Some friends and I have compiled our best ideas for Autumn. Here you'll find some recipes, crafts and decorating ideas for your home and hearth. Jody
Mixes I got to thinking that mixes are such neat and easy gifts, so I found a great link with TONS of mixes for everything you can possibly think of! This could be a nice project for the children to do in preparation for Christmas or a fine gift to give the hostess of your next holiday dinner. http://www.recipelink.com/holiday/merrygifts.html Jody Cookies in a JAR In our store, we have lots of little recipe books about gifts in a jar (published by Jackie Ganaway of Cookbook Cupboard). We've made lots of them for gifts, but this past year Jordan has been making them up on special holidays and selling them. We' re able to sell a homemade cookie mix for around $8... the ones we can buy from companies have a retail price of $12 or so (look in Gooseberry Patch catalog!) I've been amazed at how many people buy them when the recipe is right there for sale and it would cost half the price to make it themselves. I would think the recipient of the gift would be just as happy to not have to do the work! Here's Jordan's most popular mix: Cowboy Cookies 1 1/3 c. oats - 1/2 c. brown sugar - 1/2 c. sugar - 1/2 c. chopped pecans - 1 c chocolate chips 1-1/3 c. flour, mixed with 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. baking powder, & 1/4 tsp. salt Layer ingredients in a wide mouth quart jar in the order they appear. Hint from Kim... start packing (tamping) the ingredients down at the beginning or they will not fit! We "assembly line" these, making 6 jars at a time. Jordan uses a circle of patriotic fabric and twine to cover the top of the jar & made up cute tags that says: Empty jar into bowl and mix up ingredients. Add 1 stick melted butter, 1 egg, & 1 tsp. vanilla. Mix well... You might need to use your hands! Shape into balls and bake at 350' for 11-13 minutes. Enjoy! Kim Decorator Cans The kids did a cute 4-H project last year. Using large (or any size) coffee can, poke holes for a wire handle, the can is spray painted Christmas green or red, then from Christmas fabric, cut out designs, tree, star, Santa, etc. These are then hot glued on the can, then take some coordinating Christmas fabric to stuff inside the can and pull the fabric up over the top edge of the can in a decorative way. These can be used for goodies, gifts, decoration, etc. Fun and cute. ~Mary Ellen Luminaries Your can idea reminded me of a project my sister does. She takes a can and spray paints it (for the season) and then pokes holes in it with a nail making a star or face (for jack-o-lantern) or just random holes. Then she paints on the can with acrylic paints to make stars, trees, pumpkin face or any holiday theme and adds a curly wire handle. Next, put a candle inside for a luminary for the porch or table. Jody Colonial Lanterns We made Colonial Lanterns in our Home School co-op last year. I filled the cans with water and froze them for a couple of days first so the cans wouldn't collapse or bend when we hammered the nails through the patterns. Teri in KY Thanksgiving and Cranberry Bread This is a favorite time of year for us, usually spend at the folks'. But, I am able to do my own celebrating at times, since we live out of state now. What I love to do is put the table in the middle of the family room, have the fireplace going, set it with china and cloth napkins, etc. and hopefully a nice meal to eat! I always make "Grandmother's Cranberry Bread" from the book "Cranberry Thanksgiving". The orange juice and other goodies make it the best I've ever tasted. We have to have pumpkin pies, too (homemade crust, canned filling for now) and real whipped cream. RuthK Decorating with Pumpkins for Fall (and into Christmas) We have a country weekend festival that goes from November through mid-December near us. It's so neat... it's called "Mariner's Country Down" and is way back in the woods. There are oodles of tiny little shanties that are filled with crafters, storytellers, and all sorts of neat folks. To make a long story short, they go all out with fall decorating... every porch post has pumpkins, raffia, gourds, vegetables, flowers, etc. Right after Thanksgiving, someone goes in and spray paints all the pumpkins & gourds GOLD! They renew the flowers some, but it still has that harvest look with a little Christmas glitz added. We did that at our store last year, but also sprayed the gold pumpkins with spray adhesive and sprinkled on clear glitter. (The frost is on the punkin' and the fodder's in the shock!) It is a shame to toss them just because the calendar turned to December! Kim Mums in Pumpkin Pots One reader wrote to tell me that she hollows out pumpkins and plants fall mums in them. These are put among hay bales with a scarecrow to top off the setting.
Jack-Be-Little Tea Lights and Candlesticks Use a drill or knife to cut a hole the size of a tea light into the little pumpkin. Place light in and use to decorate the table or make a wreath with grapevine, fallen leaves, berries and nuts and several pumpkin votives for the table. You can also cut holes the size of candlesticks and use the pumpkins for candlestick holders for your holiday meals or parties. You may do this with apples of various colors too! Jody A Jack-o-lantern Twist Instead of the charming pumpkin moonshines we've carved for years, add a little twist to the idea by drilling small holes (with a power drill) into the pumpkin either in a pattern or randomly. You can illumine with a candle or with small white Christmas lights poking through each hole. You might also try a cookie cutter pattern to give an all-over fall look. You might need to tap them through with a mallet or hammer. Use a melon ball maker to carve holes part way through the flesh for an luminary look when lit. Ideas from Martha Stewart Living Holiday Halloween 2000 Decorating the Home In the dining area, lay thin vines or branches along the frames of mirrors or art. Cover the table with a quilt of fall colors and fall-like patterns, i.e. a log cabin pattern instead of floral or butterfly ones. Pumpkins hollowed out and filled with scented candles give the room a soft glow when placed in a row on the quilt. Nestle flowers between them and place a bird's nest in the window sill. Your kitchen should have the classic cider simmering, but all rooms should have potpourri with cloves and other fall spices added. Even if you don't bake, line up three fresh pies for display. Apple and pumpkin will prove decorative and can be delicious. The family room should be "seasoned" first; remove all signs of any previous seasons. Now add fall quilts over the backs of furniture. A big wooden bowl filled with green apples or Osage oranges sitting on the coffee table next to any unusual rustic antique can be a conversation starter. Fill an old watering can with dried or fresh wild flowers. You can never have too many wild flowers! Toast your friends with mulled cider before a roaring fire to complete the night. Julee from Domestications www.domestications.com Leaf Table Cloth Find a 100% cotton table cloth from the second hand store or your linen closet. If you buy a new cloth, wash it first before beginning this project. Find some interesting leaves. You need acrylic paint (in fall colors) and textile medium, a brayer (or rolling pin), small paint brush, paper plates and paper towels. Put colors mixed with textile medium on paper plates. Paint the color onto the backside of the leaf (vein side) and then lay it paint side down on the table cloth. Cover leaf with paper towel and roll brayer over it. Lift toweling and leaf gently up. Continue this process all over the cloth until you are pleased with the results. Press table cloth with hot iron to set colors. Tip: Using a cloth with a fall color (gold, light tan) blends nicely with the paint colors. Jody Fall Napkins Every now and then I get in the mood for a set of new cloth napkins. It is so easy to do. Choose a nice fall fabric allowing about 16" squares per napkin (some napkins are larger). If you intend to hem the napkins, allow for 17" squares, turn under 1/4" and then another 1/4" and hem with machine or by hand. You can also allow your cloth napkins to go hem-less and fray naturally in the wash. Another idea is to make two-sided napkins. Choose two squares of fabric of complimentary colors and sew together with right sides together. Leave a little room to pull right-side-out. Press flat and topstitch 1/4" all the way around, closing the open end in this manner. When folded, these look spectacular! Napkin Folding Link here! Just click on the fold you like and get the instructions. Easy Rustic Basket Cover an empty coffee can with brown paper (paper sack). Find several sticks of approximately the same diameter that you will cover the can with. Snip sticks with a garden pruning shears to lengths a bit longer than the height of the can. These can be varied to add interest. You will then hot-glue the sticks onto the can, laying them side by side. Be sure to glue them while the can is standing. When finished drying, tie a raffia bow around the center. Put silk leaves, flowers, living mums or dried wild flowers into the can and display on the kitchen table or anywhere you need a little autumn flavor. A great project for the children.
If you have any fun fall ideas to add, please email me and I'll try to add them to this list. Garden - Home School - Art - Back to Basics - Library - Kitchen - C.M. Education - Language Arts - History - Music- Christmas Home - Fall Ideas - Nature -
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