Happy Halloween!

Lovely ladies, I've got an old friend who wishes to send you a "BOO!" from my little enclosed balcony. Berigunda is a blue eyed witch with plenty of stories to tell. She lives in an invisible house between my pots and makes all sorts of spells to keep the home happy. I have to supply her crocodile tears, sparkling star dust, apricot jam and white lies on a regular basis. But it's all worth it :)

Autumn Flower Pot: Mums!

Happy Happy Joy Joy! The purple mums are here and they make my heart sing :) You probably know by now my weakness for plants and flowers. Any plant, any flowers. I call them my silent pets and I love to watch them grow and get happy or moody. And I cry when they die (and I can't help but think that it's me who's killing them with too much water or something). But mums? Oh, I love them even more! They are so joyful and friendly and not fussy at all. And the colors they come in make Fall the best looking season of them all!

You may recognize the giant black pear from my Halloween gallery wall. But the living room looks so much nicer now, with the purple mums in their white pot and a little Uzbek wooden friend on the side. The color scheme makes me wish I had more rooms to decorate. Wouldn't it be pretty to dress-up a space in jewel tones of ruby and amethyst and top it with a little amber touch? Well, maybe in the future I could whip up something along these lines in the bedroom...

The thing that you can't see in these pictures in the smell. The wonderful aroma of chrysanthemums, a little sweet and a little bitter, bringing the damp November rain feeling in the house. I associate their perfume with crisp weather and a sense of family belonging. Maybe because we had lots of Fall celebrations when I was a little girl. And the funny thing is that many people here in Romania hate the smell of mums and call it rotten. But I like it so much!

Monday Booster: Real Color In Finland

Today I lost my words and I'm sure you don't need me to explain what is it about this room that I love. Better just head over to Desire To Inspire and see the whole apartment in Finland!

Autumn Colors On My Desk

Keep all shades in earth tones and accessorize the home office corner with bold shades of crimson red  - real Autumn style, which will boost up your energy level, in order to develop some amazing DIY projects. Add seasonal pine cones decorations. Don't forget the creative essentials: a dreamy poster, a sweet little furry companion and journals for writing and sketching. Those little 4 drawers can help you organize your craft supplies: pretty papers, ribbons, yarn, glue sticks, scissors and cutters, crayons, paint jars, brushes, tape and your entire eraser collection (if you've got one, like I do). 

Autumn Gift Wrapping

This kind of Autumn gift wrapping would be perfect for Thanksgiving presents, I guess. I actually made it for my mom, who is born in October. I spent one and a half hour shopping for her in my favorite bookstore (she is an avid reader and I wanted to surprise her) and only 10 minutes making this simple gift wrap, inspired by Fall. I chose natural items already in hand, like the gray yarn and the seabuckthorn branch. For a little extra bling, I went with a silver wrapping paper, although I don't normally use metallic decor. But I love the way the silver brings out the boosting color of the seabuckthorn :)

For those of you who never heard of seabuckthorn before, let me tell you that you can find it near the woods and it's pretty common here in Romania. Careful with those thorns, if you wanna pick it yourself! The seabuckthorn has a gigantic quantity of vitamin C (ten times more than oranges), as well as minerals and beta carotene. It is a powerful antioxidant and we use it to make a sweet-sour tea, to fight the cold.

Also, may I present my lovely assistant Anais, who is a tremendous help when it comes to wrapping gifts. She always gathers the materials needed for the job and sits on the wrapping paper, to keep it warm. Then, she makes sure that the yarn ball is properly confused, by spinning it around for a bit. Thank you, Anais, I am counting on your talents, now that we must prepare for Christmas gifts!

Click here to see more gift wrapping posts :)

YAY! The simple Fall gift wrap has been featured at Homework, Destination: Craft, Organize And Decorate Everything, The Blackberry Vine, JAQS Studio, Ginger Snap Crafts, Little Inspiration, Blueberry Craft And Hobby Time and Clean And Scentsible. Thank you so much, Carolyn, Kathryn, Jami, Ginger, Angie, Ewa and Jenn -  it means so much to me :)

        

     

Pear And Pompoms

Nothing better to do than to fool around with a pear and some pompoms. You might recognize the pear before I painted it and made an edible place card out of it :) It sits pretty well in the pear-shaped dish, its like putting my glasses in their case. The pompoms were meant to become a little Halloween decor, that's why the color scheme is white, black and yellow. And swimming in the sea of pompoms, a little turtle who used to be an earring.

Crochet Pillow For The Purple Wall

Quick update from the bedroom. I ditched the massive leather armchair that you can spot here and here and replaced it with something much more cozy and comfortable. It's a beanbag! Once you get in there, you never wanna get out of it. My purple wall is the perfect backdrop for Autumn, with its dark shade inviting me to make up strange moody stories. This is my first pic with the new crochet pillow I've made (tutorial coming up soon) in yellow, grey, dusty pink and indigo. I must thank lovely Mariela from One Happy Mess - her love for triangles inspired me for the crochet pillow design.

Monday Booster: Minimalist Window Seat

Although you can see green leaves out in the garden, this pic is just perfect for my late October Monday booster. I am drawn to this minimalist window seat with fluffy seating and the simplest fire place there is! I love the clean, soothing neutral lines, accented by the warm pops of color. The sheep skin next to the concrete bench makes my skin prickly with excitement. Visit Bo Bedre for more stunning images of this stylish container home!

Happy Weekend!

Happy weekend, dear friends! I hope you enjoy warm weather and plenty of sunshine! One more pic with the little neon butter squash - the new star at my home.I made plans to go to a flower show. I'm not 80 years old yet, but not many things can beat the splendor of a flower show, right? And someday I will have my own little garden :)

Work In Progress

Free printable coming soon :) I've been playing a little with watercolor and crayons. My inspiration - the crazy colors of the Fall leaves right here in town. The Autumn Babes are shy and hide under a ruffled skirt made of seasonal leaves.

Edible Place Cards For Halloween

It seems that I will go to a little Halloween party, after all :) I thought it would be nice to bring something for the table: place cards! Easy to do and a pretty addition to any tablescape. To kill two birds with one stone, I will make these place cards edible, so that when you are finished admiring them you can also eat them (for desert, if you are well-mannered, or before the main course, if you are still a child at heart).

What's Up With The House

The orange sheets make the bed look like one giant, square pumpkin. Maybe it will morph into a carriage.

The circus boy poster moved on the purple wall in my bedroom and is paired with a crepe paper bunting.

Also in the bedroom, a look out the window at my little plants. It's chilly at night - I'll move them indoors.

And on the kitchen counter, my favorite cups and the caraway seeds sit in a brown glass jar. I'm gonna cook a rice dish - with curry and caraway and olive oil :)