Lazy Mom Fall Decorating Reveal

My front door area needs a lot of help. The door is just awful; full of marks and old stickers. I am desperate to replace the door with one with a window to let some light in because I have zero windows on the front of the house on my main floor. But replacing a door seems like a normal person DIY project, which means we are not capable AT ALL of doing it. So it will wait. 

So beautiful...

But it is a bit sad. I have a dead hanging basket hanging on the front and a generic black rubber mat that says "Welcome". That's it. I wanted to spruce my stoop (is it a stoop?) up for the fall season.  So here is the before photo:

See? It needs some help. There is a lot of space for really cute fall decor, and it has a lot of potential. So I did some decorating that fits into my busy lifestyle:

All Fall-ified

 Isn't it amazing? Here, I'll show you a side-by-side comparison just so you don't miss it. 

And here, my dear ones, is an example of setting small, achievable goals. You too can have a blog worthy front porch with minimal effort! Here is a handy tutorial: 

Step 1: Purchase pumpkin.

Step 2: Place pumpkin on step. 

Happy Fall Everyone! 

Handy Tip: How to Keep Your Duvet From Bunching Up

One thing I love is jumping into a nice comfy bed and crawling under a huge cozy duvet. Even better if the duvet cover is flannel. However, it only takes about 1 night before the duvet migrates through the cover and ends up in large bunches. Usually the duvet ends up on Hubby's side, and I end up with just a thin, measly cover to try and keep me warm. Less than ideal to say the least. 
And don't even get me started on trying to fix it. It's like some strange mix between a wrestling match and yoga. Holding one end up in the air while trying to somehow inch the cover back down. You get one corner in, only to have it back out again when you try to work on the next one. It's a nightmare. And definitely a 2 person job. 
I know there are clips you can purchase that supposedly solve the problem, but to be honest they looked like they wouldn't really help much at all. I had a feeling we would spend the money, install them, get our hopes up and then find out that they didn't work well and be stuck back in our original bunchiness, but this time even more frustrated since our hopes were dashed. 
So, when I was reading a forum I belong to and someone mentioned using ribbons, I was flabbergasted. Could the solution really be so easy?! And free?! Well, let me tell you that it is! 

You need:some old ribbon (the colour doesn't matter, as it will be hidden)A needle and some threadA lighter (if your ribbon will fray)
Start by cutting the ribbon into 2 lengths: 1 for the loops and one for the ties. The loops should be fairly small, to keep the duvet close to the corners. The ties should be long enough to tie a bow, or to double knot if you prefer. Once you cut your ribbon, be sure to hold the ends close to a flame so that they won't start to unravel when you wash them. 
Using your needle and thread, stitch the loops onto the corners of the duvet and the ties onto the inside corners of the duvet cover. You could also add ones in the middle, so that the sides don't sag if your duvet is thick and heavy.  (This is one project where it doesn't matter that my hand-sewing skills have not improved since Girl Guides. Phew!) 
And there you have it! Simple and free solution to an annoying problem! Thank you ladies of the internet! 

DIY Christmas Wall Art: Part 2

So, as previously mentioned in my first post, I have another tutorial for you. This one was even cheaper than the first one, and is so incredibly easy. It really only took about 10 minutes to do. I found the inspiration for it on Pinterest. It came from an Etsy Shop which you can find here. Hers are obviously much nicer than mine, and she put a lot of time into making the gorgeous wreath. 

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My version is much lower-class and also much smaller. I found some wooden letters from Michael's and painted them white. 

I then found this cheap red garland with Christmas bulb doodads attached. I bent a coat hanger into a circle, and then clipped off the extra wire. I used that as a frame and just wrapped the garland around the wire to make a "wreath" for the "O". 

I was a little stumped as to how to hang them above my mantle. I wanted them to sit flush to the wall, and I didn't want to add any more nail holes. There was already a small nail in the centre, so I used that to hang the "O".  I then had a great idea. I had already purchased some of those 3M adhesive hooks to hang the stockings. I just used the adhesive strips without the hooks on the back of the letters, and stuck them straight to the wall. That way when Christmas is over, the wall goes back to normal! Woo hoo! 

I am really happy with how it turned out. The project cost me about $5 in total. Pretty good! 

Sponsor Spotlight: Shortbread Meltaways and Holiday Wrapping with Lish from Imprintalish!

Today I have a special treat for you guys: a delicious guest post from one of my awesome sponsors, Lish! She blogs over at Imprintalish, which is one of my very favourite blogs to read. Gorgeous photography and awesome crafty ideas. She's got some great holiday ideas, so head on over and show her some love! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe Lish. Skor bars are my absolute favourite. I can't imagine that these are going to last long in my house...

Hello all you Up Mommy Creek readers!! I'm so happy to be here today hanging out with my fellow Canadian, Amy, and all of you!!! My name is Lish and I blog over at Imprintalish. I blog about everything from my two handsome little guys to crafts to pretty finds on the web, recipes and tales of balancing life, my etsy shop and being a SAHM.

Today I am going to be sharing a recipe with you that I put into my Christmas goodies line up a couple years ago. It's pretty simple and will be sure to help you pack on the pounds..LOL...I think I have ate a whole batch already, and if you add up those little calories (look at the bottom of the recipe down below), I think that equals out to two days worth of calories!! If you can keep your hands off them though, they are the perfect treat to share with neighbours, friends, coworkers and family!

Shortbread Meltaways
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
 2 teaspoons vanilla
 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
 1/2 cup cornstarch
 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
 1/4 teaspoon salt
 1 cup Skor toffee pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Beat butter, icing sugar and vanilla until creamy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, corn starch, baking powder and salt;stir half into butter mixture. Stir in toffee bits and remaining flour mixture. Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls and place on prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool on pan for about 5 minutes and dust with more icing sugar, if desired. Store in airtight container for up to two weeks. These also freeze well! 1 cookie= 80 calories-bet you didn't want to know that!

So once you've finished baking and let them cool, it's time to wrap them up!


What I used: 
Jar with air tight lid 
Kraft Paper Doily
Elastic Band
Glue
String of faux pearls

1. Loosely trace the lid onto some Kraft paper, I left about two inches of space around it. Next, center the doily on top of the lid with the Kraft paper on top of that. Secure in place with an elastic band.

2. To decorate the top of the jar, I cut a long skinny strip of Kraft paper and started twisting and rolling it to make it resemble a ribbon, almost like a piece of raffia. Then I started rolling it around into a shape of a flower.

3. Secure the flowers to the top of the lid with some glue.

4. Cover the elastic by wrapping a string of beads, ribbon, yarn around the jar.

Voila! A jar perfect for gift giving. Not only for Christmas but for any time of the year too!

Thanks so much for having my over to visit Amy, I had so much fun! I hope to see all of you over at my blog too...don't be shy either, I love meeting new people!

DIY Christmas Wall Art

December 1st. The day I can officially start my Christmas-ing and not feel guilty about being too early. Yay! This year I got quite crafty and have made a few ornaments, a gift and a couple holiday decor items. I blame Pinterest, really. So much inspiration. Makes me feel like I need to craft to be cool. I also blame being on maternity leave: a lot of time and not a lot of money. 
I wanted to Christmas-up the main floor a little more this year. Usually we only have our fake tree in the window on that floor and the basement room gets all the Christmas cheer (and the real tree), since that's where the fireplace is. I wanted something to match the red and white theme of our main floor tree. Yes, we have 2 Christmas trees in our house. It's because Hubby always has had a real tree, and I have always had a fake one. So we compromise and have both. Excessive? Perhaps. Christmasy? Heck yes! 
So, I popped over to Michael's and found some canvas on a super-sale, grabbed a couple of bottles of $0.79 acrylic paint and a couple of packs of white sparkly letter stickers, and made myself some Christmas wall art. All in all it took about 30 mins to do, and I think it looks great. It's pretty much exactly what I was looking for: something Christmasy, but not overly so. 
Here's how I did it:
I started with the blank canvas (obviously). Mine were 16"x 20"

I painted it all over in a bright red acrylic paint. Tip I learned the hard way: make sure to paint around the side of the canvas before doing the main part. It's way easier than doing it after it's all pretty on the top. 

While the paint was still wet, I dipped the brush in a deeper wine colour and brushed it over the red. Then I just blended it in long streaks to give it a bit of depth. I think it makes it look a little more rustic and interesting. 
Then, when dry I peeled off the backing on the letters and stuck them on in the arrangement I wanted. Here's what I came up with:

I was a bit limited in the sayings I could create because I am cheap and didn't want to buy more than 2 packs of the letters. And there are an awful lot of "S"s in most Christmas sayings. 

Here's a close up to show the sparkly-ness

I love how they turned out. I paid a whopping total of about $25 for the supplies and spent about 30 minutes making them. Sah-weet! 
I have another super easy (and cheap!) Christmas decor project to show you next week. 
Also, you may have noticed a change in the blog address. I am now on my own domain at www.upmommycreek.com! Exciting! So please update your bookmarks if you have 'em.