~pumpkin, sage, & bacon soup~

This soup recipe is to die for.

I adapted the recipe from here to my liking.

Heat all the ingredients minus the bacon and cheese over low for 15 minutes, stirring often.

To serve, ladle into a bowl and garnish with bacon crumbles and parmesan cheese.

xoxo

~the colors of fall~

This is hands down my favorite time of year.

Being outdoors is a must, there is beauty all around.

RED:

ORANGE:

YELLOW:

GREEN:

BLUE:

PURPLE:

And speaking of fall, the Finding Fall Home Tours starts today!

Start here to take the tours.

You can take the tour of our home on Wednesday.

xoxo

~caramel apple place card holders~

Here's a fun way to make place card holders for your fall table.

I started with store bought caramel apples and 
added marshmallow cream to the top of each one.

Find a crunchy dried fall leaf and using
 a sharpie paint pen, add a name to each one.

Gently press the leaf into the marshmallow cream, it will act as glue and let you position the leaf however you choose.

Happy Friday!

xoxo

~I've got fall on my mind~{hot apple cider recipe}

I am laid up with a sprained ankle so forgive me for not posting

 a thrifty Thursday project today!

I have fall on my mind though and thought I'd share with you again my favorite hot apple cider recipe.

This is truly the best!

Come back tomorrow to find out the 2 winners of the Kroger gift cards brought to you by Luvsome!

If you haven't entered, you can do so here!

xoxo

~ghosts of Halloweens past~

In 2010 I decorated our dining room in a neutral color scheme.

In 2012 I showed you how to paint chevron pumpkins:

I made a few spooky signs in this post:

This year I went all out with fall decorating:

It is so strange to see how our living room used to look before my gallery wall!

2010 must have been the year for fall decorating at our house. I created
a simple porch display here.

If you'd like to try your hand at a paint by number pumpkin, directions can be found right here!

Last year I made these black and white pumpkins!

This year I threw a pumpkin carving party for Cody and 7 of his friends.
It was a blast, doing it again next year for sure!

I hope this inspires you a little!

xoxo

~FALL in love~

The woods are full of wonder; the lake is full of fish; the trees are
full of golden leaves; let's make an autumn wish.

Blessings from Crystal Lake.

xoxo

~throw a pumpkin carving party~

What fun!
Cody had 7 of his best friends over last week after school
and they all carved pumpkins.
It was a blast, we will definitely be doing it again
next year!
While they were at school I transformed a area in our back
yard into a spooky Halloween area.

The invitations went out a couple weeks before:

I put together little Halloween buckets for each of the kids, using mostly items from the dollar
spot at Target.

And here is way too many pictures of the decor:

The striped straws, orange, white, and black tissue paper balls, and felt banner all came from Target.
The glitter skull candle holders, the large crow, and the pumpkin garland came from Pottery Barn and Pottery barn kids.
The bone pieces and rats came from the Dollar Tree, as well as the labels on the orange pop.
The candy corn cake tutorial can be found here.

Ready to see all the kids in action?

That last photo is what happens when you ask the kids to all line up with their
pumpkins for a photo. Ha!

Besides the candy corn cake, I served peach and apple cobbler, hot apple cider, cinnamon applesauce and plenty of orange soda.


And, for the adults.....

With all of those seeds left over, I made these.

I hope this inspires you to throw your own pumpkin carving party!
This would be a really fun "adults only" costume party too!
Tweaked a bit of course!

xoxo