DIY CENTERPIECE BURLAP CAKE

Welcome to Wedding Wednesday !   If you're like a lot of people now days, you're working on a limited budget.  That's our situation, but it doesn't mean that our parties, receptions or dinners have to look cheap or go without any decor.  DIY projects are just the solution to stay within the budget, and that's exactly what I did for the Rehearsal Dinner we hosted for our son and daughter-in-law back in June.  If you missed the post with all the details, you can see it at my last post DIY Rehearsal Dinner On a Budget  (part 1).

Today, I'll be sharing a tutorial for the faux cake I made for the centerpiece on the dessert table.

DIY REHEARSAL DINNER ON A BUDGET (part 1 decor)

Hi everyone!  In my last post DIY Burlap Pumpkin, I told you that I've been making a lot of projects using burlap since the rehearsal dinner we did back in June for our son and daughter-in-law. I know this post is long over due, but I thought I'd share it today as people have been asking about it.  My plan is to feature posts once again in my

Wedding Wednesday Series

Today I'll start with....

 DIY  -  How to have a rehearsal dinner on a limited budget. 

We gained some experience decorating and hosting dinners on a small budget with our two daughters' weddings. ( If you've been reading this blog for a while, you will remember that they were married within a month of each.)  You can read all about how we did  the weddings on a budget: just click on Wedding Wednesday in the side bar or on the photo DIY Weddings on a budget . The rehearsal dinner for 45 guests seemed relatively small  compared to wedding guests numbering 200 and 300 people.  If you're planning on doing your own rehearsal dinner, you may be comforted to know that even though there is work involved, it's also a lot of fun preparing and decorating for the happy occasion.

Our rehearsal dinner all started because

DIY BURLAP PUMPKIN (EASY - NO SEWING REQUIRED)

 I've been on a little decorating binge using burlap.  I used burlap for the table decor at the rehearsal dinner for our son and daughter-in-law and have some leftover burlap. I showed you how to make a burlap table runner a few months ago.  (I know I'm a little late but I do plan to share with you soon the rehearsal dinner decor.)

Because I'm in the fall mood, I thought it would be fun to try and make a burlap pumpkin.  I've seen a few you can buy but they tend to be a little costly.  I'd like to show you my cheaper and easy burlap pumpkin I made.

Below is the list of items I used to make this burlap pumpkin.

DIY CHAIR SLIPCOVER

Last week I got an email from my sister telling me about some fabric she'd found at Hancock Fabric.  She has been wanting to make a slip cover for one of her chairs.  Being a thrifty shopper like me, she went to check the fabric on the clearance table, and found a piece of upholstery fabric.  The fabric was the color she was looking for, and there were 3 yards.  To top it off, the clearance price was $5 per yard.  And then, when she went to check out, she was greeted with yet another surprise.  The clerk told her she could use her 50 % off coupon on clearance items making the fabric only $2.50 a yard.  What a great deal!

Since she has never made a slipcover for a chair, she asked for my help; and I agreed.  What a fun way to spend the day with your sister!  I'll take any opportunity I can to get together with both my sisters after living 1700 miles away from them for 16 years.  Both of us have reupholstered a sofa; and I've done a few chairs as well. (You can see how I reupholstered my wing-back chair here.)  We've also have both made slipcovers for pillows, but neither of us have made a slipcover for a chair.  It was a learning experience for the both of us, so today I thought I'd share with you how we made the slip cover.

Here's the chair we started with.

MY HIGH LOW PROJECT

I've been looking for some time now for a small side table or nightstand. My husband works on his laptop quite often in the evening while sitting in our family room.  He has to frequently run to his office for supplies: pens, stapler, calculator etc.  A small chest or night stand to sit next to his chair would be the perfect solution to store a few supplies.   I finally found what I was looking for on Craigslist for ten dollars.

It was in pretty bad shape, but I knew I would be able to fix it with a little TLC and paint.

The top looked bad too!

FALL DECORATING FOR THE HOME

Even though the temperature out side does not show it (90 degrees), summer is quickly drawing to an end and fall is fast approaching.  We just returned from a two week trip to see our family and friends in Washington state. It's hard to believe we're almost to the middle of September already - seems like summer just flew by !

I love fall and all the vibrant colors that come with the change of season.  Autumn is a great time to bring the red, yellows, brown and orange colors into your home along with elements from nature like pumpkins, gourds, leaves, branches and pine cones.  I did just that yesterday.  Here is a little sneak peak of what I did.

Starting in the dining room.  

I used one of the burlap table runners I made for rehearsal dinner.  I then made a floral arrangement using flowers also left over from the rehearsal dinner.  To give it a touch of fall, I simply wrapped it with some orange fabric.

USE FOR MASON JARS BEYOND CANNING

Canning season is in full bloom, with our garden producing abundantly means it's time to be putting up the produce for winter by canning.  Even as a child I was expected to help in the canning season.  As children, we helped pick the produce, snipped off bean ends, helped husk and cut corn off the cob.

While working on caning my beans this week, I thought about how the mason jars have taken on so many more uses over the years other than just jars for canned goods.   Today I thought it would be fun to share some of the uses for mason jars that I've done myself.

 Two zinc lid pint jars displayed in a small wire basket in our dining room.

Candle light