Happy Fall Y’all 2017!

On October 8, 2017October 8, 2017 By ArlynnIn Seasonal Decor6 Comments

Hi Everyone!! It has been such a busy time around our home as of late! As most of you know, Chris and I just returned from our back to back Voyage of the Glaciers cruises in Alaska with Princess. I’ve been diligently working on my blog series for that trip, sharing with you a time that I have already tucked safely away in my heart and mind, I’ll be able to conjure up those memories any time I need to be transported to one of the most gorgeous places on the planet. If you haven’t happened to see my blog posts about our trip up to this point, here is a link that holds all of the links to the blogs that I’ve written so far (check back often, I have a long way to go to finish that series):

Back to Back Voyage of the Glacier Cruises Blog Series

Before we departed for our trip, I was diligently working on getting my Fall Decor up and in place; I worked very hard for the couple of weeks before we left. And I was successful…whew…I managed to get all of the indoor spaces completely finished! That said, I not only got my decor into place, I also created YouTube Videos of every craft and space that I created. First, let me share some pictures with you of our home decorated up for Fall, then, I will give you a link to my YouTube Channel’s “Arlynn’s Country Craft Corner” 2017 Fall Home Tour Playlist that holds 20, yes, count them *20* videos of me bringing my creations to life such as Cozy Corners, wreaths, lantern centerpieces, lantern swags, etc…To say I worked hard, well, that is an understatement…haha. 😉 BUT, of course I thrive on my crafting and decorating, so it was definitely a labor of love!! 🙂 So here we go with some pictures:

Okie dokie, here are some pictures of the Family Room…

And here are some more shots of how I decorated up the rest of the back side of the house, moving through the family room, into the kitchen, over to the kitchen eating area, the kitchen hutch and desk, and the powder room.

Okie dokie…That did it for the back of the house. I was very happy with how everything turned out!! I utilized a lot of my old decor and mixed it in with some of the new things that I had purchased and crafted. I had a huge feeling of accomplishment, but, I wasn’t done yet! It was time to soldier on and move into the rooms that sit on the front of our home and in which I prefer a lighter, softer, and calmer color palette. Instead of utilizing the the more traditional, bolder, oranges, reds, greens, and yellows like what we’ve just seen, I’d be utilizing soft silvers, creams, grays, blues, & khakis in the living and dining room as well as in the foyer that sits between the two rooms. Let me show you some pictures:

As I mentioned above, I did all of the decorating that you see in these pictures prior to leaving for our cruise, and when we returned home, I went ahead and finished the outdoor spaces. Here is was I completed just last week:

And that finished up my Fall decorating for 2017! I am so happy that I took that 2 weeks before we left on our cruise to get the entire inside of the house finished. I had forgotten just how much work it is to switch everything out and recreate the wheel for the next Season. BUT, that said, I’m super happy with how everything looks now and I’m even happier that I was able to create an entire Playlist of me showing y’all *in person* how I brought it all to fruition. Actually, do y’all know what? It was Chris’ idea for me to start at the very beginning of my process, my first video begins with me in our basement showing where and how I store all of the Seasonal decor. I literally take you through my entire process in that Playlist of videos…so, without further adieu, here is a link that will take you through my process, as I said, it is 20 videos strong:

2017 Arlynn’s Country Craft Corner YouTube Fall Decor Series

And did you see that massively HUGE wreath on my front door? This one:

I actually made this one before I started to decorate in earnest, here is a link that will show you how I put it together:

Big Bold Fall Wreath

OH wait, there is one more wreath that I pictured above that is not included in the Fall Playlist, this one:

Here is a link to this my…

Fall Fabric Mesh & Owl Wreath

OHHHHHH wait!!! There is ONE more wreath that I created that is not included in that Fall Playlist, this one (as I said, I’ve been b-u-s-y over here…lol):

Here is a link to my :

Fall Deco Mesh & Owl Wreath

And that my friends is, as they say, *that*. 🙂 U-n-t-i-l I start decorating for Christmas in a few weeks….ahhhhhhhh….HELP! LOL 😉 JUST Kidding, y’all know I will love doing it once I get started!! So for now, because I worked so hard before we left for Alaska, I will be able to sit back and write my Alaska Cruise Blog Series until it is time to switch everything out for the most wonderful time of the year *Christmas*!!

**In crafting there are no mistakes, only unique creations**

~Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn ❤

Fall Lantern Centerpieces & More

On November 4, 2016 By ArlynnIn Lanterns, Seasonal DecorLeave a comment

Hi Everyone! Now that I’m back from my Canada & New England Cruise and have completed my Blog series of our awesome time aboard the Regal Princess and beyond, I’ve gotten back to my crafting. I’ve had many people comment on my Lantern Centerpieces, so I took some time out today to deconstruct and then reconstruct three of the centerpieces that I had created for this Fall’s decorations. I’ve made a video and will give you a link *below* to it on my new YouTube Channel “Arlynn’s Country Craft Corner“. 🙂 <~~That’s a link to my main YouTube Channel’s page…I’ll give you link for the specific video I created today below in this short post. 🙂

I will let my video show you everything that I did, but, here are the three centerpieces that I highlighted in the video and then at the end of the video I give a little house tour to show what other centerpieces I’ve created for my Fall decor. 🙂

All right, here is a link to my YouTube video, I hope y’all enjoy it and think about giving a lantern (or other) centerpiece a try. BTW, it is almost time for me to take all of my Fall stuff down, I’ll be starting to decorate for Christmas very soon–So I know I’ll be deconstructing these Fall centerpieces again and reconstructing them for Christmas…YaY!!

Fall Lantern Centerpieces & More

~Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

**In crafting there are no mistakes, just unique creations**

~Arlynn ❤

Harvest Sign 2016–With Guest Blogger My Cousin Stacey

On September 11, 2016September 11, 2016 By ArlynnIn Seasonal DecorLeave a comment

My sweet cousin Stacey has been kind enough to share another one of her amazing creations with all of us!!! Wait till ya’ll see *this*!! ❤

This is me (in the black blouse) with Stacey:

Okie dokie…Take it away Stacey!!

*****Hello Everyone!! It’s your favorite random relative of Arlynn’s, Stacey!! I’m here to show you how to do a Fall decor item that requires ZERO crafting or artistic ability! Woo! (It’s also great for getting out some aggression as you get to beat the snot out of a plank of wood!) So, lets begin the easiest craft project I’ve ever created!

I had a VERY large wall space that I wanted to cover. I needed a piece of art (or something) to cover a space approx 4’ long by 1’ tall. I scoured Home Goods, Hobby Lobby, Kirklands and everywhere in between looking for such a large piece with no luck. So that meant I was going to have to create something. I wanted something to compliment the decor I already had on the opposing wall. Pretty rustic and quite specific. (No, sadly, I did not create this

beauty) But, no worries, I was on a mission and once that happens, crafting magic is about to go down!

I started by creating my “ingredients” list. Plank of wood 1’x4’. (You can make yours any size you like!), chalk paint and wax, brushes, cloth, roller brush, sander/sand paper, tools to distress wood (chains, screwdrivers, hammer, etc) letters to attach, hooks for hanging and a glue gun to attach your letters.

First place I headed to was my other favorite craft store…HOME DEPOT!! Oh my goodness y’all! I love me some Home Depot! Those guys see me and turn the other way because they know I’m going to make them cut, sand, search or reach something for me! LOL! Suck it up buttercup, I’ve got decor to create! But, they got lucky this time because I found a super cheap plank of pine for $9!! It was exactly the size I wanted too! (1’ x 4’). So, I grabbed my plank and headed on over to Michaels to snatch up some chalk paint and search for the metal letters to attach.

Once at Michaels my search began. The chalk paint was no problem! I chose a yellowish tone called “Tuscan Gold” and a brown antique wax to go over top. Easy peasy, light and breezy! Onward towards the metallic letters! Oh man, I am gonna spell the heck out of some Fall words!! Pffft!! Not so much! My husband (God Bless him) and I spent a BAGILLION hours pulling out all the letters they had on the shelves and a good amount of time on the scrabble word creator app trying to spell Fall themed words! Goodness Gracious!! It looked like my “easy” craft idea was going to be a bust. But, I’m no craft quitter! So, I got to thinking, lets mix up our media. I took both the metallic letters and some painted wood letters and finally had enough to spell a word!! YESSS!! I had chosen the word HARVEST. I figured that was better than some of the other words we had the letters for like Hokey, Chokey, Jokey, Sock, Whore 😳, Oyster and Shylock. But, I don’t know your life. Maybe you would like to create a nice “Shylock” sign. In that case, you’re in luck! But for me, I had my heart set on Harvest. Thankfully, on the other side of the store, they had some red/gold painted wood letter and I screeched “I CAN SPELL HARVEST NOW!” I’m sure the lady that was beside me thought, “Lady you need to spell MEDS”. Oh well, not the first time someone thought that! SO HA! Once I had purchased all my ingredients we headed home and the fun began!

I took my plank outside with some chains, a hammer and some assorted screwdrivers. Basically, you want to use whatever tools you have to “distress” your plank of wood. Good time to get out those frustrations! I wanted a pretty distressed look so I just whacked the heck out of that plank of wood! Don’t forget to do your edges! This comes into play later when you put on your wax top coat. See all those divits and scratches? Thats what you want. Looking back, I wish I would have added more! Also, I used a little hand held sander to round the edges and remove the splintered pieces on the corners. You don’t want any sharp angles. We want to make this thing look old.

Next step, Paint that Plank!! I loved the Fall-ish yellow of the Tuscan Gold. It also complimented the red in my wooden letters. Now, be patient and let it dry. Who am I kidding, I only let it dry for about 30 min.

Once your beautiful plank is painted. DON’T FORGET YOUR EDGES!! It’s time to move on to the wax top coat. I chose a warm chocolatey brown. I figured this would look like years of dirt and wear. Guess what?! I was correct! Mmmmm, look at that! All aged planky goodness!

I brushed on a good amount of the brown wax and took extra care to get into all the nooks and crannies! Even on the edges! Then, I wiped off a little bit with a dampened cloth. Be careful you don’t remove too much or you won’t get the super aged look we were going for.

Finished product! A nice aged looking plank with just a little bit of effort.

Also, see why distressing the edges was important? Now all the sides are gorgeous too!

So this is pretty much the hardest part of this project! Your kidding me?!? NO, I am not! Only thing left is to attach your letters and the hanging hooks. Can you believe this project?! So easy and so professional looking! I love that (if you can find the letters) you can make one for anywhere! Maybe Sock wouldn’t be such a bad word to spell after all!! Would be great in a laundry room! Hahaha! Here is my final project! It’s glorious! It has the metal in it that I was looking for and it’s just the right size! Oh, I forgot to mention that I just attached my letters with hot glue.

And hung in the perfect spot:

Seriously, how easy is this?! Now get out your word finder app, head to Home Depot and Michaels and spell some words!Enjoy making your house a home by crafting your own glorious creations!! Until next time, smooches from Stacey 😘 *****

Arlynn here again—THANK you SO much Stacey!!!! You are awesome and you have inspired me to try to do one of these beauties, and I’m guessing that you’ve also inspired many more!! LOVE you bushels and pecks and (((hugs))) around the neck!! MWAH!! ❤

I hope y’all have enjoyed this wonderful blog post from Stacey—She is a very talented lady!! 🙂

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn ❤

Happy Fall Y’all 2016 Series: Living & Dining Rooms-Video Included

On September 5, 2016 By ArlynnIn Seasonal Decor2 Comments

I have finished my Fall decorating for the inside of our house! YaY, I am definitely doing a “Happy Dance”. I will admit that it is quite a chore to switch Seasons, there used to be a time decades ago when I’d throw a few fall leaves and pumpkins around and call it done. As we’ve marched through the years and I’ve honed my decorating skills, it seems that my decorating has gotten more and more involved. I never used to have to store my “generic” decor in bins while my Fall and then Christmas decor took center stage…haha. OH well, as you all know, I love the creative process, so it’s all good…even though I’m pretty pooped. All that I have left is to do a bit of decorating outside and then I’ll be finished till it is time to decorate for Christmas.

I will give you a picture preview as to what I did in the living and dining rooms and then I’ll post a little video that I made of those rooms.

Here are the living room’s accents: