Fall Archives - Palmettos and Pigtails

The Smell of Fall {Bring it Inside}

November 17, 2012 posted by Shara

I thought I would share with you today my “recipe” for bringing the smell of Fall inside the house. My mom used to make this, and leave it simmering on the stove for hours….letting the cinnamony smell penetrate the house over Thanksgiving/Christmas/Fall gathering of choice. Such happy memories it brings back!

A couple of cinnamon sticks, 4 or 5 whole cloves, a splash of vanilla extract and the peel of an apple. Throw it in a small pot with a cup of water and simmer.

As long as you keep water in it, it will spice up your kitchen for hours!

{Fall} Console Table Display

October 19, 2012 posted by Shara

Have I mentioned before that I get the crafty-itch every Fall? I don’t know what it is….something about the cooler weather that just makes me want to nest a bit….

So far this year, I’ve been able to ignore the itch, being busy making Halloween costumes and getting ready for my first craft show. And along comes Target’s Dollar Spot. I cruised by it the other day, glancing past the Halloween sprinkles, loofas and felt candy buckets….. and spotted some REAL finds! So I purchased three wire baskets (for my craft room…), a sweet little straw pumpkin, and a small grapevine wreath. Score!

Combining them with my wire candle holders from TJ Maxx, and leaning them up against my antique window frame with photos of our relatives made the perfect little fall display. And then Jayna asked me {for the 324th time} how many days left until Halloween.

I found this gem also at Target…had been eyeing it for months in the kitchen section. But, thanks to my House Manager Meal Planner, we didn’t really need a menu board, so I couldn’t justify the price. Until now. As soon as I saw it on CLEARANCE, I knew exactly what I could use it for!

So, 31 fall colored paint chips, a pack of hard-to-find chalk markers (from Amazon), and $15 at Target later….a beautiful Fall entrance to our home!

And….itch scratched.

What have you done to decorate for Fall? Leave me a comment with your blog address or link to a photo, and I’ll feature some of my favorites next week!

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Filed Under: Crafts, Life, Our Humble Abode

And Fall Begins….

September 24, 2012 posted by Shara

Fall has always been my favorite time of year. It represents the excitement of school starting, the anticipation of the holiday season {which we almost always host}, the entrance of cooler weather {finally!} and the general feeling of starting anew.

Not to mention the pumpkin carving, hay rides, Halloween parties, family gatherings, pumpkin flavored everythings….etc.

And the past few years, Fall has also been my downfall.

For some reason, Fall judges me. She wonders why I haven’t put curtains up on all of my windows yet {hey, at least the kitchen has some now!!}. Fall persuades us year after year to throw a crazy-scary Halloween party. She screams at me to try every recipe in my Southern Living Magazine, and to transform myself into Martha Stewart in order to host the perfect Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house. Fall taunts me with her Pinterest Boards: flaunting beautiful seasonal mantles, whimsical door wreathes and cozy sewing tutorials. Fall pressures me into starting projects that I can’t possibly hope to finish before She ends, and continues to stress me out throughout her entirety.

And for whatever reason, I love Fall for doing this to me. Maybe it’s because I work well under pressure….she pressures me to finish everything before the end of the year. She is always on top of me…pushing me to learn new things, try new recipes, get out of my comfort zone. I love that she brings out my nesting tendencies, and when its ALL finally finished {just in the nick of time!}…she whispers to me that I ~~need~~ deserve that Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte.

And for all of this….Fall is my favorite time of year.

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Filed Under: Life

How to have an American Thanksgiving

November 29, 2011 posted by Shara

Martha came to visit from Canada to celebrate her very first American Thanksgiving. It’s one of our favorite holidays around here, and it was especially exciting that it was the first one in the new house! This year, Martha and Loo Loo were around, in addition to Mom Mom, GP, Sue Sue and Papaw. We missed Uncle Chris, who ended up staying home sick =(. But still enough people for two turkeys!

On the menu this year:

Munchies

Rosemary Pecans

Pumpkin Spice Dip with Cinnamon Graham Crackers and Chocolate Teddy Grahams

Spinach and Artichoke Dip with Pita Chips

Hummus and Red, Orange and Yellow Bell Peppers

Sundried Tomato, Pesto and Cheese Torte with Club Crackers

Buffalo Chicken Dip with Tostidos

Dinner

Two Fried Turkeys

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Biscuits

Green Bean Casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole (with pecans, not marshmallows on top)

Broccoli and Onion Deal

Stuffing

Collard Greens and Pace

Pecan Pie and Vanilla Ice Cream

Cake Pops

Lots of Wine!

The boys go up to the Man Cave to watch football, while the ladies set out munchies, watch the Macy’s Day Parade, and start cooking the side dishes.

The guys relax and have a cold one while the oil gets hot….

Make sure the children are being entertained while everything is cooking…

Turkeys are done!

Dinner is served!

We decided to go mini golfing the day after Thanksgiving to work off some of the sweet potato casserole!!

That night, we blasted some Christmas music and put up the decorations. We haven’t done the outside yet, but the tree and some of the little holiday knick knacks are up!

And the Holidays Begin!

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Filed Under: Life, Our Humble Abode

Fall Burpcloth and One Ca-uuuute Baby!

November 15, 2011 posted by Shara

This is the centerpiece on our coffee table in our living room. To me, it’s the perfect type of decor. Symmetrical candles, simple and easy to clean up pinecones and pumpkins, a little splash of fall color for my living room. Everything is contained on a white rimmed plate and the cinnamon scent is heavenly and oh-so-Fallish. It made me want to create those Fall themes on something. But I had very little time (and frankly, not a whole lot of energy). So, the most obvious and functional choice for me was to make a burp cloth.

I found some leaf and acorn cookie cutters in my pantry and decided to make use of them. I traced them onto some fall-ish printed fabric that I had leftover from another project, and used an iron on transfer to adhere them to some flannel that I use to make burp cloths. Then I carefully and slowly stitched around each shape with brown thread. In general, I am terrible at doing this…..but practice makes perfect, right? Here is the template I used, along with the turkey template from this post.

I folded the fabric in half width-wise with right sides touching and sewed all the way around with a half-inch seam. I left about an inch and a half open at one end, so I could poke the cloth through to turn it right-side-out. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this step!)

I took another scrap of fabric and cut it lengthwise so that it would wrap completely around the width of the burp cloth. Allow about 1/2 inch for seams. I ironed the seams and then straight stitched them all the way around. Then I sewed the two ends together to get a nice clean look.

Wrap the loop around the width of your burp cloth and position into place and pin.

Follow your existing stitching all the way around on both sides.

Then I stitched around the entire perimeter of the burpcloth again about a half an inch in from my original stitch….I think it makes a more finished look and is definitely a lot sturdier. Then, I folded the burpcloth in half width-wise and ironed a crease. I sewed a straight stich across the crease. This helps with bunching when you wash it, and also helps when folding.

After stitching in the middle, stitch the middle of both side of the crease the same way….creating fourths.

Iron the whole thing and stick it in the wash. And tada! You can be festive while getting spit up on! =)

Here’s where I’m linking up this week!

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Filed Under: Crafts, Tutorials

It’s Fall, Y’all!

November 9, 2011 posted by Shara

Its official! Fall has finally arrived in the Lowcountry! Running errands today was almost a pleasure as I admired the reds and oranges that popped up over the weekend around town. Funny how the air smells fresher and the sky seems blue-er against the bright-colored trees. Maybe it’s just me….I love this time of year!

Were you wondering if I would ever show you any of my Fall creations from my birthday shopping trip?

I’ve been working on a few…

I decided I liked the little flowers on the wreath so much, that I made a couple of clips for the girls….Jayna modeled one while working on a button project with me…

We look quite festive from the street, don’t we?

See the three sheets of paper next to our front door? We have been Boo’ed. Three times to be exact! Neighbors have been ringing our doorbell and running away, leaving buckets of Halloween and Fall goodies for us. The catch? Each time we are Boo’ed, we have to Boo two other neighbors. Too bad all of this happened before Halloween….I’d like to do it again now and get rid of some of this candy!!

Speaking of Halloween…the girls did great!

We went out early, as a family (leaving a bowl of candy on the porch)…even Loo Loo dressed up as a ballerina!

Jayna was a little nervous to go up to the houses at first, but once she figured out that she got candy at each house….she got brave really fast! Most of our neighbors were out on their porches, or driving around in their golf carts handing out candy.

After a couple of streets (and several trips back to the house to get a flashlight, replace ballet slippers with sneakers, put more candy out), Buggy was ready to drop. Literally. First it was her candy bucket. She just plopped it down in the middle of the sidewalk and kept walking to the next house! Then, one street over, she followed the candy bucket down to the ground, and announced that she was “exhausted.” Time to call it quits!