Fall Decorating!

Hi Friends:

Autumn has always been my favorite season. Nature bursts with beauty, we transition into comfort food like soups and pumpkin lattes and cool weather calls for cozy sweaters and boots. When fall arrives, as it officially does on Sunday, I get excited looking forward to the upcoming holidays. I love everything about Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas from decorating to baking to finding the perfect gift for a loved one.

At Georgia's we usher in the season with a much anticipated trip to the pumpkin patch. Must-haves include corn stalks, gourds, assorted pumpkins and apple cider donuts, of course. Here's a few decorating ideas to help you get into the spirit of the season:

Nothing is more cheerful than a bouquet of Sunflowers!

Dried gourds can be enjoyed through November. Create a centerpiece with different shapes and sizes or nestle one on a mantle, sideboard or bookshelf. 

And now for the pumpkin possibilities:

Decoupage a white pumpkin with fall foliage. Georgia's saw this idea in Country Living magazine and decided to give it a try. We used Mod Podge and newly fallen leaves, but you could easily use artificial ones - fun for all ages! 

This vintage garden chandelier looks festive adorned with mini pumpkins! 

We saw this vintage planter decked out for fall in the wee hours of the morning at the Ohio Country Living Fair. What an inspired use of straw! 

Love this stack of Cinderella Pumpkins formally known as "Rouge Vif D'Etampes." The nickname comes from the notion that they resemble the pumpkin that was transformed into a coach by Cinderella's fairy godmother. They do have "magical" appeal, don't they? 

This antique goat cart with original green paint just begs for pumpkins but would also look great filled with mums or straw and a scarecrow.

Do you have a great fall decorating idea? Share it with us; we'd love to hear from you!

Lisa and Nikki's Friday Finds!

What has inspired and delighted us this week? Here they are - the sights, sounds, tastes and one-of-a-kinds we loved!

Garden chandelier all dressed up for fall!

We love this mint condition antique Underwood typewriter! 

While in North Carolina, I had an awesome dessert at Carrabba's Italian Grill - vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and roasted cinnamon rum pecans. It was called the John Cole. I wanted to try making this at home. I knew I could buy good vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. But the pecans are what made the dessert. So I did a little experimenting and here is the recipe I came up with for the pecans:

1/8 cup white sugar

1/8 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

3 tbsp. rum (divided)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 cups whole pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Bring sugars, salt and 2 tablespoons of the rum to a boil. Reduce heat and stir continuously until sugars completely melt and you have a reduced syrup. Add pecans and stir to coat. Add last tablespoon of rum and cinnamon. Bring mixture back to a boil and then spread pecans out on a parchment/silpat covered baking sheet drizzling syrup over nuts. Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool and then break apart. It's not an exact match, but give it a try. Go ahead, put them on a salad, too!

Have you heard of Brightbox? It's a phone charging station and they are popping up where people spend time. For a flat fee, your phone charges while you eat, drink or shop! Kudos to Brightbox for providing free charging to New Yorkers during the power outage caused by Hurricane Sandy. 

There's nothing like a cozy fire on a chilly Chicago evening. Georgia's loves birch logs!

Create a Fall Arrangement from Nature!

Happy Halloween from Georgia's!

Hi Friends: 

Thanksgiving entertaining is just around the corner and, if you're like me, you're making a list of cooking, cleaning, and decorating to be done. Why not get a jump on the decorating by creating this fall arrangement with elements from nature. It's easy, quick, inexpensive and has a WOW factor! There's a lot of beauty in the fall garden and you can use just about anything with a sturdy stem. Look for bright orange, yellow and red leafy branches, Red Dogwood branches, twigs with berries or seed pods. The most important thing is to have fun with it!

I started with a container lined with sheet moss and packed with dry floral foam.

I covered the floral foam with sheet moss cut to fit the top.

For my arrangement, I used curly willow branches, a few faux fern stems, preserved leafy branches (available at craft stores) and some cotton stems that I brought back from a recent trip to North Carolina.

Start by inserting any tall stems into the foam right through the sheet moss establishing your shape and structure (known as the thriller).

Add a few fern stems to fill in around the base (known as the spiller).

Start adding your leafy element (known as the filler). Be gentle, these stems are brittle.

Finally, add berries or pods - dried lotus pods, okra or thistle would be great. Nature offers so many bold shapes and textures. I used cotton and then filled a bowl with my extra cotton pods. Enjoy!

Lisa and Nikki's Friday Finds!

What has inspired and delighted us this week? Here they are - the sights, sounds, tastes and one-of-a-kinds we loved!

Waiting for the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

Doesn’t this car’s eyelashes just make you happy?

There was a young woman who lived in a shoe…only in Las Vegas.

Beautiful vintage slate chalkboard – great for the family.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from Alton Brown.

Ally in her shark costume!

Bring the Cornfield to Your Door!

Beautiful wreath made by A.J. Ackleson for Georgia's!

While meandering through Ohio this weekend, I passed through a quaint little town where the streets were lined with homes decked out in Fall finery. There were pumpkins, gourds, haystacks, cornstalks, scarecrows...it was really charming. But one house in particular caught my eye!     

This was a "stop the car!" moment for me. I just loved this wreath! The size and free form of the corn husks really appealed to me. I had to have one. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. As I was leaving, the lady of the house walked up the sidewalk and I asked her about it. She said that she had gotten it at an antique market and that she, too, loved it's size and style. Over the next three hours of driving, as I passed cornfield after cornfield, I decided I would buy some cornstalks and try to make one. Here is what I came up with for under $20 and, if I do say so myself, it turned out great!

You need three bundles of cornstalks for this project in order to have a good selection of leafy parts.

Gather supplies: straw wreath form, twine or wire, clippers, scissors, florist greening pins and wreath hanger.

Start by determining the approximate diameter you want the finished wreath to be. This is important to know in order to determine the length of the cornstalk pieces to cut. Then, using your clippers, cut the top leafy parts of 4 to 5 stalks and tie them on the wreath form.

Continue to cut and bundle cornstalk sections attaching each bundle by wrapping tightly with twine and forming a clove hitch knot (or a knot of your choice) before adding the next bundle.

To add fluff to each bundle, pull off individual husks from the base of the stalk and add them to the 4 or 5 stalk tops. 

The wreath is starting to take shape. Beware, it gets big!

The finished product! It definitely makes a statement don't you think?

A little something for the squirrels!

Fall Flavor!

Every year, at this time, I struggle. The planter at my front door is lush and thriving, but as Fall approaches, I'm eager to make changes. I'm seduced by ornamental kale, flowering cabbages, dusty miller, pepper plants and mums. But, I feel guilty; I can't bring myself to abandon the plants I've nurtured all summer. I mean look at my diamond frost and that sweet potato vine! Ripping them out right now is wrong isn't it? Darn these lingering warm temperatures! Don't get me wrong, I'm not ready for the cold, but what to do. How about adding a large bottle or crookneck gourd to the planter or nestling in a second planter filled with Fall plants. This year, I'm calling upon cinderella pumpkins to "season" my entryway and accessorizing with grapevine garland and burlap ribbon. I can carry this through to Thanksgiving with a quick bow change to celebrate Halloween. How do you make the transition? Georgia's wants to know!