else make a fall wreath?  I have to say it is one economical project, since we had one grapevine wreath and only had to buy the other one ($3) and the chilli peppers ($4).  Everything else came from the roadside.

Linked to Fall Open House at Hooked on Houses
and Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple 
and Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Animal Findings and Summer Fun

A few days ago when I was walking Juno I found part of a robin's egg, which I carefully carried home and put on our front porch so I could admire its lovely blueness.

 Then we got ready to leave for work and school and guess who was visiting?

Can you see it over there past the edge of our porch?  How about a closer look.

No we can't see you at all, your sitting-still-as-a-statue technique is very clever.

Aren't you cute!  Now run along and eat someone else's garden.

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I have some summer changes happening here on the blog for July and August.

First, there is going to be guest posts every Monday all summer long - I'm tickled pink that every one of the bloggers I approached to write a post agreed to do so.  I'm looking forward to what they come up with. 

Second, I know I'm going to be busy over the summer and have decided that I will only be posting three times a week. When I started blogging on January 1st I decided to commit to publishing a post every weekday.  So far I have kept to that schedule and have loved it.  I thought I would run out of things to write about, but my mind is just brimming over with ideas and projects.  However, I thought I would take a bit of a break over the summer.

Finally, stay tuned for a giveaway in celebration of my 6 month blog anniversary - details coming soon.

The Christie Antique Show

 

This past Saturday was the long anticipated Christie Antique Show - one of the biggest in Canada with over 300 vendors.  The day was a little hot but much better than earlier in the week.

It was my first time going to a big antique show and I have to say I was a little disappointed as I thought the prices were on the high side.  I think I must be more of a thrift store kind of girl as those prices seem to suit me better.   I still had fun though and spent a couple of hours taking in all the antiques.

There were tons of Canadiana things, including skis, tobaggans, and snow shoes which seemed funny since it is almost summer.
 

 This huge clock and the pretty signs were favourites of mine.
 

 I loved this booth with all the red and white kitchen things.
 

I only purchased three things - something for a giveaway (more about that later), an over-priced greeny-blue mason jar without the lid, and a wooden box (you can see it below in the lower left-hand corner).
 

 And here it is at home on our front porch.  

I heard the seller saying he made the lid and some repairs using boards that he had around and he stained it and varnished it, so I knew it wasn't a valuable antique.  Which was fine by me because I wanted it to solve a problem we have on our front porch.

We do not have an inside door to the garage and must go all the way around and open the big garage doors to put garbage into the garbage cans.  Sooo what often happens is that we toss a tied up bag of garbage onto the front porch if we don't have our shoes on, or it is raining, or ... you get the idea.  There is often a bag of garbage on our front porch waiting for the next person to go out to the garage, so I got this box to -um, cough, cough - hide the garbage in.
 

 Are you as appalled as the rest of my family was when I told them what I was planning on using this pretty box for?  Sorry about that, but at least our front porch will look tidy now.

Linked to Saturday Night Special - Old Crates at Funky Junk Interiors

Front Porch Planters

A few days ago hubby and I planted the flower pots that go on the front porch. 

My mother made this gorgeous wicker chair about 10 years ago.   She had no room for it at her house, so I helped her out and put it on my porch.  What a wonderful daughter I am.

  I even put a pot on my new blue bench.

 

The watering can beside the blue bench was brought back from Nigeria, where I lived as a child. It was made to water like fine spring rain ... and it does.

Now we have to water and wait and watch while the plants fill in and grow - my favourite part!

Linked to Inspired By link party at The Inspired Room.