Two Tulle Fall Wreaths

Summer is officially over, which means it is time to take down my fun summer plaid wreaths and put up something with a little bit of fall flair!

I decided to try using tulle on my fall wreaths...I was looking  for something different and I found some great fall colored tulles to use. Plus this stuff is only a little over $1 a yard!
I started with 2 wreath forms and 4 yards of 4 different colors of tulle: orange, green, yellow, and brown.

 I unrolled my tulle and cut each color into four long strips of material. Then I gather all four colors into a really long bundle. I was going to do a step by step tutorial, but I didn't think pictures of me tangled up in 16 yards of tulle would be very helpful:)

 For the first wreath, I cut the bundle of tulle into 12 inch pieces. I wrapped the cut pieces around the wreath form and then tied them into a knot on the back of the wreath.

 For the second wreath, I kept the bundle of the four colors of tulle long and simply wrapped them around the wreath form. To add a little interest to this wreath, I added a little bit of orange felt that I then covered with some of the brown tulle that I tied in knots facing the front of the wreath.

 For now, I have both wreaths on my front doors. Kind of different since I usually make two of the exact same wreaths for my front doors. I think they are fun and quirky, though my OCD may get the best of me and I may have to move them to other doors and put something else on the two front doors!

 For now, I am just excited that my front porch is finally looking more like fall and less like summer....even if the weather isn't cooperating!

Cake Decorating with Kids

I spent a couple hours yesterday doing this:

The boys' school fall festival is today and this year we decided to attempt the cake decorating contest. So while they were at school, I got busy making two three cakes. When they got home, and after the cakes had been cooled, they got busy with the icing and decorations.

I didn't get any action shots of Henry making his cake, mainly because I had a billion things going on at once, but here is the finished shot of his Campfire Cake. It is a big version of THESE cupcakes that we made for his birthday last year.

Grant made a Candy Corn cake. After the cake was cooled, I cut it out in the shape of a candy corn and put a crumb coat of icing on it for him. Then we colored some orange and yellow icing and he got busy making a SUPER cute candy corn.

I was pretty impressed with Grant's decorating skills. He did an awesome job smoothing out the icing and was very particular about getting it just right.

I think it turned out pretty cute for a 5 year old decorating it...I don't think I could have done much better!

How to Clean Pewter

I love the idea of homemade cleaners and scrubs and polishes....but for the most part I go the easy route and just buy those things at the store. I know that homemade cleaners can be cheaper, safer, and just as effective, but sometimes convenience wins out!

Last week, I really needed to clean a pewter chip and dip bowl that I bought a few years ago. It had gotten kind of tarnished and dirty, and I had no time to find the correct cleaner at the store. So I googled "how to clean pewter" and found a recipe for a homemade cleaner.

This is the piece I started with:

And these are the three ingredients I need for the homemade pewter cleaner.

1 cup of vinegar

1/2 cup of flour

1 tsp of salt

You mix the ingredients together and make a kind of paste. {I ended up adding a little more flour to make the consistency a little thicker.} Then you smear the paste all over the piece you are trying to clean. I scrubbed a little bit and then let the cleaner dry on the piece for about 30 minutes. I scrubbed a little more and then rinsed the chip and dip bowl off. I ended up cleaning it twice to make sure that I had gotten it as clean as possible....and I was pretty impressed with how well it worked.  

The cleaner didn't get out all the marks, but it did make the chip and dip bowl a lot shinier and clean! Sorry no after pictures, as soon as the bowl was clean I loaded it up with a ton of fruit and yummy fruit dip.

I think I may try to make a few more homemade cleaners....when I have the time:)

Are there any homemade cleaning products that you love to use?