Autumn Arrives at That Old House -- Mosaics and A Metmorphosis

It is the last day of Summer.

I'd like to hang onto it, but. . . the grapes are ripe, the leaves are beginning to yellow, the tomatoes are staying green, and last night I was appalled when it was dark by 7:30.

Even I can't fight it. I'm tossing in the beach towel and welcoming Fall.


Some weeks back, I posted about not having done any decorating in the parlor; the mantel was usually bare, sometimes sporting a simple vase of garden or supermarket flowers. Or, all too often, the empty vase of flower water and a few fallen blossoms:

Pretty pathetic, huh? Yeah, you can say it.

So with the onset of the new season, I fished around in my
"Fall Decor"storage boxes to see what I could find.

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It's Metamorphosis Monday; thank you, Susan, for your hosting (hostessing?) of this terrific blog party at the equally terrific Between Naps On The Porch blog.

Click on any highlighted words or the icon to visit Susan's blog and see other entries.

I hope you stick around -- I would like your opinion on something!

For Mary at the lovely and elegant Little Red House, who hosts Mosaic Monday, I've put the parlor mantel into two collages. Mary's own mosaic today is particularly nice; I want to walk into it.

One of my mosaics is supposed to look very casual, as if you've just recklessly tossed the photos
and voila! they landed in perfect artless grace. Yeah, that's what I did. . . .

The other is more regimented.

The pictures stop clowning around and behave themselves.

Well, it ain't perfect, but it is an improvement over smelly flower water and dead petals.

Oh dear . . . another of my reality moments; the dust cloths are casually draped over the
arm of the wing chair, exhausted after their unaccustomed labor. Oops.

Closer looks:
My old hurricanes, with chunky candles perched on pewter candlesticks.
A pottery pumpkin -- can't remember where I got it.
The glass pumpkin at the other end -- a gift from my brother Lindy and his wife Carol.
A runner of old lace, from my Mom.

A swag of faux magnolia leaves (I think) and fruits and berries, to which I added some random glass-glittered fruit.
I've had this swag since 2002 and it's the first time I used it.

And now. . . this:

It's cute, but, well, kitschy -- a long string of tiny fake pumpkins and squashes; not any attempt to make it seem real. I draped it around the decorations, but ... I can't make up my mind.

Here's both ways --

With the phake pumpkin garland

Without the phake pumpkin garland

And there you have it.

I will leave you with a visit from a tiny friend,
who is inspecting our conservatory roof. . . and mooning us!
I'm not sure what he's finding up there, but he and his buddies are visiting every day.

Have a lovely last day of Summer. Sigh. Till June, then -- Cass

Fall Wreath

Sorry for the terrible picture, but I wanted to share last year's wreath on my door with you. I am sharing last year's wreath on last year's door. I say that because I don't live in this home right now. It's for sale and we live somewhere else. I miss this home though. We still live there when we go to visit family (until it sells).

What I wanted to share is how easy it is to make up a nice fall wreath quickly. I bought a nice berry wreath to start off from Home Goods, I believe (which reminds me I need to share about THAT store with you!). You can get a nice full fall berry wreath just about anywhere. Then purchase a long garland of fall leaves. The one on my wreath contains fall leaves, acorns, and assorted berries. I just wrapped it around my berry wreath tucking it in the berries or twisting a wire branch of berries around wires of the leaf garland so they stay together. Then I plopped Mr. Scarecrow right on the bottom and wired him in place around his waist. You can't even see the wire. It is just so simple to do and I didn't need any special tools. The good part is, I can change it if I want or add to it. You can purchase these little scarecrows at the hobby stores, too. This one in the photo is one I made years ago.

I just went home this last weekend and hung up this same wreath. The only thing I think I would have added if I had had more time would have been some little black crows on wire or something. Just disperse a few black crows around the wreath. You can get them as plant picks at all the hobby stores right now for fall.



Then as it gets closer to Thanksgiving you can remove Mr. Scarecrow and any crows he didn't manage to scare away and add some gourds and pumpkins and fruit. Making a cornucopia wreath!



If you really like your wreath once that season is through, be sure it's clean and wrap it in a trash bag and hang it in your attic on a nail. Then each Fall it will be ready to hang. You can remove from it or add to it each year to keep it fresh and updated.



Be Inspired! Karol :0)