I don't know what's come over me, but I've been seriously "nesting" for the past 2 weeks. Oh yeah, it must have something to do with my boyfriend moving in with me :) Ok, so he's been living with me since the summer, but last Sunday he made it official by moving his entire DVD collection over. We bought a new DVD storage rack and then I alphabetized the DVDs. What a pain! But it was worth it---just like him...aww!
So last weekend I was all about decorating my house for fall. I should have taken pics and done a blog post then but I didn't. I'm so pleased with how everything turned out, it's definitely blog-worthy.
Today, I wanted to avoid lesson planning and I was feeling crafty, so I HAD to make a paper ribbon wreath. One of my friends had made one and it looked super simple to make, what did I have to lose?
First, I had a hard time deciding if I was going to do a paper ribbon wreath or just a plain ol' ribbon wreath. After some Internet research, I learned that the regular ribbon wreaths were fastened to the form by hot glue or staples. I didn't have a hot glue gun or a stapler on hand and finances are tight right now. I walked the aisles in Michaels trying to decide between the two types of wreaths. Finally I decided on a paper ribbon wreath and headed to the scrapbook section.
Next, I looked for a holiday scrapbook paper booklet, but couldn't find any. I decided to pull individual sheets of scrapbook paper in patterns and colors I liked. I picked 9 different scrapbook paper designs. Note: I should have picked an even number of designs, but I ended up with a lot of green. My color scheme was green, red, and black. I know black doesn't really say "holiday," but I needed a neutral color in there to bring everything together.
While thinking about how this wreath was going to look (in my mind and in real life), I went a little overboard with paper. All the blogs I read, indicated that it was going to take a lot of ribbon or paper. I bought 10 sheets of each design. That's right...9o sheets. I'm crazy. My other supplies included a paper cutter, foam wreath base, and 3 spools of black satin ribbon.
When I got home, I cut 2 sheets of each design (18 sheets total) into 12 inch strips and then cut those in half. Then I wrapped the foam wreath in black ribbon. Next, I looped each strip of paper and pinned it onto the wreath. So easy! I did try to keep a pattern on the top and side of the wreath and then fill in with random pieces. I love the way it turned out! This was a labor of love, but it sure beats lesson planning! I'm thinking I'll do one for winter (blue/white/silver color scheme), one for Valentine's Day, one for spring/summer, and another one for fall.
We invited a friend over, got our pumpkins from a local pumpkin patch, and got down to carving. A couple hours later and we had some kick-butt looking pumpkins.
Our friend did the one on the left completely free hand! My boyfriend did the one in the middle and mine is the one on the right--both from stencils.
The front porch is decked out with a cauldron of dry ice, my pumpkin, and a Scream door cover. What could possibly be behind the door?
A spooky, cobweb-covered apartment!
On the balcony, a scary scene lures trick-or-treaters to come upstairs for their free candy.
Yes, that's my boyfriend, "Jason," on the balcony, who will be handing out candy tomorrow night. I'll also be greeting the little ghouls as the devil!
