Dress This Mess > Fall Decor

The quirkiness and fun of Halloween decorations is over. By now I'm sure you've packed up all your spooks and ghosts, and swept up all the black glitter like I have (*cough *cough...). Now it's on to Thanksgiving!

Truthfully for me, it's so hard to really get excited about fall decor like I do for Halloween or Christmas. The day is a WHOLE LOTTA WORK in one single, jam-packed day. Then, in a blur, it's over, with nothing left but a WHOLE LOTTA dirty dishes. The holiday is such a typical middle child (sorry Scott)! It's sandwiched in between the drama queen of Halloween and the "can do no wrong, over achiever" oldest child, Christmas. But middle child Thanksgiving needs some love and attention too! So here are some great decor ideas to celebrate overlooked Thanksgiving.

Simple leaf artwork in inexpensive frames

Leaf door monogram. BHG

Simple banner from twigs, grasses, and acorn tops. BHG

Mum flocked pumpkins. BHG

Wool felted Acorns from Etsy

Fall wreath from painted acorns, from Little Things Bring Big Smiles

Easy and inexpensive!

Painted glass bottles. Love the possibilities!

Maybe some of you reading this are thinking, "My Thanksgiving decor was up at exactly 9am, November 1st. I mean really! It's the 9th of November already, AND we were even given a whole extra hour on Sunday to decorate, and they are now just posting this?!" If this is you, then I'm surprised you are even here reading Chaos and Gloss and it's lazy ways - but we love you anyway! Maybe some of your fancy ways will rub off on us...

We have a special fall decor project we are working on so stay tuned!

~Angela

Dress This Mess > Save the Pumpkins!

Poor little pumpkins...They get snatched from their cozy leafy beds, thrown on a truck, and then tossed into a super sized cardboard box with hundreds of other scared little pumpkins. If that's not bad enough, they are then plucked up by seemingly cute midgets who take them home only to be (gasp!) brutally gutted and have their flesh carved with strange symbols and pictures. THEN (how can it get any worse!) they are thrown out into the cold with a candle up their butt. Oh, the horror!

Haha! I'm sure that this time of year is very stressful for the PETG. You know, the People For Ethical Treatment of Gourds.

In an effort to protected our nation's vulnerable pumpkins In an effort to help out all of those who are, too lazy, too grossed and freaked out by the slimy innards of a pumpkin, or for those of you that just cannot face YET another mess to clean up; here are 8 ways to fabulously decorate your pumpkins without ever having to pick up a knife.

Gold Thumbtack Pumpkins

The crafty gal over at Madigan Made crafty these beauties with lots and lots of gold thumbtacks and Elmer's glue. This would keep your kiddos busy for hours and they are gorgeous!

Ummm, how unbelievably cute are these?! I want to adopt a whole "Angelina & Brad" bunch of them. Two Shades of Pink blog made these cuties and she has a great tutorial. Don't they make you feel all warm and cozy?

Sexy Pumpkins

The only thing these sexy girls will do is glam up your Halloween decor, and they won't try to steal your man or embarrass your family. These are made with old nylons stretched over pumpkins. How clever is that?! What a great way to recycle and reuse.

Candy Corn Pumpkins

These tie-dyed looking goodies were painted with quick and easy spray paint

Mummy Pumpkin

Hand the kids some googly eyes, gauze, and glue; and let them go to town!

Silhouette Pumpkins

These pumpkins use templates and paint to spook up your haunt. You can download the templates over at Women's Day. Wouldn't some silhouettes of your kids or family, or even the dog, be cute all lined up on your porch or mantel?

Ribbon Pumpkins

Got tons of leftover ribbon? Grab your glue gun and some pumpkins and go to town!

Chalkboard Pumpkins

Crafty Lindsey over at LRstitched made this fun pumpkin with black chalkboard spray paint from Lowe's. Think of all the possibilities!

Other people around here, not as lazy or squeamish as me, made some fantastic carved pumpkins this week. They even brought out the power tools:

Me? I'm all cruelty free with my Halloween pumpkins.

~Angela