Sweater Trees

Howdy!  I hope you've had a most wonderful weekend!  I've been trying to get all of the presents wrapped and under the tree.  I'm such a procrastinator when it comes to wrapping.  I've been know to shove presents and tissue paper into Christmas bags outside my mom's house on Christmas Eve right before we open gifts.  :)

In case you missed me over at Pocket Full of Pink last week, here is the tutorial I shared on upcycling sweaters into Christmas decor!

Hello Pocket Full of Pink Readers!  I'm Erin from Crafts & Sutch and I'm so very happy to spend some time with you today!

I love all things crafty and have been diagnosed with "I can make that" syndrome. I am constantly inspired by the things I see, so I like to create a little bit of everything. :) Today we are getting into the holiday spirit and making some sweater trees!

To get started, you will need a paper mache or Styrofoam tree form, an old sweater, scissors, a glue gun and glue, straight pins, and a pencil or pen.

Lay the tree form down on the sleeve of the sweater with the top of the tree at the wrist end of the sweater.  Cut across the sleeve approximately 1" below the end of the tree.

Put the tree into the sleeve and create a slip cover for it by pinning down the length of the tree.  The sweater should be snug, but not tight.

Now fold the end of the sweater under the form and glue with the glue gun.

Remove the excess sweater by cutting along the inside of your pins.

It will look like this.  Take the pencil or pen and draw a straight guideline for yourself down the length of the tree.  This is where you will glue the sweater together.

Glue the sweater along the guideline.  Create a neat seam by pushing each side together.

This is what the back of the tree will look like after you have glued the sweater in place.

And here is the finished product...along with a friend!  I am loving how these turned out.  They were super easy to make, quick, and affordable!

Thank you so much for letting me hang out with you today and thank you to Karen for having me!  I hope you all will stop by Crafts & Sutch sometime and say hi! :)

I'm linking up to these awesome parties!

Fall Decorating {Credenza}

Happy Friday!  I'm so ready for this weekend!  We are celebrating Thanksgiving with my mom and sister early this year, so I'll be chowing down some turkey in two, short days!  Woowho!

I've decided that my home is as decorated as it's going to get for fall.  Here is a little vignette I put together on top of the credenza in my entryway.

I won this adorable Itz Fitz wreath a few months ago over at Mandpidy. 

A wire pumpkin, a bundle of wheat, and a raffia-wrapped antique spool acting as a vase are grouped together on one side of the credenza.

While this fantastic fall tree topiary, chocolate pumpkin, and Itz Fitz wreath sit clustered together on the other side.

I love seeing this as soon as I come in the front door.  It makes me happy!

As much as I love all of my fall decorations, they will be coming down this week to make room for Christmas!  :)  Have a wonderful weekend!

Fall Decorating {Mantle}

Hello and happy Monday!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Mine had a rocky start with a sick baby, but got better and better throughout the weekend. 

Last night I finally finished up my mantle!  I had taken down the Halloween stuff at the beginning of the month but struggled with this look until now.  :)

The staple on the mantle throughout the fall is the berry garland.  It is full of red, orange, and yellow berries and I stuff it a little more with fall leaves, and small pumpkins and gourds.  Then I pulled out this antique window pane (which has been sitting in my garage since I bought it a few years ago) and hung a beautiful fall wreath from the top with an orange ribbon. 

On either side of the window pane, sit chocolate pumpkins (see side note below), glass beaded pumpkins, and sunflowers.

Side note:  Do you ever feel like you share crafty brain waves with someone?  :)  Sometimes I'm hunting around blogland and see a project that is exactly what I had envisioned making or someone will leave a comment, "I was just going to make that!"  It goes to show you that great minds think alike!  I think Michele, from The Scrap Shoppe, and I were sharing crafty brain waves when we both decided to spray paint pumpkins brown!  Check out her's HERE.  She turned her brown pumpkin into a fall vase.

I decided to give these guys a coat of spray paint because they were cream and got lost against the creamy wall.  I wanted something dark and appropriate for fall so brown was the way to go (plus I already had a can from spray painting Kason's nursery furniture).  Then I dressed each one up with an orange ribbon.

Coming up this week:  Sutch an Inspiration, my fall credenza, and our Christmas card! :)  Have a fantastic week!

Fall Breakfast Table

I love this time of year.  I love the colors.  I love wearing warm and cozy sweaters and boots (haven't been able to do this just yet).  I love to fill my home with fall and all it's elements.

I bought these place mats on clearance at Kohl's a couple of years ago.  The variety of shapes and colors is a very "me" thing...just take a peek at my chairs. :)

My mom and I made some pumpkin center pieces for friends and ourselves a couple of years ago (another Ike crafting day).  We bought all of our supplies at Garden Ridge on sale BB (before blogging).  We cut a hole in the top of carvable pumpkins, filled them with fall colored flowers and berries, and finished them off with big, beautiful bows.  They turned out spectacularly!

I spied a few similar pumpkin center pieces at Michael's the other day with an $80.00 price tag (they didn't look as good as ours... :) just saying).  Wowza!  Don't be afraid to make your own.  If it doesn't look right the first time, take the pieces out and try again (the little block of floral foam in the middle of that pumpkin has too many holes to count).

I'll be linking up to some of my favorite parties found HERE!

Fall Trees

Hello Beautiful Bloggy Ladies {and perhaps Gentleman}!  I hope you are having a wonderful day!  I'm finally putting the finishing touches on fall decor in my home...I know I'm late...I procrastinate.  What can I say?

Thankfully, I didn't have to do too much to these fall trees that I made BB (before blogging).  Two years ago, Hurricane Ike blew threw Texas and left many of us without power.  No power means no work...for two weeks, so I had a lot of time on my hands and crafted up a lot of Halloween and fall things for my home.

I rescued these two branches from a neighbors "throw away" pile, gave them a coat of varnish, and plopped them in a pair of coordinating ceramic pots.  I decorated the limbs with fall colored beads.

For Halloween, the trees are adorned with gift tags I won off of eBay.  Each one has a vintage Halloween postcard printed on it and a little glitter for some sparkle.

For Thanksgiving, the gift tags are exchanged for fall leaves glammed up with glitter glue.

These fall trees sit on each end of the bar in my kitchen.  I love the natural element they bring to my home...and the little bit of sparkle. 

I'll be linking up to these parties!

PosterBrain.com Giveaway

EDIT: GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

Have you heard of PosterBrain.com?  It is the best place on the Internet to turn your photos into posters!

Their web site is so user friendly, and you can place your order in just a few short minutes!  You start by uploading an image.

Once you load an image, PosterBrain immediately tells you the quality of your poster.  This one will be GREAT!

Then you use the cropping tool to be sure your photo will match the poster size.

Fill out your billing and shipping information, choose a shipping option, and place your order.

When you're all finished, fill out a short survey letting PosterBrain know how AWESOME they are.  :)  It's as easy as that!  Can you believe it?

Here is the image I started with...a pic I took of the monkey!  Totally cute, right?

The only way this is getting cuter is by turning it into a 24"x36" poster to hang above his crib.  :)  Because the price is so affordable, I plan on ordering a new poster every year to really personalize his space.

 The whole experience with PosterBrain.com was stellar!  It started with the too easy ordering process, then the timeliness to process the order (it's shipped the same day if you place your order before noon Mountain time), the amazing customer service, the quality of the packaging, and finally the outstanding final product!  The image is not grainy or pixilated.  It's perfection!

With PosterBrain.com's affordable prices, you can create a poster for every room in your home! :)  How about a family pic over the fireplace, or a subway art print in your entryway, action shots for your game room, or even landscape or scenic prints for your family room?  With PosterBrain.com, you can create it all!

Are you ready to win your very own 24"x36" PosterBrain poster?

1.  Enter a comment on this post! (one entry)
2.  Blog, Facebook, or Tweet about PosterBrain.com and leave a link to the post. (one entry/comment for each; up to three)

PosterBrain.com is giving EVERYONE who enters {FREE} shipping!  Please include your email address with your comment and PosterBrain will send you the code!

The giveaway will close on Wednesday night, October 27th, at midnight and the winner will be selected using Random.org and announced on Thursday, October 28th.  Good luck! :)

Mossy Fall Plaques

Hello, All!  Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend!  We were able to spend time with family and that is always a good thing. :)

For this week's EEK WEEKS project, I thought I would tone it down and make something natural that could be displayed in your home for the entire season.

I'm sorry I do not have a full photo tutorial, but this was super easy to make so I'll just talk you through it. :)

You will need three wood plaques, spray paint (I used brown), scrapbook paper, Mod Podge, craft foam brush, scissors, moss sheet, ribbon, and a hot glue gun.  Optional supplies:  distressing ink and jute.

To begin, spray the plaques with spray paint.  While the paint is drying, cut out fall shapes from the moss sheet.  Have you seen this stuff?  I found it at the Dollar Tree, and I only used one sheet for this project!

I found images of a pumpkin, an acorn, and a leaf on Google images, printed them out, cut around the images, and used the cut outs as stencils to cut the moss sheet.

Measure the top of the wooden plaque and cut the scrapbook paper to fit, distress the edges of the paper with ink, and then Mod Podge the paper to the plaque.

Hot glue the moss to the plaque and embellish with jute (a curly vine for the pumpkin, a rim for the cap of the acorn, and veins for the leaf).

 Hot glue ribbon to the back of the plaque and hang on a nail.  I really wanted to hang the plaques from decorative knobs, but wanted to keep my budget in mind so I hot glued a button to the end of each nail.  Personally, I think it is my favorite part of the project! :)

I'll be sharing this project at these super wonderful PARTIES!

I have to admit that I'm a little sad there is only one more EEK WEEK project left!  I do promise that is will be positively pumpkiny deliciousness!  :)

Coming up this week:  Sutch an Inspiration on Tuesday, a giveaway on Wednesday, and a look at some of the fall decorations around my home on Friday.  Have a wonderful week!

If the Broom Fits {Printables}

Hello there, sweet blogland friends!  How are y'all?  :)  Thank you for your sweet comments about the witch's broom vignette!  :)  I'm excited that so many of you are feeling a little witchy and want the "If the broom fits" printable.  Without further ado, here you go!  I recreated it in several color choices, so please take your pick...print one or print them all!  :)  If you do download the printable, it would be great if you would become a follower of Crafts & Sutch.

Click on the image you would like to print.  Then right click on the image and select Save Image As.  Now you can print this baby out, frame it, and show your witchy side!  :)

Have a wonderful rest of your week! :)  I'll be linking up to these super, fantastic parties!