Fall Mantle - DIY...kind of

I've never been one to decorate for Fall.  I always thought it was weird to decorate for a season commemorated by falling leaves and colder temperatures.  I'm a Halloween girl.  It's my second favorite holiday behind Christmas.

Sunday after Marlow's 206th night in a row of waking at 5:00 am, I needed to get out of the house for a bit by myself.  I just needed to breath and let's be honest I'm not sure there is anything better than a little retail therapy.  These moments make the Hubs a little nervous because 9 times out of 10 that means a SOLO TRIP TO TARGET.

I was in the mood to decorate, so after looking through Pinterest for some Fall, not boring leaves type decor, inspiration, I headed to my favorite place for all fun decorating things - Gordmans.  Not sure if you have one in your city, but they have the most amazing things and for the major cheap.  I bought a wreath (I typically would just make it myself, but for $20 it was worth just buying it already made and it wasn't too "leafy" for me), 4 picture frames, one candle, a candlestick and a pumpkin (the green vase is a part of my non-holiday/seasonal mantle).  Ran to Michaels for some scrapbook paper and a few letters and voila, my Fall mantle...

It makes me feel all warm and cozy, especially with my Baked Apple Pie + Cider Mill combo in my Scentsy burner.

Now I'm just going to need the 85 degree days to come down to about 75.  I shouldn't have to use the AC in late September.

This will tide me over for a few weeks and then I'll get my Halloween on...bought a new rug for that yesterday...at Target...when I was supposed to just be stopping for baby food and wine because it is impossible for me to go into Target and only get what I went in for...there's some super major power force in that place..I lose all sense of shopping control and focus.

Happy Friday people!!!!

Photo Canvas - Do It Yo'Self!

Sorry for the hiatus last week.  This week is not looking much better, but I'm making the time because I am so excited to show you guys my Dining Room.  Momma's proud ya'll.

One of my very favorite pieces of the room is my picture canvas.

Raise your hand if you have an old canvas in your basement, a closet, just lying around (or in my case still hanging on the wall)?

I love pictures and you will likely find a piece of our lives, usually in the form of a picture in every room in our house.  This is how I always pictured it to be AND then, my sis took her photography passion to another level and well now we have really pretty pictures in every room.

Just weeks ago, she did a nice lil' family sesh and they all turned out amazing, but there was one that I just had to do something with and something big.

Photo courtesy of LKS Photography

lksphotography.net

You see, the Hubs and I first locked eyes at this place.  It holds a special place in our hearts and if you've every visited or even a local and never been, The Delmar Loop is one of my most favorite spots in the city.  Bars, restaurants, shopping and amazing people watching!  Hubs and I spent much of our pre-child days there and even make it back every once and a while for a burger or a tattoo.  Two of my three tattoos were done at Iron Age right on the Loop.

Moving on...

I had a canvas already that I was growing very tired of that was just about 24 x 36.

I did three things:

1. Ordered a poster print of the image (PS If you live in a Walgreens town, I highly recommend their photo department, no wait, same day service and great coupons).
2. Stock up on Mod Podge
3. Measure the edging of my existing canvas.

I had a decent amount of fabric left from the windown treatment I made, so I wanted to be sure to use a few more pops of the pattern throughout the room and the photo wrap was the perfect spot.

I simply measured all four sides of the canvas, leaving extra room for folding and wrapping around the corners and edges and cut based on that.  These did not need to be perfect, the lines didn't have to be perfectly straight, they just needed to be wide and long enough.

I then applied Mod Podge to both the back of the fabric and the canvas area to be covered.  Using my fingers, I worked the fabric so that it was straight and lump (technical term) free and then applied a coat of Mod Podge to the top of the fabric.  I repeated this step for the other three sides.

Once all four sides were done, I applied one more coat of Mod Podge to the fabric.

Once the fabric was dried to the touch, I began to apply the photo print.  The measuring for the photo needs to be pretty spot on in my opinion, so be sure to measure twice.  If it's not straight, it will be noticeable.

Again, I simply applied the Mod Podge to the back of the print and to the exisiting canvas and then just stuck it on there (again, another technical term).  I gave it a few minutes before I applied the coat on top of the print, so that it would adhere and move less when I applied the top coat.

Once it was dry to the touch, I again applied another coat of Mod Podge.

It was ready to hang the following evening!

So easy and not very time consuming and much, much cheaper than buying one online.  The print cost me $30.00 with my coupon and the fabric was left over from my window treatment (but in all the fabric only cost me $10).

Are you motivated to go do your own now?  Hope so!  If you do, please share!

Happy DIYing!!