Pottery Barn Inspired... Give a little thanks wreath

I saw this wreath in the Thanksgiving Pottery Barn catalog that I wanted to replicate.  

In the upper left hand corner... Isn't it gorgeous?

The wreath reflects a lot of what's big at Pottery Barn this season - ribbon, words, and a very organic feel, which I love this time of year.  When everything living goes dormant it's nice to bring out the beauty in the browns that are left behind.  So I adore dried berries and twigs and things of that nature that can be spruced up for the holidays!

So this is how my wreath turned out.

I love it.  Although, I need to find a better paint pen.  Mine didn't  bleed, but there's a residue around my letters from the paint?  Which I'm hoping just needs to dry out.  We'll see.

I used a twine vine for my wreath.  You know how it comes all rolled up in the package?  Well, I left it that way.  Kind of a different look for a wreath.  And the rest is simple, I just wove my ribbons in and out, in and out.  Tucked the ribbon in that I had written on, tied on a raffia bow, and I was done.  Lovely, don't you think?

Don't forget to enter the CSN giveaway here!!!  It closes at midnight EST on Friday!!!

Linking up at Sew Dang Cute  and Tatertots and Jello!

Giveaway with CSN Stores!

~THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED~

Let's cut right to the chase, shall we?  CSN is giving one of my readers a **$45 gift certificate to use on any product from any of their stores!!!   I wish travel were in my future because I would love an excuse to buy a new suitcase from them.  Their polka dot and giraffe prints are so fun and girly!  (Who else is stuck sharing gender neutral luggage with their hubby?)  But that's not all CSN sells.  You may remember another fun giveaway I had with them for a chalkboard wall decal and some very artsy toy wooden blocks...  Aside from darling home decor and baby/kids items like those, they sell furniture, kitchen and dining, bed and bath, home improvement, patio and garden, lighting, heatlh and fitness, pet, office, and school supplies!  So be sure and browse thoroughly through all their sites - Luxe by csn, All Modern and Cookware - are a few to look for).

This giveaway is open to all US and Canadian residents (yay!).  The giveaway will end this Friday, November 12th, at midnight EST.  Winner will be announced Saturday morning.  To be eligible leave a comment and include your email address if it's not otherwise accessible.  FOR ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:

- become a follower of My Many Colored Days
- announce the giveaway on your blog

That's 3 chances to win!!!  Good luck!

**Gift certificate does not cover shipping.

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 ~THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED~

When did life get so exhausting?

I remember when I began blogging 4 (gasp!) years ago, I had so many thoughts to share.  I had time to sit and think and then share those thoughts while my baby(ies) napped (boy, they were GOOD nappers).  Of course then life felt busy, but now it just feels insane.  I freaking sprayed my daughter's gym shorts with febreze this morning because I'd forgotten to wash them this weekend!  How bad is that?  Anyway, I've got a backload of unfinished projects and I'm super tired, so all you get from me today is this brief anecdote.  And a little shout for joy that I've almost reached 200 followers.  And an announcement that to celebrate such I'll be hosting a giveaway starting tomorrow.  So come back and enter!!!

Indian Corn Swag

This is one of those projects that just had to evolve, know what I mean?  I started out with one idea, which led to another, and another.  So, a little more timely and frustrating, but I LOVE the end result.

I am making a thanksgiving banner, so I originally thought I'd make this a swag that I could hang.  I didn't have enough indian corn for it to make a statement, though.  It looked a little puny against the wall by itself.  And I didn't want to hunt down more indian corn, or have to wire any more if it together.  I posted this pic last month from Country Living magazine.

Well, I have tons of sap buckets laying around, so the idea was born to hang a swag around the rim of one of my buckets.  

Easier said than done.  Hanging anything around something that tapers in hard.  Thank goodness for the little hole drilled in the back of my bucket (since they were originally hung on trees to catch sap, this is a signature feature of sap buckets).  Hey, I sounded like Martha Stewart just then - giving you a bit of history and all. ;)

I digress.  So I wired my indian corn together, just a few at a time.  I suggest reinforcing the husk to the corn with some hot glue, a few of mine popped off while I was connecting them together.  I ended up with 4 bunches of indian corn wired together, and then I wired each of those pieces together.  I tied a piece of twine onto each end of the swag so I'd have something to tie around the bucket.  Using the hole in the back of the bucket, I was able to anchor the twine onto something to keep the swag from drooping too much in front.  I hooked a paper clip over the front of the bucket and under the middle of the swag as well, so it was anchored over the edge of the bucket in front, too.  Make sense?  Sorry if it doesn't because I didn't take a picture of it.  I was too busy swearing under my breath. ;)  Just kidding!  Sort of!

So now my swag is on my bucket and all I see is a hot mess of wires wrapped here and there.  To cover them up I wove ribbon in and out of the husks.  Love how that looks!

I tied a few pieces of ribbon/strips of fabric to the ends of the swag too.  So now it's cute from behind, as well.

So what do you think? So glad this didn't turn into a craft fail!

Lego Party!!!

Hey gals.  How was your weekend?  We had so much going on, but it was a really fun few days.  Especially after a week (and still going) of illness.  For Drew it was constant lego heaven.  You saw his Halloween costume, right?  Well he also had a lego birthday party.

As already posted, here is what the invitations looked like:

And here is the rest of the decor.  Paper plates are cheap, cute, and resemble lego studs on the walls and windows.  The circle shaped balloons were a must!

These bricks are actually juice boxes wrapped in construction paper and covered with foam dot stickers. Thought that up all by myself.  So proud. :)

I found the straw decorations here for free!

I got these fillable glass bricks at Hobby Lobby and filled them with green sixlets.

A simple banner made from white paper plates and Drew's name in a bonified lego font (called legothick).

I found all sorts of great lego art on google images by Nathan Swaya.

Drew's lego cake was made using vanilla oreos as studs.  A lemon cake and frosting mix were already yellow, so very little effort in finding the right color.

More paper plates on the front door! 

I found the minifig head printable here (GREAT site by the way, same one I used for the straw decorations)!

As guests arrived I had them create some lego art.  We branched out into a polka dot theme with the decorations, so there were sticker dots, and these fun marker dot pens and pom poms to create with (as well as some coloring pages I found on lego's website).

Once everyone had arrived and had a chance to make a picture, we sat down and played a game.  Each child got 5 lego pieces and formed a circle.  The first child had 10 seconds to build something with his 5 pieces and when the timer went off, they passed it to their right and that next child built upon the first child's creation with their 5 lego pieces, and so forth, until all the kids had added on their pieces.  It took a few tries for them to get it, but once they did they had a lot of fun.

For our next game we had a lego drop.  The kids formed 2 lines up in our balcony over the fawyer.  With 3 lego pieces each, they competed against one another to see which team could make the most legos fall into their bucket.

There are lots of great party ideas here.

Our last activity was the biggest hit, of course, and that was free play with all of Drew's legos.  Here they are with their proud creations.  

Drew blew the candles out on his cake and opened gifts before sending his guests home.

They each received these lego plate notebooks as a thank you for coming to his party.

The pencil toppers are just blown up versions of the straw decorations.  I got the idea for the notebooks from a craft show in Austin last Spring.  LOVED the idea so much that it was then and there that I knew I needed to convince Drew to have a lego party (which didn't take much).

I bought the plates and lego pieces from the "pick-a-brick" section of lego's website.  They are 18x18. Drilling holes in them was a cinch.  Binder rings are available at most craft stores or in bulk from home office supply stores.

Another great birthday party down.  I get a bit of a break now... next one won't be until April!  I'll be ready!

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