Our spider seems to know what is going on...

Our spider has grown on us since it joined our household at Halloween. 

Not content to be a Halloween spider, he's become sort of a mascot.

Firstly, it convinced me to leave it up when all the other Halloween decorations came down.  Then, it joined in on the holiday decorating.

Nice Santa hat...right in the spirit of the season.

Then, it convinced me that it had thoughts to share.  Simple holiday thoughts.



Thoughts of love filling the air...

Love at Valentine's...

Spreading the luck o' the Irish...

Shamrock's at St. Patrick's Day...

Spring is in the air...

Then, the thoughts became seasonal...tulips in spring.   Honestly, I was expecting a beach ball or sunglasses for summer.  I was wrong...

But the family spider surprised me again.  It must have used its "spidey senses" and it knew...

Even fewer days now...we're all so excited!

A quick update...I just had to label something else!

Superman said that telling you about this needs to be considered an update to my labelling gone mad post, but I think it is more like a little bit more Thanksgiving decor.  Either way, he wanted to see how it turned out and doing it was fun and made me smile.  So, file this under OCD or file it under Decorating, whichever works better for you.

Moving right along.

Remember my mantle here?

Notice the row of Ikea tea lights?  I've had them for years and I love, love, love their simplicity.  Still, I thought they were a little blank, so I whipped out my Silhouette machine and added a little seasonal touch to them. 

 
What do you think?  Still simple, but just a little more festive, don't you think?

Look at this teeny turkey!  Isn't it cool?

I really love how they turned out.  The best part?  I just peel them off on November 25 and have my simple white tea lights again.  How terrific is that?

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I order my vinyl from Expressions Vinyl where I can get a 9 x 24" sheet of vinyl for $1.59, so I don't have to have a huge role of a color I won't ever use up.  (This little project took 3" off my 24" length, so I still have quite a bit left for any other madness that my overtake me.)

Fall Decor...Heading Into Thanksgiving...

Well, Halloween is put to bed for another year and with it are our Halloween decorations.  Yep, I'm one of those who changes out the decor immediately.  The day after Halloween, all of our jack-o-lanterns and black cats and cute witches were put away and out came our turkeys (not too many) and our autumn leaves and some not-jack-o-lantern pumpkins, along with a few scarecrows.  I thought it would be fun to share some of the details of my holiday decorating with you.

This is the view from my kitchen as I look out to the rest of my house.  It makes me smile to when I look up from my kitchen chores.

This is my mantle.  (Recognize the candle sticks?)  I've been wanting fat burnt orange candles for a few years, so I was thrilled when I found these at World Market last month.  My wreath is an old one from Pottery Barn post-holiday clearance.  It has held up really well.  My little turkey was another post-holiday clearance find.  (Notice a trend?)

 How about this subway art from Today's Fabulous Finds (Janet does one in various colors for every occasion and gives them to us for free!!)  The pumpkins were in Target's Dollar Spot and I just stuck leaves from some fake flowers on them to give them a little more oomph.

Here is the kitchen...just a few pumpkins on top of the cabinet.   (They're fake, too.  Bought them a few years ago from Michael's with a coupon...they were something like $3 each.)  Simple, yet festive, I think.

Even the dining room gets in on the act.  I added a pumpkin candle, changed out the flowers on the buffet, some leaves on my centerpiece, and a little turkey on my antique clock.

Oh, and don't forget the Angry Bird under the table.  (Do you see it?  It is there on the rug.)  The cats obviously think the room needed a little something more.

I know I'm more minimalist than a lot of people who decorate for the seasons, but it works for me.  I love the simple additions to acknowledge the flow of the year, but I can't stand to be overwhelmed by them (at least until I get to Christmas!!). 

What about you?  Do you switch it out or do you just leave it be?

The Macaroni and Cheese Room...

What would you do?

We dyed the slipcover for the couch brown long before we painted the room macaroni and cheese orange. (It was one of our first efforts to bring more color into the room--it was only partially successful and the dye didn't take very well.)


I switched to the "natural" color slipcover, but I'm still not in love with it. (I do have some fabric to make some colorful pillows, but still...)


Now I'm thinking of getting a black slipcover (actually, I'm thinking of testing it first by dying the ugly brown slipcover black before I actually spend real money on a new slipcover). What do you think? What is your vote? Should I stick with the slipcover in natural and add bright pillows or should I try black with bright pillows?

P.S. The floor is white-ish ceramic tile. The television stand is white, the bookshelves are white, and my craft/sewing desk is white.