Early Fall Centerpiece

Well, I did it. I made my first official Fall Craft of 2012. If you read my Holiday Decorating Conundrum post, you know I’ve been struggling to get in the Fall spirit. But I’m trying;) I call this an “early fall” project, because it’s good for those late summer/early fall weeks, when it just seems too soon (at least for me) to bust out the Halloween decor. When it’s early September and I’m still in shorts and a tank-top, and my kids are playing in the sprinkler to keep cool, I just don’t feel very Halloween-y;)

I spotted the prettiest fake sunflowers when I was at Michaels yesterday. And at 50% off, I had to pick up a few. I’d have picked up 20 if I could, but decided not to spend a fortune on fake flowers and settled at 3. Normally I’m not a fake flower fan, but these are particularly pretty, aren’t they?

And they’re substantial. Super long stem, and their regular price is $7 a piece. Sunflowers have been my favorite flower since I was a kid. I grew a garden of the monstrous ones when I was young, and decorated my entire childhood bedroom – floor to ceiling – in them;) So maybe that’s what drew me to these too…

I also picked up some packets of leaves for less than a buck.

Didn’t really know what I was going to do with them, but I figured what the heck and threw ’em in the cart.

Got home, and it hit me. I grabbed some stuff from my craft (DISASTER of a) cabinet – 3 large mason jars, some leftover burlap, jute, and all purpose glue.

I cut out three strips of burlap – long enough to go around the mason jar once.

I decided to pull a few strings to fray the edges.

I dabbed a little bit of glue on the jar, and wrapped the burlap strip around.

Then add some glue along the other end and secure it.

Now you have a burlap covered mason jar. Cute in and of itself, right?

But we’re not done there;)

I gathered up a few leaves and sort of stacked them together. I placed the jar on top.

Cut a couple strings of jute to tie around it, and lifted it up.

Repeat three times, and stick a sunflower in each one.

Although cute, these three jars weren’t enough for a centerpiece. So I got to thinking…and rummaging through my stash of yard sale goodies…and found this old mirror.

I mixed up some homemade chalk paint in white (for the recipe, see this post). With chalk paint, there’s no need to sand, or prime, just slather it on. My kinda painting;) I taped it up, gave it two coats, and once the paint dried, took it outside to sand it a bit. Give it a little aged, distressed look…

Wiped the dust off it from sanding, placed the sunflower jars on top, and voila!

We have a nice little Late Summer/Early Fall centerpiece for the dining room table! And hardly cost me a thing:)

It could use a few little votives, maybe, some more “stuff” around it, but we’ll get there. Baby steps, people! And this mirror-turned-tray will be perfect in the winter, for some snowy/Christmas-y decor to sit atop it! Pretty happy with the way that turned out.

So there. I did it. I faced Fall 2012…ok, ok, doesn’t exactly SCREAM Fall, but it’s a start, right?! 🙂