Mmm, Pumpkin.

Say it with me "FALL FLAVORS!". But more importantly, Pumpkin flavors.

They are the ice to my cream, the Kanye to my Kim, the binge to my Netflix watching. If you can't tell I'm all for Pumpkin flavors. 

I even had a mini meltdown the other day when my Starbucks location temporarily ran out of PSL for the day. I quickly recovered and ordered something else, but this is my favorite time. Next to Christmas...which is a whole different story for another time.

Concentrate! Over the weekend I got to baking...I forgot how much it relaxes me. I put on a movie and got to baking. I had some zucchini left in the fridge that was asking to be used in something other than a side dish. So I listened, and I heard the canned pumpkin in the pantry with it's soft cry, "pick meeeeee, you like meeeee, I'm next to the soup cansss". I rounded up some pantry items and ran to the store for some last minute items. 

Two hours later. I had made Pumpkin Zucchini Bread as well as Pumpkin Pie. During the process my house smelled amazing, it still actually does! I just love baking! These recipes are very easy and the Pumpkin Pie recipe is actually attached right to the can of Pumpkin. Just in case you need to refer to it, you know while your hands are covered in flour, egg and pumpkin filling...and you don't want to touch your screen to your smartphone while figuring out how many TBSP you need next. Been there. Licking off the evidence as we speak. Say what?!

Just click the links and they will lead you right to the recipes. Enjoy!

xo. 

A Fall Fail

With DIY there is always the good, the bad and the inbetween. Some projects turn out better than you think, some don't work at all. It happens. It's DIY.

I guess it's not a total fail, since it is a bowl and that's what I intended on making. This bowl however, didn't work the way I wanted and I'm not sure where I can use it now in my home or what I can put in it. I'm not really proud of it, but I wanted to share. Maybe one of you will be able to guide me in a direction where I can't see yet, I still have some supplies left so I can re make it.

Enough negativity for one post! Let's get to the making of it...

 The supplies I used: mod Podge, a craft brush, one balloon, left over garland leaves from past projects

I had all these supplies on hand, but if you needed to go to the craft store to pick up the supplies it would run you around $15.

With scissors I just took my leaf garland strand and cut it apart. I apologize for not having taken a picture during that step. But then with each piece of leaf that came off the garland strand I just pulled apart the steam from the fabric.

Some were harder than others so the scissors would make an appearance here and there. After that, I just collected all the loose leaves in one area before I started my next step.

Introducing the mod Podge and craft brush! This is where the project got frustrating. The mod Podge wasn't working how I wanted. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

I blew up a balloon and put one layer of mod Podge on the top of the balloon and then placed the leaves on top of the balloon that was now glued.

There was no exact placement or science for this part. Just cover the balloon with glue, place and then paint mod Podge over the leaves. That part was the hardest part. Some of the leaves just weren't sticking or as much as I put mod Podge on top of the leaves, they would move. 

After about thirty minutes of podging and placing I called it done. I wasn't really loving it but I thought maybe it will be better then I think. I should have listened to my gut instinct. I just took a kitchen cup and placed my balloon in it as a stand. Left it to dry for about four hours and then popped the balloon.

I wish I got my sister and I popping the balloon on video. Seriously. I'm still cry laughing. My sister popped hers first, and right away we just burst out laughing. The balloon slowly caved into itself and took all the leaves with it. We were so worried it wouldn't be like a bowl. But then we just had to recover the balloon and form it ourselves.

Then we got this....

Maybe mod Podge wasn't the right medium? I really want to try it again. I liked the idea of it. What do you think? A little weird right? Oh the joys of DIY crafts some days...