This first idea could be done with real pumpkins and fresh flowers. Or you could buy a pumpkin from the craft store and glue silk flowers onto it - then you could re-use it every year! Which is what I would do.
then the stove top dressing on top . . .
and bake. It is saucy and yummy! And it's a little bit of Thanksgiving that you can make any day of the week.
I have bought a few boxes of old glass Christmas ornaments at Goodwill and un-painted them to get this look. It's soooo easy! Hopefully in these first two pictures you can tell that some of them have an old, faded silver look. Those are the Shiny Brite or other really old ornaments. The shinier silver balls are "newer" old ornaments that the color does come off of, but the silver inside is a more solid bright silver look. I do not un-paint the balls that start out silver or gold, because a mixture of those two colors is what I am going for. I love the old, faded look. And mixing it with the shinier silver gives more dimension. So - I will buy any of the old balls - but definitely the Shiny Brites.
Just hold a ball UPSIDE DOWN under hot running water. You do not want the water to go inside the ball, because if it is one of the older balls, the hot water will wash all the silver out of the inside. After just a few seconds under the hot water, you will be able to rub off the colored paint. It usually just rubs off with your finger. Every now and then you may have to scratch at it with your fingernails. But it is really soooo quick and easy!
All of this came from Goodwill - I mean, Bonne Volonte - or estate or garage sales. I paid $6 for the large frame on clearance at Hobby Lobby, $1 for the round frame and $1.49 for the rectangle frame at Bonne Volonte, $1 for the pair of silhouettes, and all the necklaces were $1.49 or less at Bonne Volonte or garage sales. I did buy the hooks new at Hobby Lobby. But they were not much.
I even hung all of this by myself. (I know - So what?) But in the past I have always gotten my hubby to help if I had much to hang, especially if I had to screw something into the wall. I don't know why. But this time I hung it all, and even screwed the hooks to the wall myself. And it's all straight!
Ok, now that I have shown you the pretty part, I have to confess. I did not finish my bathroom. I could have finished the ceiling, but I ran out of steam. And I knew that I could not paint around the tub, because my hubby has to finish floating out and sanding the new sheetrock here. Soooo, this is what part of it looks like. I know. Pathetic. But now that I have gotten this far, it will inspire hubby to finish around the tub, and then I will finish the paint. AND then I will get the black toile shower curtain that I want! I will show you when all of that is finished.
So, do you see why I say that my project was not entirely successful? But I have a good start on my bathroom, which otherwise would still be really ugly all over!
But I did get these two painted - so now I just have to decide what to do with them.
So, even though I did not do exactly what I had planned, I did get a good start on my bathroom. So I am still happy. And without the push from Melissa at The Inspired Room and her Procrastinator's Party, I would not have even started any of this. So, many thanks to you, Melissa!
My mom loves to stain furniture to a dark brown color and she likes to put old books, keys, jewelry and so forth on the furniture. One of her oddest decorations is the feather trees that she puts around the house. My family always teases her about her weird feather trees. 
My mom also loves to decorate her dress form which I call a ‘crash dummy.’ She writes posts and takes picture after picture after picture about her dress form! I just think to myself, “What is so interesting about a limbless, body-shaped crash dummy that you can put clothes on?”
Well, writing this post was a lot easier than I thought because I didn’t have to worry about formal writing rules, such as sentence fragments or run-on sentences. Writing conversationally is a lot easier than the paper I now have to write about blogging for my co-op teacher. Who, I might add, is a groovy teacher.
I absolutely LOVE feather wreaths. But they are really expensive! I have an adorable little red feather wreath that is usually on my wreath hanger on the mantel. But this year I was trying to decorate my fall mantel in chocolate, green and silver. So I realllly wanted a brown feather wreath. Cheap.
I just cut lengths of wire and wired the feather boa to the wreath frame - put a wire about every 2 to 3" so that it stays in a nice full circle shape. 
One feather boa was the perfect length to go around twice on the 12" wreath frame from Hobby Lobby. The frame was $1.99. The feather boa was $6.99 (I think) - and you could use a 40% off coupon on the feathers!
It was a little tedious. So you might not want to do this on a day that people have been getting on your last nerve like I did. But even on a day when I had used up all my patience at work, this only took me about 30 minutes.
I'm going to make a black one sometime soon! Because every room needs a little touch of black!
Ok, thinking about that night really puts me in the Christmas mood! I'm ready to start decorating! Aren't you? 
Shannon
s, go to Red Writing's - 
Dear Santa,I can't wait till I can start actually decorating for Christmas! It must be wonderful to live at the North Pole and be able to keep your Christmas decorations up all year round! And have a fire always going in the fireplace. Hot chocolate or Starbucks Peppermint Mocha every night. Christmas cookies every day. Oh, really Santa, if you need some help, please call me!
Red Writing had a great idea to help us keep in touch with you better - you should get Mrs. Claus to set you up a Facebook page!
I can't wait till you stop by! I will leave some milk and fudge out for you!
Much love,
Shannon
For more Christmas lists, be sure to follow Red Writing's 12 Weeks of Christmas!
The project I am proclaiming is the frames below. I have four large frames in my garage that I have had for a couple of months now. I want to paint them - three black, one possibly creamy white.
I have plans for them all - four different rooms, different uses in each room. None of them are for framing a picture! Now that it is cooler outside, I think I can stand to go outside to spray paint. Until now it's been so dang hot I wasn't about to go outside to paint!!! No way!
I bought them for $6 to $8 each on clearance at Hobby Lobby. 
I think I will need my boots when I paint because in Kansas the wind is allllwaaaaays blowing. Here is my tip of the day for you - if you don't want your shoes to also be spray painted, you, too, can wear boots just like mine!
I just bought the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication called Christmas Ideas. It has a lot of great stuff in it. But these pages just took my breath away!
Natural materials are added to the home's regular decor. The collections of old books and creamware on the mantel take on a whole new level with all of the nature-y items added. Lots of pinecones and feathers in the "wreath" above the mantel, and on the garland that is hanging from the mantel. I LOVE that garland!!!
Little pinecone topiary trees, pomander balls, rust colored bows, a sprinkling of snow.
I think this might be my ALL-TIME favorite mantel. It. is. PERFECT! (Well, minus the deer head.)
I can't find my box of fall decorations. I think it is buried way, way back behind all my Christmas boxes. I think today I will have to empty that storage closet and unearth my fall and Christmas greenery. I will show you my mantel when I get it done. Soon. Not today. I don't know when. But soon.
