fall crafts & not-so-fall crafts

As apartment decorating winds down and we settle into our new routines, the oncoming chill in the air is inspiring fall scented everything and lots of crafts. Thanks to some Joanne's coupons from a sweet friend, I picked up a few pieces of autumnal fabric with a quick sewing project formulating. After a couple hours of work, I have a simple seasonal apron to hang in the kitchen, just waiting for a pumpkin roll to be made. (Tutorial to be posted eventually when I'm feeling a bit more inspired.)

In another stroke of autumn excitement, I snagged a grapevine wreath from Hobby Lobby for $5 as well as a couple cheap pieces of leaves/flowers/etc. Add a little hot glue and leftover ribbon for a fast and inexpensive DIY wreath.

Although not strictly fall-related, here's a snapshot of the latest project (completed today). For just the cost of the scrapbook background paper, I used extra white photo frames to showcase some treasured family history. I mounted each recipe card on plain white cardstock then taped them to a piece of vintage-style striped paper. After hot gluing two pieces of vintage cutlery leftover from another project, I called it done. Simple and heartfelt.
(Note: photo shot at a weird angle because of a background glare issue)

Four amazing chefs represented: my aunt Terri, my "Mammaw",
my dad, and Strider's paternal grandmother Anna

Last but not least, here is the reveal on the crates project I hinted about last week...our very own convertible entertainment center. Inexpensive, rustic, and definitely not from Ikea. 

I purchased the crates at a local farm market here for less than $7 each. They are extremely sturdy and after a little sanding and wood stain, they were the perfect addition to our living room. Bonus- when we get a bigger TV (Strider is dying to ditch the 19"), we can just rearrange the crates. No fuss, no big console commitment. I love everything about this project...okay, excluding the 6 spiders I battled with the dust-buster while doing an initial cleaning.

More later, feeling a bit flat at the moment. Positive note, I started a fantastic new book today and will look forward to sharing that soon as well!

Toto, we're home. Home!

It's official -- we're now residents of Pennsylvania, with our very own apartment and utility bill to prove it! 

The "before" of our new front door. We haven't quite figured out what
we want to do with it yet, but very exciting nonetheless!

And with two days off last week, I managed to get every box emptied, flattened, and out the door so actually feels like home. We're still working on the internet connectivity so posting/engaging online is tricky at the moment, but I do have a few fun apartment crafts to show off:

DIY key rack right inside the front door. All materials from Hobby Lobby. I stained/painted/sanded the wood plaque then hot glued the cross and knobs to the front.

In celebration of my first real pantry ever (at our last place we used a converted coat closet), I transferred most of our dry goods to various sized glass jars and made kraft paper tags for everything. They don't photograph well inside the pantry but make me surprisingly happy to see all in a line. 

Some homemade bathroom wall art using a spare frame we already had. Total cost = 25 cents for the paper...works for me! Lettering was done using this method.

 And for a super sneak peek...here's our craft room with a mysterious wooden crates project underway.

I promise I'll have more soon, but for now...I'm off to cook dinner and keep crafting! (Plus, watching gobs of Gilmore Girls because I finally succeeded in getting Strider hooked!!)