Home Sweet Home: Drab to Fab Pumpkin Floral Arrangement

I can not get over the fact that the fall season is upon us.  What better way to showcase the textures and colors of the fall, then by making a floral arrangement using a pumpkin as it's base! 

I just absolutely love the Dollar Tree Store.  They have great holiday decor, and everything is a dollar.  I found small foam pumpkins and a variety of fall colored and themed floral stems.

Floral Stems ($1 each)

5" Foam Pumpkins ($1 each)

I started by cutting my floral stems with a floral wire cutter.  When cutting your floral stems, make sure you cut them in a variety of lengths.  I cut some at 6", some at 4.5", and the rest at about 3".  Remove some of the leaves from the floral stem.  I used the leaves to fill in any bare spots.

 

Now, all you have to do is poke the flowers through the foam pumpkin.  Use a low heat glue gun to adhere some leaves to the parts that look bare, and make sure you give your floral arrangement some dimension (i.e. different heights and different textures).

One pumpkin arrangement is placed in our guest bathroom.

The other arrangement is placed in our kitchen counter.

-DOMESTICATED DIVA PRICE BREAKDOWN-

$4 (four floral stems) + $2 (2 foam pumpkins) | $6 total or $3/each arrangement

I have seen completed pumpkin floral arrangements at Hobby Lobby for $10-$20 each.  This is such an easy and thrifty way to incorporate a fall theme to your home.  

Home Sweet Home: DIY Housewarming Party Decor

So we had our housewarming party a couple weeks back, and I have to say we throw one heck of a partay.  We had an awesome time with close family and friends, and we can't wait to host our next get together! 

I wanted to do a couple of decorations and nice touches for our housewarming party. 

Here's what I made:

• Two Bunting Banners
• Decorative Table Signs
• Two Different Types of Floral Arrangements
• House Cake Topper
• Paint Chip Paper Garland 

-Bunting Banners-

I have made this before for a bridal shower I attended a couple months back.  See here. I used three different patterns of paper.  I was able to score a really good deal on paper at Michael's.  It was 5/$1!!!  That is a really good deal! Both of these banners cost under $3 to make!
  

"Home Sweet Home" Bunting Banner



With the leftover paper, I made a smaller bunting banner to put in our breakfast nook.

-Decorative Table Signs-

I used my favorite Ikea Tolsby Frames for my decorative signs.  I absolutely love these frames!  I made two signs.  One saying "Home Sweet Home" and the other one is a "Home is Where the Heart is" sign.  I designed both signs using Microsoft Publisher.

-Floral Arrangements-

I just love fresh flower arrangements.  I think it gives any party that extra special touch.  I found an awesome place to score cheap fresh flowers...Krogers.  Krogers usually discounts almost past shelf life grocery items, and I guess they do the same for their floral department.  I scored a dozen roses for $3.50 and a bouquet of sunflowers for $5!  I mean super steal! I used my glass vases that I purchased at the Dollar Tree.  My sisters helped me arrange the flowers.  We came up with a good idea of tying the sunflowers together with tulle.  We were able to make two short arrangements and two larger arrangements.  I think they turned out fabulous.  We placed the floral arrangements on the kitchen bar close to the family room and on the breakfast nook table.

-House Cake Topper-

We decided to have a Tres Leche sheet cake for our "housewarming" cake.  I wanted to jazz up the cake a bit, because sometimes sheet cakes can be a bit boring.  I found this cute wood cut-out of a house at Hobby Lobby.  It was only 29 cents! 

I used some craft paint and stickers I had lying around to decorate the wooden house cut-out.

I painted the roof portion in purple, and the rest I painted in green.  I used painters tape to get a straight line.  Here's the final product...

 

Us with our yummy cake!

-Paint Chip Paper Garland-

I have seen several ideas for using paint chips as decorations.  Here are some good ideas from Brit + Co.  I grabbed a whole bunch at our local Home Depot.  It's free so it's not stealing right?  I wanted the garland to match the bunting banner, so I chose green, blue, and orange paint chips.  The best thing about this DIY party decor is that it is entirely free (if you already have ribbon, a paper punch, and a hole puncher)!

I used my awesome craft punch and punched six scalloped circles out of each paint chip. 

I then used my hole puncher and punched two holes in each circle.  Make the holes near the edge of the circle.

Thread a thin ribbon through the paper circles.  I made three separate garlands.  Each garland being a different color.  So, I had one orange, one blue, and one green garland.  Here's the final product.

  

It doesn't have to cost a fortune to decorate for a party.  Just use your imagination, find those bargains, and reuse what you have!  I hope your next party is a fab one!

Home Sweet Home: Planting a Beautiful Container Garden 101

Since me and Mr. Domesticated Diva are brand new homeowners, I've decided to start posts dealing with home DIY, gardening, and interior design!  Please look out for posts labeled "Home Sweet Home" for home and garden inspirations.
It is warming up in Houston, so what better way to spend a nice weekend than working on the yard.  I absolutely love container gardens.  They are great for small spaces and can make a dramatic statement. 

I bought this absolutely gorgeous Texas theme flower pot at HEB.  It was only $20 with a $5 coupon, and it is fairly large!  Make sure you choose a pot with a drainage hole.

I bought an assortment of 4 different plants.  All are flowering plants. 

Here are the plants I selected:
Bulbine: Native to desert grasslands in South Africa, this plant grows well in a well-drained soil and is also very tolerant of poor, dry soil. Bulbine grows best in full sun, has succulent foliage, and produces racemes of star-shaped yellow with orange flowers in the summer months.
Blue Dwarf Katie Ruellia: Large lavender-blue flowers are backed by narrow, dark green foliage. Drought tolerant when established. Herbaceous perennial.
Becky Mix Rudbekia: Gloriosa Daisy hybrids are short-lived perennials, sometimes treated as annuals. Often these will survive a few winters, or at least self seed. This compact strain produces large black-eyed daisy flowers for months on end, in a wide range of shades from yellow through gold, orange and bronzy-red.
Grace Ward Lithodora: Beautiful, deep blue flowers cover this wonderful groundcover or rock garden accent. Sprawling with a slightly mounded form. Likes some shade in extremely hot areas.

The Bulbine is a taller plant, the Blue Dwarf Katie Ruellia and Becky Mix Rudbekia are low lying flowering plants, and the Grace Ward Lithodora is a crawling/trailing flowering plant.  It's good to mix and match different flowers, so that your arrangement is unique and complex.  Many people think that container gardens have to all be the same flower, but it doesn't!  Here's some great container garden arrangement from Better Homes and Gardens 

I used almost a whole bag of 2 cubic feet of Miracle Grow Garden Soil.  Make sure to space the flowers accordingly.  Water the flowers thoroughly after planting.  I placed the container near our front door.

Look How Pretty!

Upclose Shot of My Creation