Here are some pumpkin decorating ideas that do not involve pumpkin guts in any way!
1. Pumpkin Chandelier Wreath at Martha Stewart
2. Pumpkin Bookshelf Tree at Country Living
3. Decoupaged Black and White Pumpkin at Country Living
4. Plaid Painted Pumpkin from Saved by Love
5. Carved Butternut Squash Centerpieces from Paper, Plate, and Plane
6. Squash Softies from Oh, How Posh!
7. Fabric Pumpkins from Retro Mama
8. Pumpkin Yardstick Light from Hand Make My Day
Urban homesteading (or suburban homesteading, which is what I like to think I am dabbling in) is the new homesteading. There aren’t really any more frontiers in the U.S. available to us to go homestead and I would dissuade you from attempting to find any lest we not leave some mostly pristine & underpopulated areas of this country left at all.
Anyway, the bulk of us live in cities, and the aforementioned suburbs, but some among us long for putting dinner on the table by some of other means than a trip to the grocery store. That’s urban homesteading, which involves aspects of edible landscaping, foraging, community-based agriculture, recycling, using alternative energy, sustainable practices, food preservation, bartering, raising chickens and more. It’s about making the most of the space you have, sharing with others, getting creative and lots of DIY.
Cat Rocketship from Hipster Houswife has way more experience with this than I do (I just have a garden and don’t cut my grass). In fact, she wrote an article about it for issue #4 of Joiein which she shares some of her urban homesteading adventures.
A special thank you to Angela Traunig of Ferntree Studio for creating the amazing artwork to go along with Cat’s article.
I love the DIY projects from Honestly WTF….honestly, I do! I pretty much love the regular daily posts too and although I don’t read it often enough, it I consider it one of my “Blogger’s Blogs” and make sure to catch up at least once a month or so.
I’ve chosen some of my very favorites projects to share with you from with the Honesty DIY collection. I absolutely adore the DIY Net Bag shown above.
Plus, this Transparent clutch is soooo drool-worthy!
More cimbing gear is used in the diy for Rope Bracelets.
I love the idea behind this craft from Jessica Wilson and featured in issue #4 of Joie magazine. Inspired by the Darchor style of Tibetan Prayer Flags, Jessica shares how to make her own variation called a Wish Chime. Share your wishes, dreams, hopes and desires with the wind and create a lovely and meaningful home and garden decoration.
You can see more of Jessica’s creativity and general high jinx on her blog Scrumdillydilly. I personally love this idea for 3 minute cake in a jar.
Whether you are planning your own wedding, helping a friend plan one or even just love DIY decorating and entertaining, you will love the book Handmade Weddings (Chronicle Books). Put together by Eunice and Sabrina Moyle of Hello!Lucky along with stylist Shana Faust, it’s made up more than 50 craft projects you can use to style and personalize your wedding or other special day.
What I love most about Handmade Weddings is that it’s broken up into different chapters, each featuring a different style—retro homespun, girly romantic, modern classic, just to name a few. I am a cross between the retro homespun and girly romantic…if you couldn’t have already guessed…and was drawn to projects in those chapters. I really liked the Yarn-Wrapped Bottles project (which I will share later in this post) from the Retro Homespun section and the Teacup Centerpieces from the Girly Romantic chapter.
I must say that it’s a really beautiful book with wonderfully detailed projects and it’s got all kinds of ideas swirling around in my head…and I’m not even planning a wedding! I am, however, planning my own 40th birthday party for later this month. Hmm, Yarn-Wrapped Bottle Centerpieces might work beautifully for the outdoor cookout I am planning! You can make them too, just open the instructions below.
Here’s some more examples of projects from the book.
Dress Pattern and Found Tissue Bouquet
Test Tube Favors
Button Seating Cards and Favors
If you haven’t yet read issue #3 of Joie, then you are missing out on some good stuff, including Jessica Wilson’s how-to on making infused sugars on page #28.
Pretty and sweet, what more could you want?
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