Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Wine A Little You'll Fell Better

A Tuscan Treasury with subtitle hughes of color as we head into fall. Inspired by the vineyards of Italy our newest Etsy treasury features some talented creations of various Etsy artists. So sit back relax, sip the wine, and taste that which fall's bounty hath brought us.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

The Lady of Shalott

I use to love fairy tales at bedtime. Stories of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and King Arthur always filled my head with the most wonderful dreams each night. I felt inspired by those tales to create the theme of this heart. I have made several hearts each with their own theme of love, but I feel this one truly touches my heart.

With that said I wanted to share with you a peom that I recently read that made me remember my love of fairy tales which lead to the trip down memory lane which lead to this creation. Many people may already know about this popular poem, but I only just discovered it.



(To see more of our crafts go hereOnce Upon A Time Fairy Tale Hanging Wall Plaque)

The Lady of Shalott a poem  by Alfred Lord Tennyson

On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens quiver,

Little breezes dusk and shiver
Through the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four grey walls, and four grey towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.


By the margin, willow veil'd,
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
By slow horses; and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
Skimming down to Camelot:
But who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?


Only reapers, reaping early,
In among the bearded barley
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly;
Down to tower'd Camelot;
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers, " 'Tis the fairy
Lady of Shalott."

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Our Fall Branch Bracelet Give Away Has Ended, But There Is More To Come.

Well all good things must come to an end, and so our 2nd giveaway is over.

Thank you all who entered the giveaway, we had allot more entries this time then during our last one. Hopefully that trend will continue in future giveaways.

Thank you all who have become followers of our humble blog we hope to hear wonderful things from you in the future.


I also want to send out a big thank you to Amanda at THE HAND ME DOWN HOUSE for hosting our 1st and 2nd giveaways! When you get the time, please go check out her blog as it is filled with DIY advice, more giveaways, link parties, interesting tidbits and good advice.

The winner of our fabulous autumn orange branch bracelet will be announced in the next few days, as Amanda at The Hand Me Down House is currently away, but will be back shortly to crunch the numbers with her handy dandy Random.org number cruncher thingy. Good luck to all who entered and we can't wait to see which one of you will take home this fabulous prize.

But Wait There's More...

There will be another giveaway this month starting on 10/26-11/1 for another Handmade Shamble Ramble item from our Etsy shop.  The item to be given away has yet to be determined, so stay tuned.

Thank you for stopping by,

Nicole

Saturday, October 9, 2010

New Look For The Dinning Room Reveal

Giving a face lift to the dinning room was a project that I had been dreaming about for months, this weekend we finally took it on.

I must have Fall fever or something because I've been paging through all those great magazines that come out in the fall, you know the ones, where every one's home looks like Martha Stewart's and their holiday decorations are just perfect, and their furniture is just perfect and their table settings are just perfect, and their.... you get the idea. Well I decided to take my first step towards getting my house look like "This is the house that love built"
and not like "Were just staying temporarily so don't get to comfy".
The color we selected is called Evening Glow. It's sort of like a butter cream yellow.






 I'm still debating whether I think it goes well with the rattan colored wall paper we had around the bottom of the room, my thought is maybe to pain that a cranberry red.

 We added 3 2' black shelves between the windows and decals. I updated our bulletin board. It had a typical natural wood frame around it, which I have now spray painted glossy black to match the shelves.


To do that I found the biggest piece of cardboard I had, and used painters tape to attach it to the center of the peg board, then used painters tape to cover up the rest of the area that did the cardboard did not cover up. Then I took it outside laid it on top of a trash can and sprayed the wooden frame with glossy black spray paint.

The decals, are wall stickers that I purchased for only $2 locally at a store called Christmas Tree Hill. I couldn't believe they were that inexpensive, so I bought a whole bunch of different sayings.


I plan to do more in here, one of my future projects I hope, will be to paint our nickle colored chandelier in this room, black to resemble one of those country ones.

The last thing I did was to update the chandelier with a black and orange hanging bird cages which I purchased at Michael's craft store for $1 each.  For instructions on how to do this project see my Leaf and Ribbon Cascading Chandelier Project.



Thank you all,
Nicole

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Woodland Masquerade and Pretty in Pink Treasuries

Check out two new treasures just posted this week by the Fantasy Artists of Etsy Team. Aren't they gorgeous!

The first treasury is brought to you by Valorie of The Fairie Bower who is hosting a fantasy masquerade ball and you are all invited – just drop in on her incredible treasury, “Woodland Masquerade”:


And our second treasury is brought to you by Susan of Spinning Castle, where you can "Move Through the Magical Realm" with Tribal Faerie inspired Art and Accessories, has joined the ranks of the Pink Warriors with her glorious homage to John Hughes’ film, “Pretty in Pink,” and NBCAM.  Here is her latest treasury, “Isn’t She Pretty in Pink?



REMINDER: OUR GIVEAWAY IS GOING ON NOW THROUGH 10/11

Don't miss out on your chance to own one of our fall themed branch bracelets that we will be GIVINGAWAY now through 10/11. This is the perfect way to show off your love for fall. See our Giveaway page for details on how to get up to 4 ENTRIES into this drawing and GOOD LUCK!

Decorating your front door and Stairs for Fall

This is a project I tackled last night, I wanted to bring a little of that autumn warmth inside.

Wrapping our stair banisters has become a family tradition every year around Christmas. We would wrap them in shinny Christmas garland, some times we use green and other years red and white to look like candy canes. Then we would wind either multi colored or white Christmas lights on top of them.

This is the our first time wrapping the stairs for fall. I used some of the bright leaf garland you can find at any craft store this time of year, then added the orange Halloween lights on top.

We turn them on each evening and it instantly changes the mood of the whole house. They also provide a warm welcome for friends and family to see as soon as they walk into your home.




Be sure not to neglect your front door this Holiday Season, send a warm and inviting message to all who pass by. After all isn't this the time of year when we want to spread that warmth and joy we feel to others.

We added the same leaf garland around our front door outside along with the orange lights. I love to just stand out side and look at it. If I didn't already live here I would want to be welcomed in. It just makes you feel warm looking at the lights on a cold night.













We bought two hay bails, mums, and pumpkins from a local farmers market. We also buy plenty of long neck pumpkins while were there for our home made pumpkin pies.We leave them out side in the cold to keep them fresh, every weekend we'll just step outside and grab one to bake a fresh pie.

Thanks,

Nicole







Tuesday, October 5, 2010

FALL BRANCH BRACELET GIVEAWAY!

New Giveaway Starts 10/6/10-10/11/10



Starting tomorrow Shamble Ramble will be giving away an eye catching fall themed branch bracelet. This giveaway will once again be hosted by our friend Amanda at The Hand Me Down House, you will need to visit her site to enter the drawing. See our Giveaway page for details.

Creating a Simple Leaf and Ribbion Cascade for Fall

Today I'm going to show you how to make a really easy Fall leaf and ribbion cascade that you can attach to any hanging light in your house. This project is very budget friendly and  takes only a few short minutes to do and can really add allot of warmth and visual interest over your dinning room table.







The supplies you will need can be found at a local craft store. You will need 1 or more small spools of ribbion. You can choose any color of ribbion you like, but this looks best if you choose more than one. I have chosen to use a chocolate brown and pumpkin orange. You will also need a packet of loose faux fall leaves and a stapler.







Cut the ribbion into strips of 24" long. For a layered look you may cut ribbons into 2 or more different lengths.











Next lay out your leaves over the ribbion and arrange them so that the leaves are at an angle so they look like they are falling.











Next put one staple in each leaf, and staple it to the ribbion.












Then tie each ribbion onto an arm of you light fixture. I put one on each arm, but you can add as many ribbons as you like and even vary the lengths for a more layered look, you can even ad beads in between each leaf on the ribbion if you like. I added two mini bird cages as a focal point. This is the perfect project to get creative with and really put your own spin on it.

Nicole