Sunday, October 9, 2011

Sacks, Acorns & Vases


My time is pretty limited with two boys in school so I appreciate those fall decorations that can last through the holidays in fall up until the first of December. I am really excited to be a guest designer at Lessology! What a great site for inspiration and great tips on upcycling items to create beautiful projects.


I asked my two boys to save their brown paper lunch sacks for a couple of days so I could use them for this project. It took a couple of days for them to remember, but after a while I ended up with some lovely textured kraft medium. I knew I also wanted to incorporate natural items found this time of year, as nothing forces you to upcycling than the change of seasons! Both the lunch sacks and nature items, along with just a few other supplies, helped me create some decorative, abstract fall flowers.  Since I decided on a monochromatic landscape for my vase to set and for the flowers, I wanted to incorporate a lot of different textures into each ball.

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To create the dried hydrangea flower, I die cut numerous scalloped circles from the upcycled paper lunch sacks, scrunched them into a bud shape and glued them onto a styrofoam ball. The stem is simply a skewer stick from the kitchen section at my local discount store!

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The smallest flower is simply punched circles in varying sizes from the left over from the paper lunch sacks. These were then glued in an overlapping fashion to a styrofoam ball with my boys' school glue. The stem again, is a skewer stick.


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The final flower, and my favorite! consists of a number of acorn tops hot glued to another styrofoam ball that had been covered with paper sack strips, complete with a skewer stick stem.

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I tucked the three flowers in a vase, secured them with whole acorns and embellished the overall look with dried wheat grass to give the piece some height. The backdrop is a recycled cranberry crate-I love the worn, washed out look of the wood and found the blue hues complimented the orange hues of my flowers nicely.

I had so much fun creating this project! I enrolled the help of my sons to pick the acorns and toppers, my sister and I brainstormed to come up with for the hydrangea and I have a decorated spot in my living room that both my mother and aunt would be proud of! Thank you to the Lessology crew for inviting me to be part of their challenge, and I hope to see your "doggie bag" ideas soon!

33 comments:

  1. Seriously? That was once a recycled lunch bag? No way! Love the way you photographed this, off to interior design school you go, PERFECT!

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  2. the texture of this is SO delightful! I love those long-lasting fall decor items too- this is PERFECT!! :D

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  3. FABULOUS Karen. Love the acorn cups such an innovative way to use them.

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  4. This is so cool and looks great :)

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  5. are you kidding me?! What super cool decorating ideas!!!! The arrangement looks a-mazing! Soooo thrilled that you're LESSology's Guest Designer!!!!!!!!!

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  6. Karen, this is simply gorgeous. You know I had to add it to my fall Pinterest board.

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  7. These are great Karen! I'm with you-love the one with acorn caps though it would be lonely without the brown paper ones. Makes me think Boy should take his lunch to school in bags rather than his lunch box for a while.... hmmmm....

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  8. I am blown away by how fabulous this is! Such a great family project and you can't beat upcycling. I'm really wishing we had some acorns here! :)

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  9. What an amazing project Karen!!! Fabulous job!!!! I’m working on a wreath for my mom but kinda stopped so I can heal (emotionally) from the killer blister that the hot glue gun gave me! Ouch! This is beautiful!!

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  10. Karen,
    This is so creative and pretty! I just love this!

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  11. fabulous project, karen!! when i saw the first pic, i thought--wonderful inspiration pic for a challenge! then i realized its your project!-just fab!

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  12. Seriously awesome Karen! I thought it was a pic from Pinterest or something professional! What a fabulous job!

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  13. OK, girl, this is TOTALLY AMAZING!!!! I LOVE this project! SO rustic and beautiful and an incredible example of upcycling!!!

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  14. You are so incredibly creative! This looks amazing, and to think it was practically free! I love the idea of decorating with found items from nature, and even better if it will last through the season.

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  15. Upcycling at its finest, Karen!!! These decorations are amazing!!!!! Totally beautiful!
    Hugs,
    Aimes
    x

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  16. amazing, amazing! so very clever the way you used the doggie bags and the acorn top one is just too fun. fabulous upcycled project, Karen!

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  17. These are fabulous, Karen! I will not look at lunch bags the same after seeing your amazing project.

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  18. Once again...your talent absolutely blows me away! They are all gorgeous...but I am with you on the acorns...double wow! I love them!

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  19. This is Brilliant Karen!
    Love that project, so doable, so stylish!!

    Thank You~

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  20. gorgeous fall deco! you are a crafting genius.

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  21. This is so cool, Karen!! You need to make home decor more often!!

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  22. What a fabulous project! Love how clever this is! Thanks for being LESSology's guest designer for the doggy bag challenge! You have taken the doggy bag to a whole new level! :)

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  23. This is super cool! You have a future in interior design for sure!!!

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  24. Karen, this is absolutely brilliant!! Love, love, love your creative idea here. We are so lucky to have you as guest designer at LESSology. Thanks for sharing your talents with us. :)

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  25. How AWESOME!! I absolutely love your idea and design! Way to upcycle!! Thanks for the inspiration, Karen!

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  26. OH my goodness, I am blown away. You are amazing. This is awesome

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  27. YOu can make a killing selling these to Pottery Barn!!! Awesome project!!!! seriously!!

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  28. Okay, that is wicked cool! It looks like something out of Restoration Hardware. I LOVE it! How do you come up with such cool ideas??

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  29. Are you kidding me??? Your home decor idea is amazing!!! I love it.

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  30. This is unbelievable ! Beautiful!

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  31. Oooo, now this is amazing!!! Love that everyone joined in and it all looks soooo good together.

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