With a Dash of Color: September 2011

Sunday, September 25, 2011

A little bit of Tuscany

I love the blend of texture and color in a Tuscan style of home decor. The Tuscan colors of dark brown, rusty red, olive green and deep blue are so vibrant and create such warmth and ambiance in home interiors.The beautiful color palette reminds me of Tuscan vineyards and farmhouses:

The beautiful hydrangeas create such pretty elegance inside a home:

This French-inspired wooden box from Jo-Ann make a wonderful container for my garden hydrangeas. I love the look and effect it creates:

The beautiful hydrangea blooms in my garden make me smile:

A sofa-table vignette,with the lovely hydrangeas as a focal point:

Click HERE to view the tutorial for these ticking and fringe pillows:

The delicate beauty of the maidenhair fern is unparalleled:

I love the beautiful contrast between the misty beauty of the fern and the rough texture of this basket:

The red hue of the silk lamp shade and the dark brown candle holders create beautiful ambiance:

I hope you enjoyed taking a trip through my Tuscan-inspired table vignette. I had fun bringing a little bit of Italy to my home! Thanks for visiting me and inspiring me with your endearing thoughts and comments. Also my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to:

Mary at Boogieboard Cottage for featuring my Fall Luminaries: HERE

The talented sisters of "The Picket Fence" for adding my Fall Luminaries to their Facebook page and pinning it to Pinterest: HERE

And to Karen:"The Graphics Fairy" for featuring it at Brag Monday:

HERE

Thanks,ladies! You are the best!

Please, stop by and visit these talented ladies and walk away with wonderful inspiring ideas and pictures! They host weekly parties as well that are so much fun with loads of beautiful projects and inspirations.

This week I'm partying with these creative ladies, below. Won't you join me to explore the creative side that exists in each of us?

Bunny Jean's Bunny Hop Party

The Tablescaper: Seasonal Sundays

Debbiedoo's Newbie party

The House in the Roses: Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Dittle Dattle: Amaze Me Monday

Be Colorful: Motivated Monday

The Boogieboard Cottage: Masterpiece Monday

A Stroll Thru Life: Table Top Tuesday

DIY by Design: Fall into Fall

Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesdays

No Minimalist Here: Open House Party

A Creative Princess

Between Naps On The Porch: Tablescape Thursday

The Charm of Home: Home Sweet Home

At The Picket Fence: Inspiration Friday

Potpourri Friday at 2805

My Romantic Home: Show and Tell Friday
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating: Flaunt It Friday

~POPPY~

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Fall Luminaries

Fall is my favorite season! The crisp autumn air, the vibrant colors all around and the bountiful harvest make it a wonderful time of the year. This is the best time to celebrate mother nature's beauty! The bright blue skies, the colorful leaves, and the vivid changes all around is simply breathtaking:

To me it is also the unofficial start of the holiday season, with Halloween and Thanksgiving just round the corner. It is the season for crafting, baking and feasting.

I am loving these paper bag luminaries:

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace

As I have seen in one autumnal face.~ John Donne

Crafted from paper bags with a silhouette image from our favorite "Fairy"... these luminaries were so much fun to make. However, I will never leave these paper luminaries unattended with the candles burning inside. Using battery operated tea-lights instead is a better and safer option especially when used indoors.

Click HERE for the silhouette image:

I saved the image and did some editing in Microsoft Word to adjust the size of the image to fit the paper bag.

Next, I glued the image with Elmer's Glue to the inside center of the paper bag:

Made a few holes at the top with my handy-dandy hole puncher, weaved some black check ribbon, poured some sand into the paper bags to weigh them down and placed my votive holders inside:

They were easy, inexpensive, and so much fun! For now, they look beautiful on my dining room window seat. But I am thinking other possibilities... maybe a group of them lining my driveway for Halloween or as a centerpiece for my dining table with different colored chiffon ribbons.....hmmm....endless possibilities:

I love silhouette images and working with them. So my thanks to Karen, my fairy muse for making it so easy to find these elegant images:

"The falling leaves drift by my window
The falling leaves of red and gold......the days grow long and soon I'll hear old winter's song.... When autumn leaves start to fall..."

I wrapped a pair of silk autumn leaves around each votive holder and tied it with raffia:

Fall Vignette in the day:

Vignette at Dusk:

Vignette at night:

"Every season hath its pleasures; Spring may boast her flowery prime, Yet the vineyard's ruby treasures brighten Autumn's sob'rer time" ~Thomas Moore

The ambiance and mood created by these leaf-wrapped votive candles is so enchanting:

Happy Autumn everyone! I hope you liked peeking at my fall luminaries.Thanks for stopping by and for your sweet comments. Your loving thoughts always make me smile. Please, stop by and visit the links below as I party with these wonderfully creative ladies: