DIY| Kid Inspired Fall Decor

There is nothing I love more than seeing Haidyn’s artwork displayed in our home. I don’t think anything is better than seeing how proud she is of her artwork and how thankful she is that we’re displaying it for everyone to see. We’ve started a little tradition in which Haidyn makes some type of themey holiday décor for our home.  Last year she made these cute spiders and gathered pine cones. This year she’s really into Nightmare before Christmas so we scored some sugar skulls and a pumpkin from Target and Michael’s. Yay for dollar bin finds!  I love these DIY projects because they’re inexpensive but sturdy enough to withstand a toddler’s paint job. 

I absolutely love how they turned out. Haidyn loved painting her projects and is so proud of them. She’s named pumpkin is named ‘No Noggin’ and her skulls are both ‘Jacks’. Best holiday décor ever! 

 

Apron from Master Dabbler //Sugar Skulls from Michael's (similar)  // Pumpkin from Target (similar) // Acryllic paint from Michael's (similar)

DIY| Fall Ribbon Garland

Decorations in our home need to be baby proof ( no hard feelings if it gets ruined in 2 seconds by toddler hands) and easy enough to recreate so this year as a family we created our own garland. I've been dying to get my hands on one from Target, but instead I took some inspiration and got creative at home. Everyone helped because it was simple enough to dream to life. It was a great way for all of us to get involved in decorating.

MATERIALS

• different types of ribbons of your choice 
• twine ( any type you prefer ours is from Walmart) 

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut strips of ribbon. It doesn't have to be perfect, at least I didn't make it perfect because I like that look better.  
2. Measure out your twine to your liking. (I measured mine to fit our mantle.  )
   
3. Pierce the top of the ribbon so that you don't lose length tying it onto the twine. ( If you don't want to pierce it you can tie it onto your twine. ) 
   
   
   
   
4. Hang up and admire your work!
   

Baking Pine Cones Decor for Crafts

Fall décor season is amongst us! My favorite decoration piece right now is pine cones. Why? They’re inexpensive (assuming that you will hunt them out yourselves) and versatile! You can use this décor for fall and winter.  Searching for pine cones is also a great way to involve the kids in decorating for the holidays. Haidyn and I went searching for pine cones in a backyard even! We had such a great time searching for our perfect pine cones of all shapes and sizes.

 

But before you get all excited about your crafts, you must prepare your pine cones before crafting. It may surprise you that though pine cones seem harmless and bugless there are actually lots of critters inside that we might not see. In turn, we must rid them and melt the sap inside.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Place pine cones on a baking sheet to create a single layer ( I put mine on a baking pan because I’m a klutz).  
   
   
3. Bake pine cones for 30-45 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and let them rest for a couple days before cutting or using in crafts. This process will kill any bugs and melt sap.