Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup

I love making little food gifts. I love fall. I love mason jars. I don't love coffee or the infamous pumpkin spice lattes, but that didn't stop me from making 40 jars of it this past week. 

It smelled like fall in my house all day! I love that this syrup is full of real ingredients including canned pumpkin.

Here is the easy recipe from According to Elle.

Thanksgiving and Instagram

I am finally posting more to Instagram. I had it and never really used it, but now I am and I love it! Click here to follow me and see all the fun happenings in my happy little world. 

We had a wonderful pretty low key Thanksgiving. Our little family of three hosted my Mother and Mother-in-Law on Thursday for lunch. On Wednesday afternoon while desserts were baking, Abby and I made this little banner for the fireplace. I google searched Thanksgiving images, printed them, she colored them and I backed them with scrapbook paper and hung them on ribbon with clothespins. She gave each picture a name and was happy to give them out after the meal. An easy project and great for any holiday.

To only have five people at the table, we had food for 15! We ate a big lunch and then had leftovers through the weekend. We kept it simple by ordered sliced turkey and ham from a local restaurant, bought Sister Schuberts yummy rolls, and made the rest including cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and Paulina's Sweet Potato Hash. 

Dessert was my responsibility and I took it seriously! We were given a beautiful apple pie by a friend and I made my favorite Cranberry Salad, Southern Pecan bars, and Mix and Match Mama's pumpkin cake. Abby made sure the cake had plenty of sprinkles :)

 After lunch, Marcus and I went to the Texas Tech/Texas football game. It was cold and we lost, but lots of fun! 

On Friday, we stayed home and in pajamas all day while decorating for Christmas. Abby's excitement as the tubs came out could not be contained. It was precious! I brought out all of my snowglobes which hasn't happened since 2007. I just couldn't do it when she was little and knew they would be broken. I was due at Christmas in 2008, so there was little decor that year. 

I'll be sharing all of my Christmas decorations on the blog soon. For now, I am enjoying the view!

 I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, too! 

Thanksgiving Menu Options

This weekend I am working on my Thanksgiving day menu. Here are a few of my blog favorites that my family will be eating on Thursday.

There is nothing simpler than these muffins. They are perfectly simple and super tasty for breakfast when the kitchen is warming up for the big meal!

It would not be Thanksgiving with my Momma's dressing and this Cranberry Salad. I love making a big bowl of it and we eat it for days afterward. It just gets better with time! I recommend making this on Tuesday or Wednesday and just letting it set until Thursday's meal.

Corn syrup gives me awful headaches, so we make these Southern Pecan Bars instead of a big rich pecan pie. Give them a try for your family this year. I am certain you will love them. They are a cross between pecan pie and a pecan praline.

I have been dreaming of this Sweet Potato Hash and am looking forward to sharing it with my family this year. It is a great nut-free way to make sweet potatoes.

Finally, if you need a quick and easy way to add a little fall decor to your dining room, don't forget my super simple Burlap Banner. I think THANKFUL or GOBBLE or EAT UP would be super cute across a buffet or dining room wall. 

Enjoy your thanksgiving!

Easy Tulle Pumpkin

This is a little late than never kind of post!

I started this pumpkin last year and finally finished it the week of Halloween! It wasn't hard by any means, but I grossly underestimated the amount of orange pipe cleaners and tulle I would need. Once I remembered and Hobby Lobby had the supplies, I was able to finish it quickly.

You can find directions here along with lots of pictures.

It is pretty simple and can work for any shape and holiday. You essentially will wire a piece of plastic latch hook canvas onto an embroidery hoop and then attach pieces of tulle (or wire mesh) onto the canvas with pipe cleaners. 

I've seen candy corn recently, but also think that an oval Easter egg would be cute and a heart at Valentine's. Just buy lots and lots of pipe cleaners!

Scrapbook Paper Pumpkin

My MOPS group made these little scrapbook pumpkins last week. Super cute, huh? They were very easy and using my left over scrapbook paper, also really inexpensive. They would make great gifts during the Fall season or make a cute collage with a variety of scriptures.

Using online clip art, I made the template with a pumpkin outline and scripture of thanksgiving. The template is 7x7 inches and was framed on top of 8x8 scrapbook paper inside an inexpensive frame. I just removed the glass. If you'd like the template, I uploaded it here. 

Using a basic glue stick, glue the 1" scrapbook paper circles onto the pumpkin template, covering the black outline. Before you do the top row, add a stem and leaf. I used twine and ribbon.

You can use any scrapbook paper you like. I had a book of 12x12 sheets that all coordinated. I just used a variety of the orange papers.

 My cute little scrappy pumpkin perfect for the Fall.

Fall Burlap Banner

I am involved in a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group at my church and volunteered to coordinate fall crafts day at our meeting on Monday. I needed to come up with cute and inexpensive crafts for about 60 women that could be completed in about 15 minutes. Pinterest to the rescue!

My favorite craft from the meeting was this super simple burlap banner.

At Hobby Lobby I found pennant already cut out and measured them at the fabric tables. They were 8" wide at the top and 10.5" long. They were just the size I needed, but not the price I needed. So, using my iPhone calculator, I found that I could get about 26 pennants for each yard of burlap sold on the bolt. I purchased 3 yards giving me 80 pennants for under $12. 

Using cardstock, I made the sample pennant and then traced it 80 times on the burlap. Then, I cut it out over a period of days. Cutting triangles with the point alternating up and down allowed the fabric to go a lot further.

Using stencils and a sharpie, I traced the letter F-A-L-L onto 4 pennants. Other girls did B-O-O or E-E-K for Halloween. If you have more burlap, I think HARVEST or THANKFUL would be cute.

After the letters were traced, I painted them with simple craft paint and a foam brush.

Next, the triangles were glued onto the ribbon with fabric glue. 

 Voila! An easy and inexpensive craft most anyone can do!

Two Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

My friend Natalie and I were discussing getting our kids to eat fruits and vegetables recently and she mentioned giving them pumpkin via super easy muffins she likes to make. Knowing how much my daughter loves anything pumpkin, I knew these muffins would be a hit.

They are quick, easy, moist, flavorful and relatively healthy. No oil, eggs or butter!

Two Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

1 box spice cake mix
1 can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling with all the spices in there)

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix your ingredients together and place inside muffin cups. Bake for 18-22 minutes.

Note: I like a little crunch in my muffins, so I sprinkled sugar crystals on top. Totally optional.

Fall Mantle Before and After

I love my fall mantle this year! Believe it or not, I thought I was done with it took photos for the blog and then I saw this pin on Pinterest and ran to Hobby Lobby!

This is my done for real 2013 mantle. Let's look at the couple of things I added, for under $15, that made a big impact!

This was my mantle... garland, ribbon, berry picks, pumpkins in various colors, and a nice family photo. I just knew something was missing. It was all so dark with the wood mantle and the dark fall colors of the garland. Then, that made the clean white family photo just look out of place. Plus, it is an 8x10, but it looked so small with the J and stacked pumpkins on the left side.

Close up, it was beautiful with lots of color and texture. But, from my couch it was missing something!

I made two simple additions for a big impact! The leaves in the pitcher were 40% off of $6.99 which was just my price. I only needed one packet which had 2 stems. They were super full once you fluffed them out. So much cheaper than the leaves at Pottery Barn. Goodness- who can pay $24.50 per stem? I placed them in a pitcher I have had for years from Ballard Designs. It gave the bright color and height that I wanted.

My other addition was the fabric squares. I'll be honest, I didn't sew them, iron them, or even cut them perfect because I was so excited to get them on the mantle! I bought 1/2 yard of each piece of fabric for under $5 each. I folded each piece in half to make an 18" by 18" square and cut diagonally to make two triangles. I set aside for my scrap bin the triangle not cut on the fold. Using the triangle cut on the fold, I opened up the orange triangle to make a really big triangle and placed it in the center. Leaving the two chevron prints folded, I placed them on each side of the orange center and then layered the other items on the mantle.

I am so happy with how it turned out!

Fall Decor 2013

It is finally fall and I can't tell you how excited I am. My favorite season- football, candles, crockpot meals, scarves, I love it all! Here is my home all decked out for the season this year!

Aren't mantles fun to decorate? I don't think I could buy a house without a mantle! I bought a few new things this year including these bright orange leaves! They were $24.50 at Pottery Barn of 40% off of $6.99 at Hobby Lobby. Score! I also bought some fabric to decorate the mantle this year. I'll share more on this easy project later in the week.

Along with my new fabric and leaves, I used an old garland, some berry picks, a little silky rust ribbon and an assortment of pumpkins, gourds, and acorns. I own a giant trunk full of various pumpkins, gourds, and acorns!

Under the TV I added acorns and pinecones inside the dough bowl and kept the candles the same as they are year round. I added a think burlap runner (sold with ribbon) and more pumpkins in a variety of colors. Most of my pumpkins come from Hobby Lobby, but last year I bought a handful of new ones with metallics in them. I like the rustic and sparkle mixed together!

On my blue side table, I added two more pumpkins, both older from Hobby Lobby. I am loving the blue with all the orange, brown, and green this year!

A big part of a fall home for me is the candles! This year I bought Autumn, Pumpkin Hayride, and Blueberry Pumpkin Patch from Bath & Body Works. I love them all. Next time you are in there, smell Autumn. It is my favorite this time of year.

I added the fun little EEEEK spider pumpkin from Home Goods this year. A little bit of Halloween mixed in with fall is my preferred. I will pull out a few more spiders and witches in October and then replace those with a few turkeys in November. It is fun to change it up, but also have pumpkins out for 2 full months.

I added two simple printables I found on Pinterest to my entry table. I love all the "Keep Calm" options out there!

Another simple way to decorate, change out your family photos with the seasons. I framed out Abby as a 2 year old in her pumpkin pie dress from Thanksgiving 2010.

This little ledge makes me smile! I owned almost all of these and had them scattered about in years part. As a grouping, they make such an impact on my entryway ledge.

This little girl is new this year. Abby and I found her at Home Goods and we had to have her. I love shopping Home Goods for seasonal decor. They always have unique pieces for very little. I think she was $9.99.

In my formal dining room, I layered an old Pottery Barn runner with some burlap and then my ragamuffin garland I made 4 years ago. I then placed a tray in the center and a large footed bowl inside the tray and filled it with my tiny pumpkins, gourds and acorns.

Finally, I added a little display on the ledge inside my breakfast nook. I found the printable on Pinterest and owned everything else from past years.

Thanks for visiting my fall home. I hope you found an idea or two that you can implement in your house this season.

To see all things fall including decor from past years, click here.