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Fall craft ideas for a mantel: Home decor with a Cricut machine and dollar store pumpkins!
Looking for some fall craft ideas for your Cricut machine? See how to craft a fall mantel along with more autumn projects to inspire you to create!
Yes, it's true. We are almost half way through October and I haven't shared my fall decor. If you remember my past autumn home tours, I prefer to try and make my decor budget stretch. And stretch a lot. I also like to keep things fairly neutral to be able to pass through several weeks vs. changing Halloween out for Thanksgiving. So when I want to mix things up, I either create it, or buy it from the Dollar Store. I love finding new fall craft ideas and am inspired by magazines, Pinterest, and so many other places. My mantel this fall shares some old favorites, a few new pieces, and crafts I created on my Cricut Air 2 Machine, that you can just as easily recreate! Plus, a few of my friends made some amazing projects that you will not want to miss so be sure to scroll to the bottom to see all the fall Cricut projects!
I saw a picture in a magazine a few weeks back of white pumpkins mixed with aqua pieces and I fell in love. I knew I wanted to create that look too.
The grey statue metal thing is an old favorite too. You might remember me giving it a new life with chalk paint.
The french dough bowl is a new favorite. It’s more of a “loaf” bowl though, long and skinny. Perfect for a decorative statement on a mantel. I found it on my last trip to Round Top during Texas Antiques Week. I had wanted one for a long time, and the price was finally right (remember, I’m thrifty, LOL!).
The aqua vase was a clearance find at Target a few seasons back. I cut out these lovely fall leaves from the Cricut Design Space. I used the Pearl Paper which I fell in total love with. It’s shimmery on BOTH sides. It’s so hard to find a cardstock or paper that is double sided. I hung them from twigs (you won’t believe what that really is!) with twine I had on hand.
The dough bowl is lined with sheet moss, and dollar tree pumpkins (see the before and after further down the post!). I also glued the shimmer paper leaves onto the pumpkins, and scattered them in the bowl.
I used several shapes and colors and varied the sizes and colors of paper I used. I love the way the shimmer catches the light just right!
It’s so hard to catch that glimmer that the Pearl Paper has with a camera. Hanging leaves isn’t a new idea in the blogosphere, but it was the first time I had done it.The simple trick to this……. It seems so silly. Being the thrifty person I am, I didn’t want to pay for twigs. I wasn’t going to use the trees outside because the bugs are bad this year. So I found this handy dandy guy at the dollar store.
It was the sweetest little grapevine wreath. The twigs being the size I wanted. I simply soaked it in water in my sink for about 10 mins to loosen it up and untangled it. If there are areas that are stubborn, simply soak a while longer. I liked the curve , so I kept it in a lot of the pieces. I used scissors to cut the lengths I preferred.
Now that I’ve bragged about my clever twig trick, let me show you my crafting fail. I want to point out this was 100% MY FAULT and nothing to do with Cricut. I placed the Pearl Paper on the mat, and thought I should put it on the light cardstock setting. WRONG! You can see how the leaves are ripped and that it’s not working. After a quick check on Cricut’s website, I discovered the trick to cutting Pearl Paper (and also reminded myself to not guess, and look stuff up next time!).
- Place Pearl Paper onto Cricut LightGrip cutting mat.
- Select and size images and load material into the machine.
- On a Cricut Explore, turn the dial to Turn the Smart Set dial to “Custom”.
- In Design Space, select “Pearl Paper”.
Using Chalk Paint to Paint Dollar Store Pumpkins
The pumpkins were smaller than normal, and tall and skinny, just what I was looking for. They had some sort of leaves, pumpkin, twig stuff on top that I simply tore off. You can see exposed styrofoam, but that didn’t matter because I was painting them!
I used paints I had on hand. Chalk paint, fabric paint, and acrylic paint. I mixed colors up to get the shades I wanted, and used a foam brush. I placed a skewer in the middle of the pumpkin where the stem stuff had been and that allowed me to paint them in a less precarious way.
This was a bit bigger, and I found it at Walmart. There is also a small white speckled pumpkin I found with it that was only 97 cents. I didn’t paint it.
Once dried, I cut tiny “stems” from the leftover wreath and stuck those in where the skewers had been. I laid down the moss, placed the pumpkins, hot glued leaves and scattered the rest. Easy peasy.
So that’s my quick and easy fall craft ideas for a mantel. What do you think? Do you like to mix new things with old favorites too?
Here is the table I did last fall for my Thanksgiving tablescape!
Modern Rustic Thanksgiving Tablescape with Cricut! I'm sure you can spy some fun fall decorations made from the Cricut! I've reused my dollar store pumpkins, created a leaf garland, and there is even a fabulous sign for your fall guests!
I'm not the only one who is Crafting With Cricut! Tons of my blogging friends are too! They loved this fall challenge just as much as I did!
Melanie @ bear rabbit bear says
I wish I had a mantel. For some reason, when we bought our house, our fireplace didn't have one.
Anonymous says
Some good ideas here, thanks.
Linda @ Life and Linda says
wonderful inspiration. I have been looking at the air cricut for some time now. Lovely giveaway as well.
Linda @ Life and Linda says
Of course, I would need a lesson or two, if I purchased one...LOL
Lydia Nordhoff says
Your mantle is stunning! I love the paper feathers and leaves.
GI Joe says
The Dollar Store is the best! I'm always surprised what I can find there. But it doesn't really feel like fall yet here in Texas, this will help.
Julie's Creative Lifestyle says
I love your festive fall mantel.
Thanks for sharing at C&C with J & J!
MrsMajor Hoff says
Oh man! Bummer! At least it's one less thing to dust? LOL
MrsMajor Hoff says
Thanks!
MrsMajor Hoff says
Linda, I love my Cricut. It really was one of the best investments I made for my craft room. You can do so much with it!
MrsMajor Hoff says
Thanks Lydia!
MrsMajor Hoff says
Yes, you can find lots of goodies there. And hopefully it will get cooler soon!
MrsMajor Hoff says
Thanks!
MrsMajor Hoff says
Thanks Jess! I appreciate it and will check that out!
Jess says
Wow...I love this idea! SO cute!