I'm In The Mood For Gratitiude

Halloween came and went.

My skeletons have been put to rest till next year.

Sleep tight my little friends.

The flock has flown away. 
Come back soon my dearies.

Can it be that Thanksgiving is a little more than three weeks away?
The Thanksgiving Tree is here. 

I don't just put up a Christmas Tree early and call it a "Thanksgiving Tree."
This isn't one of those, not that there is anything wrong with that.  I just like to have some separation between my Thanksgiving decor and my Christmas decor.

Here's what I do.
I start with my urn that I converted into a tree stand way before I ever heard the word "blog." 

When it isn't a tree stand it doubles as an end table.  A little Quikcrete and some PVC pipe and you're done.  I put a painted paper plate with a hole cut in the middle to create a shallow dish.  It can be filled with seasonal decor (I usually have shells in it) and I just put a piece of glass over it to create the end table.

I added pine cones to hide the PVC pipe for the Thanksgiving Tree. 
I placed the urn on a wood palate to add some height and covered it up with a tree skirt.

Kmart special 7' slim Martha Stewart Tree.
 It looks like a Christmas Tree you say, awe but it's not.
 After Thanksgiving it gets a complete makeover.

I like to decorate my tree by going deep. 

Just a personal preference, I don't like seeing the fake tree trunk so I pack the decor all the way back to the stem.

I like elements you find in nature for this tree.

White pumpkins, birds, pears, grape clusters, and Autumn leaves are all part of my Thanksgiving Tree.

Halloween crows are switched out for friendlier fuzzy pine cone owls. 

I forgot I had these little guys on my tree when I painted this owl for my family room.

A new addition this year are a Marshall's find.  White glass owls. 

 I think they'll transition into Christmas nicely.

I like the price, six for $6.95.

Owls, mushrooms, and faux cabbage.

I'm into mushroom decor at the moment, so I added them to the tree.
Weird I know.

Everything else is stuff I already had.

Next I need to make this year's gratitude tags to hang on the tree.  I started a tradition of having everyone that comes to our house write something they are thankful for on the card. 

We hang the cards on the tree and read them during the Thanksgiving meal. 

We are so blessed, it's a way for our family to take the time to remember how lucky we are.

This year I put the tree in the window by the front door. 

The neighbors are probably thinking I've lost my mind putting a tree up the day after Halloween?

Oh well, I like it. 

It gets me in the mood for gratitude!

Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions you break out the day after Halloween, or am I the only crazy one?

I would love to hear about them. 

Thank you for checking it out.

 

 

Fall Mantle - My owl needed some accessorizing

Now that my owl painting is finished I'm on to accessorizing the house for fall.  I dug out my fall decor from the garage and edited it for the mantle.  The mantle is less than a year old, so I've never decorated it for fall.  If you'd like to see how I made it go here.

  I never get away from my starfish. I include them in all my seasonal decor.  I'm at the beach a couple times a week playing volleyball year round so the beach is always near and dear to my heart.  For Fall I embellished my starfish with Grandma's old costume earrings and tied them with some twine to my hurricanes.  I filled the hurricanes with some costume pearl necklaces, shells, and dried branches.  I used a burgundy colored candle to tie into the fall foliage in my owl painting.

On the other side of the mantle I added one of my columns and the matching hurricane, another glass container filled with fall inspired stuff - drift wood, feathers, shells, and a conch shell.  I think the texture and colors go nicely with the owl colors.

I added a faux vine and my white pumpkins. 

I sat my pumpkins on a feather boa for contrast and texture.

Along the side of my fireplace I placed some golden glazed pottery and a basket of wood for texture.

I placed a large faux pumpkin on the column in the corner for some more fall color.

I have more to show you but that's another post.  I'm linking this up to

The DIY Show Off

Thanks for checking it out.

My Owl

I've been wanting to change up the painting in my niche above my fireplace, but didn't have a permanent solution? 
This is what I came up with.

Here's what it looked like for summer.  Summer is over, it's time for a change.

This solution can easily be changed out for all the seasons.

I tried a mirror, but the niche is very large and the space required a really big mirror to cover the niche painting.  I tried a mirror from another room over the mantle and it over whelmed the space.  Instead I decided to hang a piece of drop cloth canvas above the mantel and paint an owl on it for fall. I used left over finials and curtain rods I already had and hung an inexpensive drop cloth from the rod.  This enabled me to create a custom size canvas.

 I couldn't just go out and buy a pre made canvas to put over the mantle because the niche was so big.  This was a cost effective solution.  I bought the drop cloth at Big Lots for $10.

First I washed and ironed the drop cloth.  Next I cut it to the right size and sewed a pocket for the top and bottom rod.  I put a rod in the bottom to to give the canvas some weight.  I taped off a border to create a painted frame.

I hung it up to see if I liked it?  The curtain rod matches the rest of the ones I used in the room.

These are drop cloth drapes.

At this point I still wasn't sure this was the look I was going for, but I had to follow it through to be sure?

I painted a black border to frame the art work I intended to paint and lived with it for awhile like this.  I didn't have time to complete it.  Coaching two volleyball teams has put a dent in my crafting and blogging time.

In the mean time I started collecting images of owls I liked. 
I like this Barn Owl but decided to paint a Great Horned Owl instead. 
Isn't his heart shaped face so cute?

This Anthropologie owl painting sells for $2000. 

Out of my budget.

I went to the library and checked out some books. 

This one became my main subject. 

I love his hooded golden eyes.

I started by sketching the owl with pencil on the canvas.  If drawing isn't your thing,  you could make an overhead copy and use a projector to trace the image onto the canvas.

Next I started painting in the color.  I used basic acrylic paint.
 I added some fall foliage to mine and a branch to perch on.

I added black with paint and a ball point pen to get the extra fine detail of the feathers.

Here's my owl hung up over the mantle.  Total cost $10.  When I get tired of the owl or want to change it out for the next season, all I have to do is fold it up and paint something new.  I still have left over drop cloth, so the next one will be free.

Now I'm ready to decorate the mantle.  That will have to wait till another day. 

More volleyball coaching and soccer mom duties await my day.

I can't help it, I have jumped in with both feet into the owl trend,  but I like him ...at least until the Christmas season rolls around. 
What will I paint for Christmas?

How do you change out your mantle for fall?
Are you jumping into a trend at the moment?

Thanks for checking it out.

To see how the mantle is decorated for Fall go here.
I'm Linking this up to Censational girl Fall Craft Party.

More projects you might like.

Family Art
My kid's Ocean