A crafty fall

Autumn has arrived, and it is my favorite time of year.

My porch sits decorated with pumpkins and fall-esque decor. The yard is covered in multicolored leaves and our family room is filled with autumn-scented candles and baked goodies.

It's quite lovely at the Ragon home.

This autumn has also found its way into my craft room and forced its beautiful ways upon me. I couldn't be happier. In addition to my Finely Twisted hand-sewn clothing designs, I have filled my time with wreath-decorating, painting and shelf-making. It's glorious.

John and I have decided to not only share our specific ministry stories with you. We have decided to share our lives. Enjoy this journey with us. It's proving to be a really good one!

---------------- Do It Yourself ----------------

Shelf
Items:
Old pallet
Small "L" brackets — these can be used on top (as shown above) or beneath the boards depending on your preference. I liked the exposed hardware and natural wood combo.
Small screws — I think mine were 1/4" — that won't show through when screwed into wood.
To do:
Dissemble pallet. Cut boards to desired length (I planned 36" so they would comfortably host different sized canvases). Each shelf will need two boards. Measure and mark each board in two places (one on each end). Situate boards perpendicular and fasten L-bracket to boards with screws. You now have a beautiful shelf which can sit with overhang on bottom (shown above) or top

Wreath
Items (all purchased at my local Walmart):
Burlap (purchased by the yard)
Push pins with large head
Autumn floral bunch
Foam wreath form
Floral wire
To do:
Cut burlap into strips twice as thick as your wreath form (mine were about 6-8 inches wide). I cut multiple strips the length of my purchased fabric. Loosely fanfold burlap, using pushpins to fasten to wreath (I chose pushpins instead of glue so I can easily remove the autumn decor without damaging the wreath form so I can use the same one for other holidays/seasons). I made sure my fabric folds covered previously placed push pins.
Dissemble floral arrangement and choose what flowers, leaves, berries, etc... you want to use. I removed or cut off all plastic stems from the flowers I chose to use.
For the small yellow flowers, I placed a yellow-topped push pin through the top of the flower and straight into the foam wreath.
For the large yellow daisies, the flowers were limp and disconnected once the stem was removed so I used two small yellow buttons per flower and sandwiched them on the outside of the flower, threading the buttons with floral wire and wrapping it onto the wreath form, covering the wire with the burlap folds.
For the sunflowers, the "stump" of the stems was extra thick so I pierced the floral wire through the "stump" and wrapped it around the wreath form, covering the wire like with the daisies.
I hung mine on my front door with an over-the-door wreath hanger.


Painting — "Traffic"
Items:
Thick paint brushes
Choice colors of acrylic paint (make sure some are shimmery)
Canvas of any size
To do:
Coat entire canvas with three colors (I chose deep navy for the bottom, yellow for the middle and green for the top). These will be the colors that show through.
Use extra paint colors to make pearls of paint up, down and across middle third of the painting — My pearls somewhat came to a point in the middle of the painting.
With a fresh brush, slightly damp, begin at side where paint pearls are and drag brush across canvas, leaving some thick strokes of paint for depth. Your shimmery acrylic paints and color choices will give the painting a better texture and make the appearance of movement within the painting.
Enjoy!