Fall Decor

So, I ran across this post on waxing fall leaves the other day and thought to myself, self, that looks like a lot of fun.
And I sure love the fall colors, so bringing them inside is a clever and (nearly) free decor idea.

Step 1) Gather leaves

I'm sure I have some sort of compulsive disorder. I wiped off the leaves and then sorted by color/coolness.

Step 2) you need some wax.
Yeah, I didn't know where to get it either.
The post said to get wax from the canning area of your local grocery store.
Well, I was seriously unsure if my local grocery store had a canning section.
Turns out it did.

It came in this little box. $2.99, not bad.
There were 4 blocks in the box. I melted 3, should have done only 2.

Step 3) Melt in disposable pan on stove.

Step 4) dip leaf into melted wax.

I shook it off a little after, but don't get too crazy or you will have little droplets of wax to clean off in the most unlikely places. Not that I speak from experience or anything.

Step 5) put on wax paper.
Shoot, no wax paper.
Improvise....yes. Enter tin foil. Works like a charm.

Spiffy leaves, huh?

Step 6) sprinkle at random throughout the house.

I made my dining light into a leaf mobile, sweet.



Step 7) look at leaves inside, get happy. Look at leaves outside, get happy.

may I present.....FALL LEAVES 2009

As much as Michigan and I do not get along, I have to admit that the fall colors are absolutely glorious.

Don't you agree?

Dressers Redo: Part III

Parts I and II of this series can be found here and here.

I'm wanting to give a distressed look to all of these pieces, so wherever the sanding took the finish off of the wood...

...is where I want to use this...

...to cover it up.

This will insure that I get some brown peaking through the final paint color when I lightly sand the finish.

I put some brown paint wherever there was an edge.

And then I primed over it.

And that is the end of Part III.

Foliage

While we are talking about plants in the yard, let me introduce you to our new beauty.

I love hydrangeas, and this one should grow into a large bush...

...the better to hide the un-aesthetically-pleasing transformer box which sits to one side of the front yard.


And while we're talking about things that I love...

...how cool is the variety of plant life at our back property line?

Beautiful, no?

It makes me happy that we chose this lot.

Trees!

We came home the other night and found some unfamiliar shapes in the darkness of our yard.
The builder had come and planted two {very large} trees!

Look at how puny Curt is compared to these things.
They are no twigs stuck in the dirt.

I'm a tree nut, so I was so excited to see them.

Here's tree #1 in the daylight.

And both trees . This is just awesome.
The yard looks so much better with some vertical vegetation.