Painted pumpkins, Fall flowers and a new chalk paint

It took me a while but I am embracing the change over to Fall - the colors that is (I am not loving the late sunrise and the early sunset!). 

I got out the paint brushes and had a little fun with some pumpkins this week. The warty ones are natural.

I used black spray paint, acrylic paint for the reddish-orange one and a new paint I found at Michael's for the blue one. It is by Americana Decor and is called Chalky Finish. It is similar to Annie Sloan's chalk paint and just like hers, there is no prep needed (my kind of paint!). 

It comes in a nice variety of colors and I found this chart that shows you how to custom mix even more colors:

I picked up a small 8 oz. jar of the color, Vintage, for $5.39 (40% off $8.99 with my downloaded phone coupon) and and used about a fourth of the jar to paint a chair I am working on for the wedding next month.

While the paintbrush was still wet I decided to throw some paint on one of the pumpkins I had. You can see it dried a bit more blue than the jar shows. 

I love that the blue is a pop of unexpected color ...

I used this paint for the gold stems.

I picked up some yellow Ilex to bring a little color inside the house too.

And this book came in the mail yesterday. You will LOVE it!

Ah, Fall. The year's last loveliest smile. 

Lindsay Letters

And it is Friday! That is definitely something to smile about. Happy weekend everyone!

Fall is in the air and a new rug

I am sure enjoying the burst of Fall color in my yard ...

I am enjoying it inside my house too ...

A little bit of sunshine to brighten up the day.

Oh, and did you notice my new area rug? I bought it on Overstock and I am thrilled with the way it looks and feels. It was the one thing that was unfinished from our kitchen remodel. This room is right off the kitchen and it took me a while to find a rug that worked and wasn't too expensive.

Do you have a nice weekend planned? It is almost here!

Happy Friday Everyone!

3 things.

Well, 4.  Happy Monday Everyone!

1, 2, 3.

Got pumpkins?

Last week when I was up at the L.A. Flower Mart getting flowers for the wedding reception I caught a glimpse of some pretty fun looking pumpkins. So I decided to drive up and pick out a few...

My sister came along and we filled up my car (no, they are not all mine). My favorite are the ones with the "warts" all over them! I researched them and the warty pumpkins are called "peanut pumpkins" and are originally from France. The real name for them is Brodé Galeux D’Eysines and I heard they are excellent for making pies. That is probably not going to happen over here anytime soon (making pies) ... I am still waiting for my new range (a long story).

I planted a few of the leftover wedding plants ...

And spray-painted a couple of the pumpkins gold.

I hadn't planted any flowers all summer long trying to conserve water and my entry was getting a little tired looking ... the new plants and pumpkins give it a nice little lift!

And how lovely that the evening after I planted we got our first rainfall!

I brought a few of the pumpkins inside too. I'm feeling a little more "in season"!

Got pumpkins?

Fall foliage

It took me a while to get on the "it's Fall" bandwagon. Maybe it's because the traditional colors of Fall aren't really my favorite or maybe it is because I have been distracted with the new baby in our house ... but Monday it hit me hard when I realized it was Halloween and I was completely unprepared. When my kids were little, Halloween was a really big deal - it always included a trip to the local pumpkin patch, we always carved pumpkins, had friends over for dinner and costumes were thought about for weeks. I woke up Monday realizing I hadn't even bought a single pumpkin yet.

How convenient is it that I could run into Ralph's and pick up pumpkins, candy and a couple of potted mums all in 15 minutes!

I lit a few candles, pulled out the skeleton and made it just in time for the night to begin. 

But it wasn't until this morning that I really embraced the fact that it was 'Fall'. I woke up to a lovely rain (a light rain but rain nevertheless) and the feeling of cool in the air. I remembered that yesterday when I was in the garden looking for roses for my neighbor's guest room my bushes were in bloom with lovely white flowers. So I went out and clipped a few branches and placed them in the house for a little Fall foliage. Well, my kind of Fall foliage anyway.

I think the new pillows I just had made work great for Fall as well in my ever-changing living room (pillows get moved around about as often as I clean - which is often!).

I just posted about my living room  here but it already looks different. We moved a few chairs around to make our TV room more comfortable for the new mommy so I brought that white leather chair I found in Marshalls in here for now. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

My Fall colors

Tomorrow is the official beginning of the Fall season. As I do most years I added a little Fall color to my garden. But this year, my colors are different.

In honor of the little girl who is soon to arrive ...

   I added pink! 

It may not be a traditional Fall color ...

But it is definitely my color of the year and I think just perfect for this season now. Oh, I know that Pantone chose hot pink (or honeysuckle as they called it) as their color too ... but I am declaring it mine. 

I even brought a little Fall color inside ...

Can you tell I am just a little excited about pink?