Pumpkins for My Punkins

Pumpkin patches are a must. It doesn't matter what state you live in or whether pumpkins even grow in that specific city you live in (ahem, *Phoenix*). There is just noting cuter than a baby sitting with lots of pumpkins that are so much bigger than they are! So with this in mind, Hubby Bear and I loaded up the babe and off we went to the wild desert yonder! 

Pumpkin patches are fun! We had a beautiful day at Mother Nature's Farm; Boo Baby loved seeing all of the goats and pigs. He wasn't that fond of the goats nibbling his fingers for food....

His favorite animal was the huuuuge pig!

 I'm pretty sure BB's favorite part was picking out a pumpkin... Of course he had to have the biggest one!

It was a fun-filled morning for BB of playing with the goats, riding on a tractor-pulled hay ride in a big circle around a mound of dirt, getting nearly trampled by "big" kids in the bounce house, and finally choosing a pumpkin.

Disclosure: We did NOT get the pumpkin pictured above. 

Too big!

Happy Fall, everyone!

*Fall Decorations*

If you have ever been to Arizona in the fall, you will know that there is no fall. Granted, people say that there are trees with colorful leaves in Northern Arizona, but living in Phoenix I am led to believe otherwise. Therefore, I will make sure Baby Bear knows that a season called "Fall" exists by decorating our house with fake leaves and taking him to wannabe-real pumpkin patches (they ship in pumpkins and put them on bales of hay...). 

I am a firm believer in showcasing those you love in everything you do and in everywhere you decorate! I loved this vintage frame from Michael's ($10) and it adds the perfect rustic look to my entryway's side table. Draping leaves over the frame gave it a more "natural" feel - almost as if they naturally fell from branches! Yeah right... I couldn't resist the vase with the sparkly leaves and fall flowers ($5). And since we all know that I am obsessed with glitter, these candles were the perfect find ($8 and I can use them again for Christmas!). The owl candle holder adds more space and the gold (glittery!) tulle adds couture and shape. LOVE IT...

Using tall vases allows the space to be built up and adds a greater contrast to the entire array. The leaves over the mirror broke up the white space on the wall -- YES!

Who can resist a little color on the stair rail!?

Glittery gourds and more flowers to showcase the fam!

Vintage Book Page Decor

Recently, I decided that we needed to expand our wall space upward and onward. I am always trying to figure out ways to utilize our high walls in a way that is affordable and paint-free. I saw one of these book page prints at my friend's house and I was so excited to figure out how to make these prints in a colorful and large enough fashion to fit my poor, white wall's needs!

 First, I spray painted black these three 14x16" frames that I have had sitting in my garage since we moved into our house. It took three coats with a fifteen minute break between each.

Next, I scoured my bookshelves until I found a book that was vintagey enough for the look I was hoping to achieve. Okay, it wasn't that easy. I had to beg the hubby to let me cut up this book. 

 An Exacto knife was the easiest way to cut out the pages along the spine. I chose several images that I liked from the Internet and then touched them up in Word until I like how they looked. Conveniently, my book pages were the same size as printer paper. I fed the book pages into my printer and printed the images. It took several trial and error sheets but I eventually succeeded! 

I positioned the printed book pages on black construction paper and then glued them direcly onto red matting board (buy the huge sheets of matting and then cut it down to your frame size - so much cheaper than the pre-cut stuff!). 

I framed the prints in my freshly painted frames and voila! I was so excited with the result and my dear hubby hung them for me that very night.

I went a little crazy that night and kept spray painting and framing pictures... The result was well-worth it!