fall finale musings.

I took down and packed away the Halloween decorations last night, started putting out some touches, and thinking some thoughts about what I'd like to do in the dining room and around the apartment for the final stage of fall. Fall for me starts in September, with a month of early fall. Halloween starts October 1, and lasts, obviously, through the thirty first. While some people are gung ho about starting the holiday season as soon as November begins, I see it more as the third and final stage of fall. I love Thanksgiving, and the warm colored, harvest themed decor that comes with it. So rather than rush into the red and green holiday that I love equally as much, I want a cozy warm harvest to ease me into winter.


Last November, I put together a table that did just that.

I've brought out quite a few of these same elements this year (except for the glass jar, which now holds cat food!), but because I don't want things to be exactly the same, I'm looking to switch things up a bit. I'm not quite sure exactly what I want to do yet. I would say it's still in the thought stage.
Since I'm home from class tonight with what my dad calls a "belly ache", I've been browsing through blogs and came upon a few inexpensive projects courtesy of Bower Power's sharing that I'm really a fan of.

DIY paper lanterns

On its own I think one of these DIY paper lanterns might look a little elementary school project, but I love them grouped together! I also love their suggestion to try them at Christmas, and positioned above and around a christmas tree would be adorable. I'm thinking of maybe doing a grouping above the dining room table, similar to the colors shown above, but without the orange (I'm thinking maybe a greenish color, since that would fit into our color scheme more than orange.

Natural Garland

I also love this garland! I've developed a thing lately for any type of garland or bunting, and these fall inspired ones are no exception. I especially like the pinecone one, since my apartment complex is home to pretty much no tree other than pine. I'm not sure where I would put something like this, but I'm sure I could find a place.


Hopefully I'll get the fall finale look finished this weekend once I have some more time to brainstorm and create. In the meantime, look how cute these fingerprint corn place cards are! I have no kids to make them with, but they are adorable.Think they would be as cute with 24 year old finger prints? How about cat paws?
Maybe I'll just have to wait a few years for these....

Fingerprint Place Cards