Thursday, September 1, 2011

A Touch of Fall

Oh, how I long for a chill in the air!  Alas, here in Arizona we can't look forward to that for at least another couple of months.  While the weather is still screaming summer, the calendar is saying fall and I decided it was time to get in the mood.  It is September after all! 




For a while now, I have felt that this little vignette on the fireplace hearth needed a little face lift.  You may remember the split pea cones.  They were so wonderful, fresh and Springy when I made them last February.


However, they have become faded, almost yellow and the kids have knocked them down a few too many times which has made more than a few hundred peas flake off.  They just did not have the "life" in them anymore.  Of course, the thrifty in me couldn't just throw away two dollar store cones covered in an 88 cent bag of split peas.  Oh no.  Not this frugal girl.  All they need is a touch of paint.  My first thought was to use some craft paint, but then as I was walking the aisles of Lowes the other day guess what caught my eye -  Valspar La Frontera Copper spray paint - the perfect harvest orange, not too bright, just right!


I popped them on a skewer, took them outside and gave them a nice coat of paint.  Beautiful, but it was missing something, some depth.  So I grabbed a can of oil rubbed bronze spray paint and gave it a very light dusting.  It was great, however a couple of spots got a bit thick, so I dusted it again with the copper.  Perfect.  Don't you just love the texture of the split peas.


To change up the look a bit, I pulled out some fall leaf foil garland I picked up at the dollar store a couple weeks back and made another tree.  I gave my Styrofoam cone a light coat of orange spray paint and then started wrapping the garland.  It is a wire so I simply poked the end in the cone and started wrapping - first the gold, then the brown, then the red and repeat.  After I was done, I fluffed it up a bit, pulling the leaves out from under the wire.

I only had two of the wood candle sticks so I grabbed a small glass one from my stash.  I dusted it with orange and then the ORB.  I love the speckled effect in this application.


To balance out this new display, I pulled out my orange candles and placed them on the candlesticks on the side table along with a bit more of the garland.

Have you started decorating for Fall?

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15 comments:

  1. Your trees turned out so cute! And very thrify. Heres hoping they help you have cool thoughts even if the weather says different.

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  2. I have one of those same candles!!! I haven't started decorating yet, but I'm dying to. What a great idea to paint your "pea" trees. hehehe That sounds so funny. They look great. I had some garland like that, too, but I gave it away. I've got to stop doing that. Have a great week-end.

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  3. Great idea! My split pea ball has faded as well. I'm going to spray paint mine too. Thanks for the tip!

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  4. Great idea to update from Spring to Fall decor. I hadn't seen the split pea trees before. I'm off to check them out. Saw you over at TT&J :)

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  5. Oooooo ... I love the texture of the split peas and that yummy, coppery paint. Perfect!

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  6. Love those split pea cones,...perfect fall colour.

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  7. Lovely projects -- what a great face lift you gave to your pretty cones!

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  8. it is getting tht time of year I love your decor will have to drag mine out soon come visit me at http://shopannies.blogspot.com

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  9. Love it! When I saw the first picture I thought you had used orange split peas (I think that's what they are, either that or lentils). But painting the ones you already had is a great idea!

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  10. I absolutely love this Fall craft idea. It looks so pretty and festive!

    Thanks so much for sharing with So Sweet Sundays! :)

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  11. This is fabulous! I have been wanting to do a split pea project, thanks for the inspiration! I would love to have you share this @ Show & Share--
    http://southernlovely.blogspot.com/2011/09/show-share-4.html

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  12. Your tree turned out really cute! Very thrifty! I love all things metallic!

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  13. Your trees are so pretty! I really really like them!!! Thanks so much for the inspiration! I will have to remember to make these!

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  14. Love the trees! And that copper spray paint is perfect for fall!

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