Farmer's Market Spoils

This weekend was the first official weekend in fall. I was loving it! My family and I sat out to enjoy all that we could in town with the nice, crisp fall weather. Of course, our first Saturday morning stop was the local farmer's market. And let me tell you, I cleaned up! With less than $20.00, I walked away with 7 pumpkins, 4 gourds, and 10 flower stems. What a steal! Follow me along on my journey and check out all of my farmer's market spoils, as well as some projects I did around the house using my acquired goodies.

The downtown Lexington Farmer's Market:

My spoils:

Project #1, a gourd vase:

Just carve it out like a little pumpkin, insert small bud vase, fill with water and flowers of choice!

Project #2, a turquoise inspired fall table display:

Ingredients: small ghost pumpkins, one awesome giant gray lacquered pumpkin, feathers, turquoise painted pumpkins and some fabulous candle sticks.

It's amazing what awesome goodies you can find right in your own town, just when you take the time to get out and look. Do you have a local market you can hit up this weekend? I promise you won't leave disappointed!

I'll be linking to these parties, Happy Thursday!

Baby & Big Girl Room - Part 2 - The Mobile

So next up in the room was the mobile. This is what the first 2 had on their cribs and it is adorable...

However, it was not the look I was going for so I took matters into my own hands starting with the fabric I had used on the banner...

I sketched a birdie the size and shape that I wanted, cut it out, and used it as my stencil. I then cut 2 birds out of each fabric...

I found ribbon from the stash that I wanted to hang them from. I pinned them together with the ribbon tucked inside...

I then sewed all around the birdie leaving a small opening at the bottom for stuffing...

Next I stuffed my little birdies...

And then sewed them shut...

Now I had 5 simple and pretty little birdies all ready to hang...

I removed the old animals from the mobile first. Then I pushed the ribbon through the holes for each bird and tied a double knot...

And there it was, the birdie mobile I had dreamed of. Simple and pretty, just the look I was going for...

After the mobile was complete, my Mom sent me some aqua fabric with birdies all over it. I wanted to incorporate it into the room so I made a new birdie and replaced one of the pink ones.

But I found a great home for the extra pink birdie on the girls' closet doorknob...

I will be joining these parties this week. Come check them out!

See you next week for Part 3! Have a happy Tuesday!

Potato Stamped Fall Pumpkins

I love these fun FALL pumpkins! They are a very "me" version of seasonal decor : neutral, twiggy, linen texture and some blue, just perfect! Once I got the idea into my head I had to dive right into them, and they were SO easy, they took 2 days worth of nap times and some of that was me taking them around the house trying to find the perfect spot and taking pictures. Need the details? Read on.

I started off with 4 pieces of cotton muslin fabric. I cut 3 pieces at 7" by 15", and the 4th piece slightly larger at 9" by 15." I folded each piece in half and did a simple straight stitch down the side, leaving the top and bottom open. That's right I sewed them on a sewing machine!!! This is a first for me here on Lemon Tree Creations, and I'm really excited about it!! (You'll be seeing a lot more from me and my sewing machine in the future, but more about that later.) Anyway, you could do this part with a glue gun or Heat N Bond as well, but if you have a sewing machine it's just so SO easy.

Next I pulled out some medium sized red potatoes, my knife and made some little stamps. It was just like the elementary school days, except with slightly more sophisticated designs (as opposed to just circles or whatever we cut out then, although I'm aware that I just used the word "sophisticated" to describe my potato stamp...but moving on...)

Before I used my stamps on the muslin, I inked them so that I could see where my lines needed to be straightened out, and then trimmed them up until they were just right.

I also tested out my stamping "technique" with each letter on a fabric scrap before I stamped each pumpkin. I used DecoArt's fabric paint and it gave me perfect and permanent coverage.

I applied a light layer of paint to each stamp with a foam brush and then stamped it on.

Some of the letters didn't turn out perfectly, and I decided that this was a perfect opportunity to let my perfectionist tendencies slide and embrace the imperfections. (I also found that dabbing a little paint to fill in the edges didn't ruin the "stamped" look that I was going for, just in case you opt out of that embracing imperfections nonsense.)

I now had 4 little muslin sacks.

I turned each sack inside out, threaded a needle, and hand stitched around the top of the fabric. I just wove the fabric onto the needle instead of pulling the thread all the way through at every stitch and was done in a flash. I pulled the string taut to gather the fabric, stuffed the edges inside, and secured it with a few stitches.

I then turned the sack right side out, filled it with stuffing, and hand stitched the bottom the same as the top. (I am not typically a fan of the time investment of hand sewing, but I sewed and stuffed all 4 of these during 2 Project Runway re-runs, stopping to watch the fashion show and judging, so really it wasn't much time at all.)

I threaded my needle with a thicker thread (I used cotton twine) to give the pumpkin the tell tale "pumpkin lines" and puckered shape. I pushed the needle through the middle of the pumpkin, from top to the bottom and around the sides about 5-6 times to give the shape I wanted.

I finished each pumpkin by hot gluing a small twig from my yard in the middle as the stem.

Don't they look even more fall-ish with a dry cornfield behind them? I think so.

I can't help but love when I can bring a project from a concept to a finished reality in 2 nap times!! I need more projects like that.

What do you think? Too neutral or are they fun? Has anyone else potato stamped anything since they were 8 years old or is it just me?

As always, I'll be linking these to some great parties. Check them out here for some incredible seasonal inspiration.

See you next Monday!!

Sequin and Rosette Pumpkins

In preparation for my FIRST EVER HALLOWEEN HOUSE PARTY I have been making odds and ends to sit around for decorations. I picked up these white pumpkins at Michael's craft store, some sequin on a string and some felt...add hot glue and ta-da. Sparkle meets fuzzy..and I like it.





Cut the sequin in small strips. Place them on the pumpkin starting at the stem. Use the hot glue to secure the sequence, the spirals make it fun and will add for a nice pattern effect.






Continue cutting small strips until you've covered the entire pumpkin to your liking.





The next thing I did was add rosettes to another pumpkin. I used Patrice's Oversized Rosette Pillow as my guide, however, my rosettes are much smaller.





Lastly, I decided to combine the two; hence sparkle meets fuzzy...and I like it. I even think the sequins and rosette resemble a spider web from a distance.

I placed them on my coffee table, the mantle, kitchen table. Who knows where these pumpkins will land Halloween Night, all I know is that I'm excited to add them to the party list as one of my completed projects!

I'll be linking up to these great parties and keep posting to Flickr as well. Happy Friday!

No-Sew Cupcake Costume, and a WINNER!

I am pretty excited about this project. I fell in love with this Pottery Barn Kids Cupcake Costume a couple of months ago, but my little bean was too small for it. Also, it was priced right around $60, which was just more than my costume budget could handle. So, I decided to give it a go myself. I didn't sew even an inch of it, and I am pretty happy with the results!

All you will need are these simple materials:
1) 1 yard of pink fleece
2) 1/2 yard brown felt
3) 6-8 pieces of small felt sheets (red, white, brown)
4) ruffled edging
5) scissors
6) hot glue
7) ribbon
= $18.67

The first thing I did was pull some of my daughter's clothes from her closet to get an idea of sizing. I cut the neck outline using the outline of one of her shirts.

Next, I scalloped the edges of the neck piece and added red, brown and white polka dots (with hot glue of course!)

Then I hot-glued the ruffled edging onto the neckline, in a double layer to create the 'topping.'

After I added the ruffle edging, I realized it would be harder to stretch the top layer off and on my daughter's neck. So, I cut a straight seam down the back, and hot glued simple thin ribbon to create a tie.

I made a second neck layer, slightly wider, following the exact same steps. However, I did not glue any ruffled edging on the bottom layer, so I didn't need to create a seam or tie.

The next step was to create the skirt, or 'cupcake and wrapper.' For this piece, I pulled out one of Lola's dresses to figure out a good width and length. I then cut a piece of the brown felt to size, and hot glued the edges together to create a skirt.

I don't have very many pictures of the process, but I cut 7 inch light brown felt strips to glue onto the skirt. These created the wrapper. I glued them on, side by side, in sort of a picket fence pattern.

To finish the skirt, I added a pink trim to the bottom to make it look a little more finished, and added ruffled straps to make it a jumper that Lola could wear, under the two neck pieces. (All pieces were attached with hot glue, of course!)

For the finishing touch, or 'cherry on top' if you will, was a cherry headband. I am still looking for the perfect 'stem,' so if you have any ideas, let me know! For the part I do have, I created a stuffed red felt ball (sealed with hot glue), and wrapped a double ruffle layer around the outside. I then hot glued both pieces to a thick brown headband we already had.

And, wait for it, wait for it...

TA DA!

Our little cherry cupcake. Isn't she a sweetie? I am a little worried that maybe the 'cupcake' part is a little much for the wrapper, but hey, who doesn't like a little extra frosting right? I might be trimming this part down if the perfectionist in me gets a little too loud.

It was hard to get a good picture of the little cupcake, because she was way too busy. But I wanted you to see the little costume in action, so I hope you enjoy what I did manage to capture.

I'll be linking to these parties this week. Hope you will come and link up with us!

NOW, ONTO other news... The Cutting Edge Stencil Giveaway...

And the winner is...

True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 140 Result: 17 :
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Jade Cook September 17, 2010 8:07 AM

"LOVE the Diamond Damask & Hourglass Allover. I need something like this for our Master bedroom! This would be perfect!!!!"

Congratulations Jade! Please send me your email address so I can get you in touch with the great people of Cutting Edge Stencils.

Happy Thursday!