Drying Acorns for Fall Decor

Acorns are excellent for use in fall decor.  If you find an oak tree that is abundant, you might want to scoop up those little nuggets before the squirrels do a number on them.  But that can often mean you are picking up green acorns.  

Acorn Pendant

Welcome back to acorn craft week!  In case you missed it, check out my acorn birds nest ring from earlier in the week.  Today I'm going to show you how I made this sweet acorn pendant using an acorn cap, some chain and a vintage button.

Come along!

Cranberry Apricot Chutney

Just in time for thanksgiving, for all my fellow Canadians.  Cranberry apricot chutney to the rescue!  For all of my American neighbours, you've got some procrastination time before your thanksgiving, but hey, why wait?  

This would be great to take as a hostess gift to a holiday meal, perfect for a neighbour, boss, a teacher at school or anyone you know that would enjoy this delightful chutney.  Yes, it is indeed, a step up from cranberry sauce in a can.

So 'wow' some folks and whip this up!  Put on your condiment making super hero cape folks and dive in!

Open Call Tuesday #21

Welcome to Open Call!  It's been a busy week, but I got a couple projects done!  Check out the book page, Mod Podged shoes I did, yummy corn relish, and even a birds nest ring!

What did you get up to?

Acorn to Birds Nest Ring

Crafting from nature in the autumn season can yield some awesome projects.  From all the beautiful warm colours and all little gems that have fallen from the trees, crafting ideas are abundant and often, free.  I always wondered why people would buy a bag of pinecones, acorns or twigs from the decor department of a store, when you can pick them up for free outside?

I was walking my little guy a while ago and saw a bunch of acorn tops strewn across the grass and sidewalk. 'I could do something with these', I said to myself as I started stuffing them in the stroller pocket.  Which brings me tooo.... acorn week!  Yes, yes.  I was so inspired, all my posts this week will be acorn related.  It also means I went back to pick up more acorn tops lol.  A LOT more.

Book Page Podged Shoes

I've wanted to try decoupage on my shoes for quite some time.  Magazine pages, wrapping paper or even fabric are a few possibilities to consider.  What a fantastic way to upcycle some forgotten 'soles'.  Yes.  I went there lol.

I found a pair of shoes in the back of my closet that I haven't worn for years.  Perfect for my first attempt.  In the future, I would probably do this on a pair of pumps, so there is more surface to decoupage.

Make a cup of tea and let me show you how it went!

Sweet Corn Relish

Attention corn lovers!  It's that time of year.  Corn on the cob is sweet, juicy and readily in season here in Ontario.  How do you like to cook it up?  BBQ, boiled, roasted or cut off the cob... it's delicious!

A little while back while having dinner, I emptied the last spoonful of corn relish from the jar and piled it onto my burger.  I had never made corn relish, but it was that moment that I decided, it was time to give it a go.

It's pretty easy, yummy and best of all, it leaves my husband thinking I'm some sort of condiment cooking super hero.

Psst... this would make great neighbour gifts for the holidays...

Open Call Tuesday #20

Welcome to Open Call!  After a great vacation with my family, we're finally settling back down into our normal routines.  You can see some snaps I took on our trip to Portugal here.  And I did get up to a wee bit of baking last week... orange carrot muffins with crumble top.  Yum!

Thanks to everyone that linked up while I was away!  What a great collection of projects!  Picking only a few features was very difficult!

Orange Carrot Muffins + Crumble Topping

Coming home from vacation this week made me realize how close we are to fall.  It's amazing how much the climate has changed already in the two weeks we were away in Portugal.  The sun is still warm, but the air is lighter, fresher, humidity is dissipating and the breeze is cooler.  I love this time of year.  Eager for the cozy feelings that accompany the coming season... but hesitant to let go of the warm sun... especially when I see it illuminating my sons curly blonde locks :)

Even though we just got home, I felt the compulsion to bake up something yummy and comforting... muffins.  So the inspiration...I like to make carrot cake in the fall and winter, so carrot was in for this recipe along with some oats.  Citrus.... orange for freshness and the sense of holding onto the last days of summer.  I was going to stop there but the word *crumble* started to swirl around quite persistently in my head.  Oh... a sweet crumble topping will do nicely!  Like a delicious crumble topped pie after a summer BBQ.  To the kitchen!

Getting back into the swing...

I'm back!  Our vacation, like most, went way to fast and was far too short lol.  We had a lovely time!

Sorry to anyone who tuned in Monday night looking for the 'Open Call' link party.  I had plans to have it up and going, but our flight home was delayed so it was very late by the time we got in.

I'll be working on a few things to share with you all over the next couple days.  In the meantime, I'll leave you with a few snaps from our vacation to beautiful Portugal.