DIYing the Nest

One of our favorite things about the holidays is decorating. We can't wait to get our hands on those boxes that have been stored away for a year and begin to pull out all those little things that we forgot about. Now, neither of us are huge Halloween people. We like to celebrate, but when it comes to decorating we just are not into the black and orange spooky stuff. I would definitely say we prefer a more muted Fall palette with a few Halloween touches. This year my Halloween touch was coming in the form of glitter. I don't know what it is, but this season has brought about my love for sparkly things. Sometimes I feel like a bug to a light...I just get mesmerized. I definitely got the desire to get crafty for this holiday. Currently we are trying to save for a house and we are living in a very small apartment. Buying items for the holiday was pretty much out of the question (except for a GORGEOUS candle holder that we found for a steal). Here is my attempt at craftiness...

First, I fell in L.O.V.E with these pumpkins. I knew I had to attempt to make them in my own way. There is something inside of me that refuses to do anything EXACTLY the way I see them. This is true even in recipes...I always have to add something or take something away. I guess I am just a rule-breaker like that.

(Trying to find the source for these)

This was my inspiration, but here was my interpretation...

I love his cute little face. As you can see I added some things, used new materials, and didn't use other things. That's the beauty of creativity, you get to interpret it however you want.

I also wanted to add some real pumpkins in with my little pumpkin guy so I got my glitter on one more time and my cute pumpkins went from this...

To this...

Hint: If you wanted to use the pumpkins from year to year, you could easily buy craft pumpkins from Michael's and then keep them forever!

After receiving a few questions regarding this project I thought I would add some information. I chose to use Martha Stewart's glitter (I bought the 24 pack because I love it that much!). I REALLY like her glitter. Yes you can use other glitter, but I think her's is extra glittery and spectacular. I also used Martha's glitter glue with a brush applicator. While I know I could have probably saved money by using a regular craft glue (one that dries clear of course) I decided I wanted to go all out and buy her special glue. Sometimes I am a sucker for things like that. It worked well in my opinion, but I am sure its just regular glue. The colors I used for the two glitter pumpkins was fire opal and onyx. For the pumpkin guy above I used carnelian.

From there I wanted to put them all together to make a tablescape. Remember that candle holder I spoke of? Well, Josh and I found that on sale at ZGallerie and we just couldn't pass it up. I believe it was originally $17 down to $9. We were loving the color. I then searched around my house and looked through our holiday supplies for some more items to add. I found a silver plate, a napkin, and a couple of votives. In order to get a more pulled together look I also found some leaves that were lying on the ground outside of work. I snatched those right up, placed them on the silver plate and here is what we came up with...

We felt pretty good with the end result. Of course I would have liked to add more, but on a serious budget with only a few things to work with it's a great way to add a festive look. I challenge everyone to look around their houses for items that they can incorporate. You would be amazed at what you can reuse and repurpose in a whole new way. Try it out!