Fall Leaf Beaded Garland

Fall is my favorite time for crafting. And, because there's never enough time to do all the projects I want to do, there's no better time to start Fall crafting than Summer!

Beaded garlands are all the rage right now. I see them in every home decor store I go in. So, why not stay on trend, but with an Autumn twist? So, I asked my friends at Signopoly to cut me some 5" leaves with a hole in the top to string them.

Leaves are never just one solid color & I wanted my leaf to have several colors along with some texture. To create the texture, I mixed the color Colonel Mustard from the Dixie Belle Paint Company with Dixie Belle's Sea Spray texture additive.

Once the paint & Sea Spray were mixed well, I spread the mixture over one side of the leaf using a hotel key card.

Once the leaf was covered, I pressed the key card flat onto the mixture & then lifted it to create peaks.

After I set the leaf aside to dry, I placed 25mm wooden beads onto a skewer & began painting them with 3 colors, Colonel Mustard, Terracotta, & Florida Orange. I painted a total of 24 beads.

Once my leaf was dry, I painted over it with the Terracotta & Florida Orange, making sure not to blend them to create just one color.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded the leaf to expose some of the Colonel Mustard.

To create the garland, I threaded twine through the hole in the leaf, tied a knot, & left a 3" tail.

I began stringing the beads onto the twine & the tail.

Leaving a tail keeps you from having to cut close to the knot, which could make it fray. 

I continued threading beads onto the twine until there were 24 beads. Once the beads were threaded, I left a long tail of twine.

No beaded garland is complete without a tassel! 

 I used an orange & a yellow ribbon to add some color to my tassel. To measure, I wrapped the ribbon around a hotel key card twice, then cut it in half so I would have 2 equal lengths of both ribbons.

I began wrapping the key card with twine.

Every few wraps, I added ribbon.

I continued until I had the size tassel that I wanted.

I slipped the twine & ribbon off of the key card, & tied a knot at the top with the tail of twine.

I cut a piece of the orange ribbon & tied it about an inch from the top of the tassel.

I cut the twine at the bottom of the tassel, then trimmed the twine & ribbon to be even.

It's a little early to put out Fall decor, especially when it's still so hot out. But, when the temperature cools down & leaves begin to turn colors, I'll be ready!

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, The Dedicated House,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love,  Domestically Speaking,  The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster, The Foley Fam,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Dabbling And Decorating, Creatively Beth, My Hubbard Home

Rust And The German Schmear

 I had never heard of the German schmear technique until I saw it on an episode of Fixer Upper. It creates a beautiful texture.

And, it's not just for a brick wall. It's great in other paint projects as well. And in this project I combined it not only with paint, but also with Dixie Belle Paint Company's Patina Collection.

I started with a wooden pumpkin from Signopoly...

I first stained the pumpkin with Dixie Belle's Voodoo Gel Stain using the color, Tobacco Road.

To create the first layer of the schmear, I add the paint color, Buttercream, to a block of wood, then drug it along the pumpkin.

I wanted to add some rust to my pumpkin, but I also wanted the rust to have some texture. So I mixed Sea Spray, a texture additive, in with the iron patina paint.

I used the same schmear technique with a block of wood to add the patina paint to the pumpkin.

While the patina paint was wet I sprayed it with the green patina spray. The spray creates a chemical reaction that when combined with the iron paint creates rust.

And, who doesn't love a little rust on their pumpkin?

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, The Dedicated House,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love,  Domestically Speaking,  The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster, The Foley Fam,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Dabbling And Decorating

Patchwork Pumpkin

 

I've used wood cutouts from Signopoly for a couple of years now. So, when they asked me recently to be a Signopoly Ambassador, I was thrilled. As an ambassador, they send me things to play around with. And, when they sent me this new pumpkin design, I immediately thought of a quilt.

I knew that I wanted some of the sections to be patterned. If you've followed me for awhile, then you know I love crafting with patterned paper napkins. When I found these napkins at Hobby Lobby, I knew they'd be perfect for this project.

I cut the napkins to fit in 6 of the sections.

I used ModPodge to adhere the napkins to the pumpkin then went over the top of the napkins with another coat of ModPodge. I let the excess part of the napkins hang over the edge until dry, then lightly sanded to remove the loose paper.

I used the colors Florida Orange, Rusty Nail, & Colonel Mustard from the Dixie Belle Paint Company to fill in the remaining sections of the pumpkin.

To define each section & make the pumpkin look more "finished" I added Dixie Belle's Best Dang Wax in the color brown. I filled the grooves with the dark wax using a stiff brush, then wiped it back. To make the wax easier to control, I first added clear wax to the pumpkin on the flat surfaces making sure to keep it out of the grooves.

Of all the Signopoly projects I've done over the years, I think this one is my absolute favorite!

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, The Dedicated House,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love,  Domestically Speaking,  The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster, The Foley Fam,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Dabbling And Decorating