Autumn Garland

Hi there! Do you remember seeing the bats I made for above my fireplace? I am still loving them, and I was super excited when Mandy from House Of Rose featured them as one of her favorites from the Inspire Me Please link party! I love my bats! Do you think I could find a way to keep them and work them into my Christmas decorations? Ha!

But my cute little bats were feeing lonely. The large vase on the table next to the fireplace was really sad with just a few little cat tails in it that were not the right scale. And I mean, the fireplace is sad enough all on it’s own, with no mantle or surround to protect it.

So I gathered some branches from a recent hike we took as a family, and I made this sweet little fall garland. Now the bats aren’t lonely anymore! They are so happy, and according to Mr. 5 Year Old, they now have a tree to perch on. That makes them very happy, he says.

Update: Click here to see my new barn beam mantle!

Would you like to know how I made my autumn garland? I will tell you, but I can’t promise that you can recreate it all on your own. At least not the way that I did.

I made these on an Ellison Die Cut machine that we have at the school where I work. Now, if you have a silhouette machine, I am pretty sure it is the same concept. This Ellison Machine has all different kinds of shapes that you can cut out. They just happened to have apples and leaves. So I used a bunch of different colors of construction paper and cut out both apples and leaves. The construction paper was free because the new art teacher at my school was giving it away, first come first serve.

I used a string of jute, and punched a holed in each shape and threaded them onto the jute. But then I didn’t like the way they were laying. They were sideways. So to fix that, I used simple paper clips to hold them in place and make them face the right direction. After that, I just simply tied the garland to the two Vases on either side of the fireplace.

This is my favorite view, because I can see why Gavin thinks the bats look perched on the tree here.

What do you think of the metal art hanging over my book case? I think I am tired of it. I thought about giving it a makeover. And that black lamp? I have big plans for it! It is not even going to look like the same lamp when I am done with it.

The bats look so much less lonely now, don’t you think?

I love my colorful autumn garland. It makes me hate my lack of a mantle a tiny bit less.

That about wraps up my fall décor in the house. I need to show you my front stop. I had plans for it that I never got around to finishing. But we did carve some pumpkins yesterday. That was fun for Josefine. She had never done that before.

Maybe next year my I will have more time for my front stoop.

Link Parties:

Between Naps On The Porch

DIY By Design