Happy Fall Y'all & an Easy Recipe!

Happy Fall Y'all! Even though its still in the nineties here, I'm glad its autumn.

While at the grocery store today, we saw the ever tempting candy corn. Its one of my husband's favorite candies. Of course we had to buy a bag, but I was also thinking of this super easy snack...Candy Corn and Peanuts. Have you ever tried the combo?

Its super easy to make - just put candy corn and peanuts in a jar in equal proportions and shake it up.

Its a great snack to make for fall parties, for easy hostess or teacher gifts, or just plain eating (like we will be doing!) I mixed ours in a pint fruit jar and tied a scrap of burlap material around the jar. I don't know how long the jar will last, but at least I'll have some pretty fall decoration on the bar for a few days!

What'cha waitin' on? You going make some or not?

A Texas Longhorn Sunset

I was driving home last night, deep in thought, pondering an article I had read in MaryJanesFarm Magazine over the weekend when I happened upon this sunset. I was thinking about the article that discussed how women digging in the dirt and working on the farm seem to be healthier and have less stress. I must say, I don't mind getting dirt under my finger nails and its been over ten years since I've been to a doctor.

 I was on my way home from the farm, country music blasting on the radio, cruising the back roads as sunset approach. It had rained most of the weekend (for which I'm very thankful) and the clouds made way for the sun to light up the sky.

 I rounded one corner on the black top road and immediately had to put on the breaks and grab my camera out of my purse. I jumped out of the truck, climbed the ditch and snapped several pictures of Texas Longhorns against the sunset.

 

The scene brought me full circle back to the article and I thought about how much I love living in the country. You don't get to see scenes like this in the city and you sure can't stop in the middle of the road, leave your truck door open while listening to the radio, taking pictures of cows in the sunset. Yes, I'm a genuine country, farm girl and I wouldn't have it any other way!

 

Fall Decorating with a Black Cat

I added a little more decorations to my outdoor fall dresser this week. I found these two scarecrows over the weekend and they have taken their place for the season. The woman at the store said "awww, you're taking these poor babies home..." You could tell she was a grumpy employee, who doesn't like fall nor decorating.

 

 Then I come home one evening and our sweet black cat was sitting on the porch rail that is hidden by the tin. She completed the autumn scene!

 Someone ask me on Instagram if she was posed here or if it was just a "kawinkiedink". Let me tell you, Annie does exactly what she wants to and there is no way to get her to pose on demand! The tin is attached to the back porch and she declares the porch rail as her very on cat walk. I really didn't think about her being fall decor when I set up the vignette.

 All my life I've heard how black cats are unlucky, but Annie is the sweetest black kitty and we are lucky to have her.

(taken with cell phone)

Some like it hot!

I, for one, prefer warm weather over cold weather, but darn its been hot this week. I am looking forward to the cooler, more fall like temperatures promised for this weekend though.

 

 The yellow lantana in my yard seems to like it hot! Even with hot and dry conditions, the flowers seems to thrive, which means I like it even more.

 This flower bed with yuccas, cactus, pampas grass, and a voluntary American beauty berry has become my favorite fuss free area of the yard this summer. It survived the massive drought last year and has bloomed with minimal to no extra watering by me this year, whereas my other large flower bed has a bad case of heat exhaustion.

 

Oh and did I mention, this lantana only cost me 50 cents a few years back? Late one summer, I bought it on the clearance rack at the garden center. It was in a 4 inch pot and had been neglected by the big box store. I give it some special care for a few weeks, then it has been a beautiful, pest free addition to the rock garden ever since. The butterflies enjoy the blooms in the summer and the birds eat the berries the lantana produces this winter.  Its like the super plant in my landscape!

 Do you grow lantana?

 

 

Heather's Wedding

A few weeks ago Heather sent me a convo asking how I could incorporate purple with the burlap and lace bouquets in my etsy store. I replied that I could use purple material to create flowers, small tufts of tulle could be used in a similar fashion to the lace, or I could use purple ribbon in the bouquets.

 

 

Instead of giving me specific instructions on how to use shades of purple and plum in her bouquets, Heather said "...I would rather give your creativity free reign and let you produce what you think will look best."

 That confidence and trust in me made me fill good.

 Heather also ordered 4 wristlets. While working on her order, I would send her pictures to see and get approval before making all the items. When I sent her the picture of the wristlet, this was her response "Very nice! I was curious as to how these would look as a wristlet. Exceeds expectations!"

 Each wristlet had a chocolate, ivory, and tan burlap rose, lace, tulle, pearls, and purple ribbon.

 The bridesmaids bouquets were made with the same colors and materials.

Heather's wedding is in a few weeks at the edge of the woods on a farm, yet another wedding I wish I could see in person!

 

Congratulations and Best Wishes for your wedding Heather!

 I appreciated your trust and encouraging words while working to create your bouquets.

 

 

 

 

A Junk Dresser Makeover

With 2 1/2 days off this weekend, I had 2 goals in mind: decorate for fall and

 

get rid of this dresser. It has been junkin' up my porch for longer than I want to admit. When I say junkin' - this time it wasn't in a good way. See it all started last spring when I had an idea to plant flowers in a chest of drawers. I even found an old one at a garage sale for $5.00. Well my husband and his mom said it was in too good of shape to let it sit outside and ruin in the weather. I agreed with them and now its in our living room, perfectly chippy and vintagey.

 

Well a co-worker moved to a new house and this dresser was left in the garage and she said come and get it. We did, although it was in much worse condition than what we were expecting. I came up with an idea to create a vignette / mantle out of the dresser with rusty tin and barn wood. We found our supplies and then my husband had a motorcycle wreck and things went south from there. It hasn't been touched since.

So this week I decided it must go - I was sick of looking at it. I would salvage the handles and scrap the rest of the dresser. So this morning, I set about to clean up the porch and decorate for fall. Since the tin we had found for the project had been layed on top of the dresser, it hadn't deteriorated as much as I figured. Underneath the cheap laminate exterior was good lumber.

 

So as you can see, we used that old barn tin and created a fall vignette on the porch and the dresser is still here!

 

I literally slapped on some white primer and we nailed a piece of tin to the top of the dresser to shield it from rain. Two pieces of tin created a backdrop and then I went to decorating. I moved plants and junk from around the yard to create a little harvest scene. I can't wait to get some fresh pumpkins and gourds to nestle among the rustic items.

 Yes, that is a rusted coffee can used as a pedestal for my chicken feeder planter! As soon as I can find some pretty fall flowers, I plan to update the planter with pansies, kale and the such. I'm also tickled with the outdoor storage area. All the extra laterns and tiki fuel can be hid in the drawers. The grill tools are in one drawer and there's room to store chair cushions for the winter.

 

 At this point, I have spent zero dollars on the project - everything had been reused and recycled and I don't have to worry about burning a dresser. Granted the dresser is not in the grandest of condition, but it has held up over a year now and I like its shabby style. Even if it only last another year, I haven't lost anything. Now it's good junk and I'm happy with how it turned out.