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| Can you spot Lola? Her autumnal camouflage is seamless! |
Tomato Red & Turquoise, Oh My!
Sweater weather is here and I couldn’t be happier. Mother Nature has turned my little tree lined street into a beautiful, golden riot of color. Mother Nature will never be outdone but I can certainly do my part to color coordinate!
My apartment is on the ground floor of a busy street, right in the middle of the city. Upside: there is always something to look at out the window. Downside: Bars on my windows. Solution: hang stuff on the bars!
It gives people something to look while walking the dog or running to the train. Plus, Lola appreciates the attention, as she sits in the window most of the day while I’m gone. I swear, she is just like a supermodel with fur.
- Get yourself a nice autumnal leaf garland. You know, the raggedy one in you keep in the garage. Yeah, that one.
- Spray paint the leaves, preferably something with a gloss finish. The paint will look nice, but more important, it will provide a smooth surface for painting by hand later on.
- Wrap the garland around a hoola hoop and remove 80% of the larger leaves from the garland. Just yank them off, no need to be gentle here. Leave a few on the vine for texture, especially the small ones that might be difficult to paint.
- PAINT YOUR LEAVES! This is the fun part, especially with kids involved. When the kids realize that each leaf feeds into a larger project, they are less likely to be precious about their results (read: even older kids who always say “but mine won’t turn out good” will be inclined to pitch in). But heck, it’s really fun without kids too. Mindless, tiny painting projects like this are very therapeutic for us big kids too 🙂 I use regular acrylic paint from the craft store. It is surprisingly durable, even outdoors.
- Favorite Trick, aka “Khaki Pants for the Painterly”...Whenever I have project with a riot of color or texture, I like to add a “neutralizing pattern” to harmonize the color pallet. Black and white stripes are a whimsical classic, but there are plenty of others…navy with white polka dots or gray and beige herringbone are two of my favorites, or, some prefer textural tones like burlap or copper tone metallics….the list goes on. Here, I just used Elmer’s glue to attach to some silk leaves, but you could certainly use paint or paper too.
- Hot glue the leaves directly to the hoola hoop and TA DA you are done!
Happy Autumn Y’all!
Love it!!! Turquoise and red are gorg.
Wowee!!!!! Glorious wreath Peaches!
I stumbled onto your blog a couple of weeks ago, and it’s so creatively great! This is my favorite yet of your projects. The wreath looks great on your red background. And too funny that you repurposed a hula hoop! what a fantastic idea! I’m so going to do that one day. keep the ideas rolling, I love it here!
Love the colours. Just thinking…I, too, have bars on my windows… I need leaves!!
How is that you always find a way to outdo yourself? This wreath is truly fabulous! The teal and the stripes are so unexpected and perfect at the same time!
OMG. Saw this and a sound akin to “squeeeee” erupted out of me. Definitely going to be my weekend project.
This is gorgeousity! I had no idea til I read the tutorial that they were handpainted. What a cool artistic thing of beauty.
I just laugh and cry every time I read your posts. I think you need a book deal I so totally need to read more of your Village of Aunts.
Oh and I linked to you too! Thanks for sharing your life.
How gorgeous! Thanks for inspiring me, this will definitely be fun to make 😀
I’ve taken a jaunt around your blog and it’s very creative. I like it because it’s more unique than most. Super job.
Thanks for all the kind words y’all. Hope everyone is enjoying the season!