Garden And Yard/Fall 2021

Hi, Friends,

How are you doing? I sincerely hope you are well and encouraged. 

I've been busy in the yard this week. It was wonderful. The morning and evening temperatures are much lower than they were so it feels refreshing even though we are still in the 90s during the afternoon. 

It's bearable. 

We had so much rain this past spring and early summer that I didn't feel like I got to spend a lot of time in the garden before it got hot. It was time for some maintenance and I was in the mood to sprinkle some fall around the porch, yard, and deck. Last year, we were in the process of buying the house out in East Texas so I didn't do a lot. 

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like their memory is fuzzy concerning 2020?

I had to look at pictures to remember what I did. I think I did a pumpkin and a mum and that was all. 

I got out Monday morning and bought pumpkins, mums, winter vegetables, and some annual flowers. 

Our front beds get the worst roots from the trees. It's an intricate web directly under the surface of the soil. I haven't dug them up and removed them in a long time. It really needs to be done twice a year in order for the annuals to thrive and spread. My summer annuals didn't look abundant, so it wasn't painful to pull them out and replace them with dianthus. Dianthus will bloom now, remain green throughout the winter and re-bloom in the spring. 

Once that was completed, Bill helped me bring our concrete bench up from the bottom level of our back yard. It looks so adorable in the front yard and it will be fun to style seasonally. I think it needs a good cleaning with the power washer.

Bill said we are never moving it again. Haha. 

It led to my next big project. The oak leaf hydrangea had to be moved. It was way too big. 

I really had to talk myself into this but I'm so glad it's gone. 

Bill asked me if I would miss it. I might miss it around my birthday because that is when it bloomed, but the rest of the year, no.  I won't miss it. It was pretty in the fall but scraggly looking in the winter. 

We have three in the back yard so there will be plenty of blooms next spring. 

I've transplanted it and hopefully it will survive. 

There is so much more room for seasonal color and bulbs.

The new door color demanded a new wreath. 

Our fall decor was past it's prime so as soon as Hobby Lobby went 40% off with their decor, I stocked up and made a wreath for this house and one for our East Texas house. 

Orange really coordinates well with the new door color which is Coastal Plain by Sherwin Williams. 

The metal scarecrow was a Big Lots find ages ago. 

The Jack-o-'lantern came from Kroger years ago. Bill bought it for me. His cap broke last year but he's been recently repaired. The fall sign got a new paint job. 

The old lantern with the amber glass was a long ago garage sale find for $5.00. 

It's one of my favorite things to pull out each year. It will stay out until spring. 

The rock path needs some work. That's next on my list. 

Now for the back:

In an "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" scenario, the neighbor replaced the retaining wall, which caused me to move the greenhouse. Once the greenhouse was moved off of the deck, I noticed how bad the deck looked so I started refinishing it. I stained it gray in 2003 after Bill built it. At some point, I switched to a brown stain but the gray always showed through. It was time to strip it all back and redo it. 

 

There were some boards that needed to be replaced. That is Bill's wheelhouse.  

After he started, I wondered what it would be like if we took off the cantilevered steps. We needed the steps when we had children still in our home but we don't need them now, so he cut them off.  

If we had grandchildren we would install a railing but we don't need that at this point. 

It's given me a sunny spot for some additional plants. We have very little sun in our yard. 

The whisky barrels are full of lettuce and other winter vegetables. These came from Calloways and a local produce stand and nursery. 

I painted a new pumpkin pillow. 

We see this view out of the garden room window. It was fun to spruce up with a pumpkin and mums. 

Home Depot had some good mums. The pumpkins came from the same local produce place and nursery. 

Hello, Miss Bitters! 

That is about it for now. 

I'll be back with more of our fall decorations. 

I think that I should win "Yard Of The Month." 

What do you think? 

We don't have "Yard Of The Month" in our neighborhood but I think that I've won my self imposed contest. Haha. 

Have a good weekend. 

Katie 

Getting A Jump Start On Fall/Two Tutorials

Last week during Dixie's recovery, I didn't do a lot except nap and watch YouTube. If I was still and quiet, then she was still and quiet. 

I discovered that a lot of the YouTubers were already crafting fall decor. 

I guess they are good influencers because they inspired me to create a few things for the upcoming season. 

Y'all, I had so much fun. 

I watched an easy tutorial for buffalo check. 

I went nuts painting buffalo check on some pumpkins and this planter. 

They are all from Dollar Tree.  

I covered the sunflower with foil and then gave the pot a light sanding.

Then I painted it white. 

It took a couple of coats to cover it well. 

Once the paint was completely dry, I put masking tape stripes around the flower pot horizontally. 

If the paint isn't completely dry, it will pull off with the tape.

I didn't have thin masking tape, so I had to cut the tape in half in order to get smaller checks.

I made up some gray paint. The secret to gray is a lot of white and just a dab of black. Paint in between the tape. Let dry. 

Pull off the tape and set it aside to reuse later. 

Put new tape on the piece in a vertical direction.  

Paint in between the tape and let dry. 

Take the horizontal strips of tape and put them back on exactly where they were before. 

Paint the pot black. 

Now for the fun part, pull off all the tape and see your checks. 

I had some serious bleeding under the tape. 

Make sure your edges are firmly taped down. 

I sat at the table with all three colors and touched up the squares. 

I lifted the petals back a little to paint the checks under the flower. 

This was probably a little too advanced for my second attempt at painting checks. 

A little pumpkin was my first project. I should have painted a few more pumpkins before painting a flower pot. 

Before:

After: 

There are two important factors. 

You really have to let it dry completely before moving on to the next step. 

Getting the tape on well is also important. To get crisp edges, the tape has to be well adhered. 

These are so darling. Choosing ribbon for the pumpkins was fun. 

I also made a faux pumpkin pie like the one made by Auntie Coo Coo.  

It was fairly easy but there is a lot of drying time.  

I glued a foam board circle onto a hard to find Dollar Tree pie pan. 

I used black foam board. Don't do that. Get white.

I covered it with joint compound but I'm not sure this step was necessary. 

Bill saw the pie last night before it was painted orange. He was a giving me grief about having faux pie but no real pie. 

It does look a little like chocolate pie with whipped cream. 

The man loves some pie.

Chocolate pie is one of his favorites! 

My orange need a dab of brown to get it the classic pumpkin pie color. Paint the pie and let dry. 

Auntie Coo Coo used Dollar Tree spackle in a pastry bag to pipe the "whipped cream".  

 It didn't work. 

First the spackle was too thick then I thinned it too much with water. 

It looked like melted Cool Whip. Not exactly the look I was going for. 

The Dollar Tree pastry bag was not good which could have been part of the problem. 

Caulk and my regular pastry tips finally worked. I doubt I can use the tips for frosting but crafting has it's sacrifices. :) 

My Dollar Trees are starting to get some fall decor in stock. 

 There is supposed to be a darling cut out of a pumpkin filled pick up truck. I'd love to find that. 

The YouTubers were raving about it. 

Dollar Tree can be hit or miss. The key to finding the good stuff is to shop early in the season. 

I'm thinking about doing a post curating good Dollar Tree finds. Look for that soon.  

That's it for now. 

Katie 

All About Home 

Buying and Using Bittersweet in Fall Decor

In an aha moment, I realized that I could buy dried flowers off of eBay. 

I bought some blue hydrangeas from Washington state and used those in some displays around the house. 

The thought that I might be able to find bittersweet occurred to me one September.
I located some sellers in New England and I've been ordering it ever since. 

This year on September 8th, I ordered 1lb. of bittersweet from a Connecticut seller. It arrived 5 days later. 

1lb-Farm-Fresh-Cut-New-England-Bittersweet-No-Leaves

Here is the link to the seller I used.  

Here are some ways I've used it in my vignettes. 

The ceramic pumpkin in the birdcage is my favorite pumpkin. The stem broke at some point but I repaired it. Normally, once something is broken, it gets tossed but not this. I found it at the local high school craft fair and wanted to get another one but the seller isn't there anymore. 

My tool box crow display cracks me up. 

The first time my bittersweet came it had leaves. 

None of my other purchases have had leaves. 

Everyone needs to "capture" a crow and put it in a birdcage. 

I also ordered this scarecrow off of eBay. I thought he was hand made. He's not but he's still a cutie. 

As soon as your package of bittersweet arrives, separate it and lay it out to dry. This makes it easier to work with later.  

Some was tucked into a wreath featuring burlap sunflowers. 

There's my favorite pumpkin in another vignette. 

In the centerpiece during the chicken feeder craze. 

Are velvet pumpkins still a craze? 

On the porch with the best IKEA throw. Sadly, this throw has been discontinued. 

The inside of the house is almost decorated for fall.

I just need to go by the produce store for some outside pumpkins and then I'll decorate the front porch. 

I hope this inspires you to get some bittersweet. 

It's just too cute. 

Katie