Fall Decor

Boo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don’t you just LOVE my new Ms Pumpkin Head?  I do!  A little outing this past week to TJ Max scored this baby!  I told myself I’m not doing much for FALL DECOR as it is our year to do Christmas NOT Thanksgiving so the Christmas decorating will begin early & be intense.

It’s still HOT here in Texas so to get into the mood for FALL is difficult!  It’s not still 105 degree’s but, 90 something just doesn’t feel like FALL either. Yet, I needed a little “FIX” in decor so AWAY went all the shells & mermaids.  Out came some of the FALL goodies.

Above you can see the fireplace in my living room (that we just had refinished during our big bathroom remodel).  While we had the tile guys working in the bathroom they tore off the old builders white tile & I had them put up this beautiful white stone.  LOVE IT!  The fireplace vents to the back so we don’t have a typical mantel.  Instead a big shelf that I always like to add pretties to sits above the fireplace.  And a pretty fan shaped window to bring in the light.

A pumpkin filled with FALL colored flowers…

A few velvet pumpkins (I want to try my hand at making some of these.  Have any of you tried it yet?) again found on my TJ Max trip…  I’m thinking I need a piece of burlap crumpled under there so I don’t have such a plain/shinny surface under the pumpkin.  What do you think?

I love the vintage red glass Martini Shaker Hubby & I found in an Antique Shop near Houston.  My friend JoAnn gave me that pretty red cut crystal decanter.  It makes me think of her every time I see it.

Not much Halloween (although I LOVE it) this year but, who can pass up on of my favorite cards (above) by Susan Wheeler framed & always making me smile.

BEST FRIENDS another card sits on my counter by the kitchen that always makes me laugh (JoAnn made that for me too).

I love my witch silhouette sitting between the living area & kitchen.  This photo is taken looking into the kitchen where you see my plate stand sitting behind her. At night she is so cute with the flickering candle lit in her lantern.

 

Happy Haunting her cone says…

Up on top of the refrigerator is a little vignette that says “AUTUMN” spelled out in Scrabble tiles.  Does anyone else like to use these other than me?  A tea pot all crackled & crazed dated many years ago & sold by SEARS.  My Daddy (&Hubby) worked for Sears for many years so this is just sort of an old time feel good.  Vintage hotel silver tea pot found last year at one of the Flea Markets in California.  Another pumpkin filled with flowers, a vintage oil lamp (I LOVE the fluted globe on this one) ^ a beautiful “Autumn” metal plate that I won in a give away years ago from Nan.

Our little breakfast table with the vintage buffet.  The table was from my Grandmothers days of living on the farm in Iowa where my Daddy was born & raised.  One of my most precious pieces because of the “history” & stories.  Oh how I loved them both (Grandma Zella & Daddy & how I miss them so….).  The picture above the buffet is a print we brought back from North Carolina.  We love the Autumn color along the Snake River there.

Last but, not least the beautiful silver tray found at Vignette's Antique Shop during Kim’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s Art Event.  I LOVE that tray & wish I’d bought more.   The glass pumpkins were from a gallery in Asheville, N.C. that hubby & I both adore.  Hope you liked the little tour of Fall here in my home.  I am enjoying the change.  Have you decorated for fall?  Leave me a comment & I’ll come visit you too. 

HUGS!  Charlene

Trade Days Over

Trade Days at Collected Treasures has come & gone. After all the rain last week Saturday morning dawned clear & cold (45 degrees when I left at 6 AM). We set up in the dark & when the sun came out it was a beautiful day indeed. What could be more beautiful than a day of friends? I did not bring my new camera so I have borrowed a few photos from my friends(Lisa & Joanna) that took pictures & here we are: Lisa, JoAnn(no blog yet but, we're working on her), Carolyn, & Pat (of course I always get to stand in the back because I'm the tallest one in the group). I took a lot of the things I had left from closing my shop at Antiques & Moore but, one fun thing I did was make caramel apples & caramel chocolate apples. Just can't have a Fall Festival without carmel apples don't you think? You should have seen Lisa's triplets sitting at the table eating apples as Mom & Dad packed up the remains of the day. Soooooooooo cute!

And here is Joanna & I (yes, the sun was a little bright as you can see us squinting) we had met over a year ago at a class we took & just had a chance to reunite a few weeks back(in yet another class). Joanna was so sweet to loan us a tent for the show. Thanks girl it was a life saver! Joanna is a talented gal & just finished teaching a class at Paper Cowgirls the wonderful paper art & mixed media event held in Waxahachie Texas.

Joanna & Cami posing in front of Joanna's booth. Cami came to visit & be moral support for all of us.

And this is Joanna's friend & partner Angela. I had never met Angela before but, she was a sweetheart. She hates to have her picture taken but, Joanna forced her to do one! Angela hope we see you again at one of our classes or at some event.

And Jana of Collected Treasures with the new trike she bought her 8 week old grand baby Sterling. Kristi brought Sterling up for the Trade Days & she is such a little doll. We never heard a peep from her. All in all my sore feet aside it was a fun day with friends & I am glad that I now can look forward to getting ready to have all 5 of my GRANDS here for Halloween.
And yes, I have apples left for them. I will get photos of a few of the goodies I bought but, I was very good & restrained myself. Are you shocked? I was!

Have a great week!

Fall Decor Outside My Door

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday & to my home. Last week if you were here for Outdoor Wednesday you know that "Honey" & I went to Farmers Market to look for pumpkins. For those of you who know the story of "The Door" you know "Honey" has a competition going with the neighbor next door. Well, every year she buys a few pumpkins at Walmart & puts them under her trees. No putting a cute vignette together, no groupings, nothing but a few small pumpkins scattered under pretty good sized trees. "Honey" looks for the coolest pumpkins he can find & does all sorts of things with them. Well, this year was the BIGGEST PUMPKIN he could find. The guys that loaded it guessed it to be about 160 pounds.

As he was proudly driving home with his purchase he got this funny look on his face & he said "hmmm I wonder how I'm gonna get that bad boy out of the back of the van without those 2 little guys at the Market"? Well, our son came over to help but, let me tell you that was an ordeal. What he hasn't thought of... is when that pumpkin has seen it's better days it will have to be taken out of the flowerbeds & put SOMEWHERE! I don't know where that somewhere is but, I'm glad it won't be my problem & NOPE I'm not busting his bubble yet. Another day for that!

Here IT sits in all IT'S glory with a few other pumpkin cousins & a little witch. Notice sweet Ms Reba in the background.

Loved the color of this orange & white long pumpkin. Also has just a touch of green running around the back of it.

And this beauty is called a Cinderella Pumpkin. Often they are all green but, this one is a mix. This little darling is sitting next to my Bat Faced Plant. Yes, you heard me right Bat Face.

When you pull the flower up to look at it... a little face with ears. And I LOVE the color don't you?

And here's Ms Reba. She rules this roost for sure! She is twelve & a half years old & starting to slow down just a bit. But, she has been a joy in our life for sure. She is a Shetland Sheep Dog (known as a Sheltie & yes, they come from the same place as the Shetland Ponies). She loves to sit here in the bend of the sidewalk to the door & watch the world go by her kingdom.

A little WITCHY WONDER!

And last but, not least are a few flowers we thought were very pretty.

Hope you enjoyed the Outdoor tour & be sure & go visit Susan & the other girls playing (just click) Outdoor Wednesday!

Fall Colors in Tulsa Oklahome & New Sonny Camera

As many of you know from my post last week my Kodak Easy Share camera went on the fritz. Many of you were so kind in sending me ideas & suggestions on cameras to purchase. Some were easy share types that just drop in your purse. Others were SLR type cameras. When looking at many of the "Easy" type the prices were within $200 of the entry level SLR & the clerk helping me said "if you want to work up to an SLR but don't know how to use all the extra bells & whistles... look at it this way the SLR on AUTO will be a much better picture than one of the EASY types". So, we bought the Sonny (Hubby has always thought highly of Sonny products so that part was an easy sell) a230 as a gift to ourselves. Leigh sent me a great site that compares different models against each other & it might help others when making these decisions. Thanks Leigh!!!! A little larger than an "Easy" but, I do like the fact that I can "move up" as I take some photography classes or just have more options as I practice with different settings. Wish me luck!!!! But, I thought I would share some of my first photos using it since this past weekend was our 39th Anniversary. Where does time go????? THIRTY NINE YEARS!!!!! WOW. Anyway, Friday was our Anniversary & we wanted to go for a ride & just share some time together. We went down to our property to check on the stock ponds. Since our dry summer they had been totally empty. But, with the past months rain many are looking better. We also checked on the water level of Lake Whitney which is nearby to see if it would be safe to launch our new platoon boat for a ride soon. The laked looked better but, not ready for boat launching by newbies. I thought this would be the extent of the Annv. with dinner concluding the day. BUT, he got a phone call to cancel his job on Saturday & he surprised me by saying... "PACK YOUR OVERNIGHT BAG WE'RE LEAVING ON A LITTLE GET AWAY".

He took me for a ride through the Arbuckle Mountains into Oklahoma & up to Tulsa. For a fall foliage hunt. We stayed at the Ambassador Hotel (click on the photo to enlarge so you can see the fretwork on this building... lovely) in downtown Tulsa. We had stayed here 5 years ago on an Annv. trip we took. It is a very old, upscale property & he booked us a corner suite which makes for a beautiful view.

As you can see in this photo, for a downtown hotel this one is not HUGE. It's just charming. Darn, I wish I had taken inside photos of the lobby area. But, the new camera had to have the battery charge overnight & I didn't think of it the next morning.

Here's what we were after.... Leaf color changes!!!!! Here in Texas it is cooler but, our leaves aren't/don't really change a lot. Looking for RED!

We found some pretty leaves on our drive through the old beautiful neighborhoods of Tulsa.

Some YELLOW & ORANGE!

Beautiful BLUE skies made for some pretty photos don't you think? And what do you think of the photos using the new camera? I think they are pretty. Thank you to all of you who sent me camera information.

Now, Thursday was a class at Jana's for rusche (Jana says that is French for ruffled) roses (yes, I'll show the end product soon in another post), Friday spent with "Honey at the property, Saturday & Sunday in Tulsa... when am I going to get ready for TRADE DAYS which is Saturday?????? I'm off to try to work on my stuff. Have a great week my friends.

Fall at Dallas Farmers Market goes to Outdoor Wednesday

Welcome to another Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan. Be sure to visit some of the others playing today. Thanks for hosting us again Susan. Here's the entrance of the Dallas Farmer's Market. Loved all of the mums planted in front of the very old tractor.

And my niece Mandy(How can she already be 24?). She was down for a visit this past weekend & we had such a great time running around. We went out to eat in many favorite places & after lunch at Burger House (YUM... the best burgers & fries in Dallas) we went to Farmers Market to see the flowers & pumpkins. Be sure to look at the post just prior to this one to see some amazing pumpkins.

Here is some of the MUMS all lined up by color. Don't you love the Dallas skyline in the back? I DO!

The way they had these staged by colors were so breathtaking!

I want about ten of everything. And the garden fairies to come & plant them. Well, we did buy a few pots of Mums & some pumpkins. Hope you'll stop by in a day or so to see what we bought & how they looked in our yard. HINT: We got one really BIG pumpkin! But, the darn rain has to stop before we can do our thing in the yard. Have a wonderful OUTDOOR WEDNESDAY!

The Pumpkin Patch!!!!!

Well FALL IS IN THE AIR for sure. And this past weekend we went to Farmers Market in downtown Dallas (I will post a second part of this on Wednesday for Outdoor Wednesday) and PUMPKINS were the item of the day.

Isn't this the PERFECT PUNKIN?

These don't look like much just laying there.

I put my BIG foot (yes, I have a BIG foot) up next to one of these... & now you can get an idea of the size of these bad boys! HUGE!

And there are LOTS of these!!!!!! You can see my "Honey" checking these out.

I love this photo with the Dallas skyline behind him!

These were so different. Orange & Green!

Mottled!

And I LOVE the color of this beauty that my "Honey" is holding. YES, it's now ours.

A whole pile of these... intoxicating for someone who loves FALL as much as I do!

Pumpkin Love

You can feel Fall in the air today since we had a cool front come through. OK those of us in Texas pray for a season called Fall, & less than 90 degrees is a signal that maybe the HEAT is over for the year. We can hope! I went out & saw these beautiful pumpkins & had to pick up a couple.