I posted the photos backwards as to not ruin our secret to getting this roaring fire started

We hear there is more snow heading our way!!

It’s another dull, gray day here in Columbus, Ohio. Almost everyone I have talked to around here in the past few days is ready for some sunshine and Spring weather but according to the calender we have several more weeks of this doom and gloom to contend with. This morning after an additional cup of coffee, I noticed at about 9am that it wasn’t much lighter than at 7am and I was figuring out how many hours until bedtime. I was planning to either sit on the computer all day or take a nap . Then the sun peaked out for a minute and I decided to bundle up and head outside with my camera to at least get some fresh air in hopes that it would wake me up. I only got a couple of shots worthy of posting but a little exercise and fresh air certainly helped get us through the day.

I bet he is wishing for Spring too!

I bet someone is missing this but probably better that they don’t find it now

a little evidence of life

like a crook of an arm or leg

Other than this I’ve got nothing. Not feeling too crafty or too motivated these days. Just feeling like hibernating and drinking tea and eating oranges. So that’s what I plan on doing!

Not only was it dark because we only had 9 hrs of day light today but we also said goodbye to our much loved Rudy dog this morning. RIP boy. There will never be another Rudy dog!

Tonight we are reading books by lantern and  sleeping in the living room by the fire. A little change of scenery for the darkest day of the year. Sniff, Sniff

This is sort of how this project felt…crazy.

First off  you will need some flat leaves for this project. Next, you will need a tablecloth to decorate. A quick trip to my local thrift shop got me a gold tablecloth-perfect!  You will also need fabric paint. So,  a hopeful run down the one craft aisle at my grocery to find fabric paint and save me a trip to the craft store,  revealed fluorescent colors. Boo!! But then out of the corner of my eye, on the clearance rack, I spied the perfect Fall colors of permanent acrylic paint. Score again! I love when things are easy and work out that way! It doesn’t usually happen, so I was indeed happy with my lucky finds!

So I cleared the way in my kitchen to spread the table cloth on the floor. My kitchen is small and my floor isn’t spic and span-eww- and the tablecloth took up all the available floor space. That meant we were constantly walking all over the tablecloth–eww again-it also meant the material kept getting wrinkled up. I begin to get annoyed.

OK-next I spread out some newspaper and paper plates with the paint, leaves and brushes.

You will also need more newspaper and a rolling pin for this project.

Paint the underside of the leaf—the veins will give you a better print.

Then carefully put the leaf, paint side down, on the tablecloth and cover it with wax paper or a sheet of newspaper. Carefully so that the paint that is all over your fingers doesn’t get all over the tablecloth.  Then again-carefully, so that the leaf doesn’t slide around, roll over the top of the newspaper with your rolling pin a couple of times.

Remove the newspaper and then carefully peel your leaf back up-so that you don’t just drop it back down creating paint splots on the tablecloth. And watch were you throw your cover piece of paper-it has wet paint on it. Are you feeling my blood pressure rising??

Can you see that I was a little too invested in the product of this project!!! Part of it was this was a little messy for my kitchen floor and tables. Water colors or tempra are one thing but permanent acrylics are another. As Ginger walked over the wet paint back onto the wood floors and I am yelling, “Don’t step in the paint, wipe your hands off, don’t get that paint on my rolling pin, you’re wrinkling the tablecloth” etc… etc….  But surprisingly-they endured my fussiness  and the leaf prints came out great. We plan on using this on  our Thanksgiving table.

So the moral of this story is…if your looking to make this a really perfect looking tablecloth…do it your self. If your looking for a fun project for your kids…protect all surfaces and  shut your mouth. Allowing the kids to make it without being over supervised (and probably taking most of the fun out of it)!! It will look great either way! Another lesson learned!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Over the weekend we went for a walk and collected many treasures .

It doesn’t take long to fill a basket or a bag with pretty, little interesting things. I am worse than the kids!! I love little collections of this and that. If you just look around my house you can easily see my love of “stuff.” I also love to arrange these little collections, to set them out in interesting ways, like little still lifes. Molly also loves to arrange and rearrange and set up little scenes. Ginger on the other hand likes to investigate and touch everything. And sometimes break things in the process

I had just the thing to organize our finds…an old printers box. I set the box on top of a small table and perched a mirror on the back. Instant nature table.

Ginger sorted out the pinecones, rose petals, rocks, acorn tops and nuts and pretty red leaves into their own sections.

Until all the little pieces had a new home!

Ginger spent a long time this morning moving stuff around and taping the tops back on to the acorns (and taking them away from the bad, bad puppies that think they are treats!)

So between Ginger and the puppies, I give this pretty little set up a couple of days until things are smooshed, mixed together, tipped over and dumped. But that’s ok…I know where we can get lots more ’stuff!!”

Earlier this week, Maine Momma invited me to take a walk with her. I was so flattered to be asked! And so inspired by the “walks” others have shared!
Today was a perfectly, bright and beautiful Autumn day here in Columbus.
As we headed out the back of our yard I couldn’t help but notice the brilliant sun, vivid colors and long shadows.
Come take a walk with us to The Whetstone Park of Roses. Click on the button below to view my slide show.