Fall, 15 minutes, and $5

So, as you know, the fall season and I are friends, simply because we have the same coloring.

It's easy for me to move into the fall season because I've always gravitated to the autumn shades in all areas (primarily because those are the colors that match my hair). I've been grabbing my mustard corduroy skirt and my tartan plaid blazer with delight this past week. It's like greeting old, loved friends in my closet in the fall. (And I remember that I look better fully clothed than in a sundress or shorts. That's just the fact of the matter.)

Last week, I ventured to IKEA and I spied these placemats. I loved that they were cork, and that they were $5. They aren't super cute on their own, but I had plans for these trees....

They were to be adorned with fall fingerprint leaves.





I bet you already have fall-colored acrylic paint in your cabinet. Brown, red, orange and yellow were all we used. And we mixed them, because leaves aren't ever a solid color, are they?

(Note the pile of leaves for jumping in on my daughter's.)



I painted our names on each placemat, along the trunk of one tree. (FYI, my spellcheck is not recognizing the word placemat and wants to change it to playmate or placenta.)



My little guy does NOT like to get his fingers messy, so he was a hard sell on this project. (I don't know ANYONE like that...??) He lasted about 7 minutes before the torture of having paint on his fingers was more than he could stand. I did get a smile out of him though. A half-hearted one.





I was happy to have the remaining two placemats to decorate my big self.



They're sorta flimsy and will probably only last this season, but I still love how they turned out! A couple fall-colored candles in my centerpiece and a white tablecloth made for a very simple and lovely table arrangement.

Five bucks.

Fifteen minutes of fingerpainty fun.

New fall decor.

That's perhaps the best time and money we spent all week.

{linking up with Paisley Jade & Finding Joy}

leslie's pinterest

hey did you know you are on pinterest?
you are.
i saw this tonight.

and i know i've already told you this, but you do have your own little section of pinterest called, "shauna's 'leslie' board" that you really should look on there soon.
there are many new things....that you will love.

words like this...

and this...

oh oh! and ideas like this!!!

also, i was thinking that we should make this for ourselves (and the kids) one tuesday after school.

since they get out early.

doesn't that look so super good!

do you think nate will like it?

fruit salsa with cinnamon sugar chips!

on a different note, are you getting a bit concerned about wardrobe for blog sugar?
is meg really gonna wear sparkly platforms!?
i think i may be under dressed.
oh my, when i think about these kinda details i just really want to back out.
what happened to you convincing me to go and stand in the back with iced teas and dark glasses? do you remember that?

....and also one happy thing is that i got a super cute trench coat at H&M last night!
(and i scored it for 20 bux!)
which could still be a really good accessory to the teas and glasses...just thinkin out loud.
will it be fun?
will we be this happy?

talk me down, friend!
or i may panic and bury my head in the sand....

Back to School Lovely

Alright, I just can't wait for you to come over anymore.

I want to show you my Back to School decor. I don't usually get too excited about these kinds of things. The times are few and far between when I feel like I have AND know how to coordinate an ensemble of things to display for a given season. You are the supreme expert in this area, and so I learn a lot from you.

So this time, I tried really hard. I spent a long time. I thought and shifted and added and subtracted.



I just want to explain my process, since I'm not super confident in my display planning, in case others are reading this who feel the same. My starting point was a square vintage tablecloth I have that is red and navy plaid with a bit of yellow in it. I tried to stay focused on using only items that coordinated with this, or were white. For instance, for my crayon jar, I picked all the primary colored bits out of our broken crayons box, and allowed a few chalkboard green ones in too.



I also wanted to express our love for books. I stuck to the narrow color range in choosing the books for my stacks, trying to stick to classic looks and titles, and ones we love. I also had the idea to make a book page garland to hang across my large, old screen. I found one book in our collection with simple illustrations in colors that matched my backdrop, with childish text, and interesting images, and spent a bunch of time photocopying (2 book sheets per page of paper) and cutting them out. I could have ripped the pages out of the book. But I didn't want to ruin it. This book was one from the Nate the Great series. This garland is my favorite part of my display.

I really struggled to find things I already had to fill my three jars. I didn't want to go buy thirty erasers, although those kinds of jars I've seen all over the internet crammed with school supplies are so cute. I wanted it all to be free. So I had to stretch the category of "school supply" a bit. I filled one jar with red and yellow yarn. One with empty coin rolls (let's just pretend there are coins in them), and into the third, I put the pieces to one of our wooden puzzles (much to my son's dismay. angry voice: "Look what mom did to our puzzle!")

I got to thinking about 1st and 4th, the grades into which my kids are going. Ya know, there is a freeway exit nearby called "1st and 4th." Those are street names to me. So I made these. A little freehanded shape on green paper, white paint pen outline, and chipboard numbers made them look like street signs! (I did diverge and use some orange crayons here. It can't look too matchy matchers, right?)

So that's it. I'm so glad I took the time to display things that reflect our family and what we love. My kids were so happy to see it when they woke up on day one. They loved that I posted the 1st and 4th grade signs.

I love honoring and celebrating their milestones. Thanks for being a good little example to me, Shauna, on lots of creative ways to celebrate our kids.