DIY Livin' on Prayer + Pumpkin Spice Tee

This post contains affiliate links.  Thanks for supporting Pitter & Glink! Hey, y'all!  I am so excited that we FINALLY had some fall weather this week in SC.  The leaves are changing colors, and I actually had to wear a jacket to school two mornings in a row.  In honor of these fall milestones, I thought I'd share my brand new tee with you that I created using a FREE cut file I shared on the blog last year.

When fall rolls around, we all know that it's the beginning of pumpkin spice season, right?  

Fall Poem Pillow + Free Cut File

Thanks, Expressions Vinyl, for sponsoring today's post!  This post contains affiliate links.  Thanks for supporting Pitter & Glink! Hey, y'all!  Since school has started back and it's been unbearably hot around here lately, I am sooo ready for fall!  Bring on the cooler weather, pumpkin everything, boots and scarves...give me all the fall! I was so inspired by my longing for fall recently that I wrote an original poem about the season. Today I'm showing you how I used some fabulous heat transfer vinyl from Expressions Vinyl to create a festive fall pillow featuring my poem.  As usual, I'm sharing the free cut file with you so that you can create your own, AND at the end of the post, I'm telling you all about how you can vote (for me I hope) and enter to win a prize over at the Expressions Vinyl Blog.  

Yep, that's a lot of fabulosity happening in one post, so let's get started.

Share Your Love for Pumpkin Spice with This $2 DIY Mug

This post contains affiliate links.  Thanks for supporting Pitter & Glink! Hey, y'all!  It has FINALLY started to feel like fall here in South Carolina.  Every afternoon when I get home from school the weather is just cool enough that I'm starting to feel the need to hibernate.  You know what I mean...I feel the need to change into my pajamas and drink something hot while I sit cozy under a blanket.  Of course, one of my favorite hot drinks is coffee, and I have a thing for cute coffee mugs.  It's a borderline obsession that I recently fed when I made myself a fun hand-lettered "Livin' on Prayer & Pumpkin Spice" mug.  (Because it is the season of pumpkin spice everything, and Lord knows I need all the prayer I can get!) Since I know I can't be the only person with a mug obsession, today I'm sharing the tutorial for my fabulous hand-lettered mug that I created for about $2, and because I love y'all, I'm giving you the free hand-lettered cut file so that you can make your own!

 My new mug started its life as a lowly orange coffee mug that I bought at Dollar Tree for a whopping $1. With the addition of a vinyl decal that I created with my Silhouette Cameo and a hand-lettered cut file I designed, my mug is now all kinds of fabulous.  Keep reading to for the how-to...

Make Easy Hand Lettered Fall Wall Art with Free Cut File

This post is sponsored by Expressions Vinyl and contains affiliate links.  Thanks for supporting Pitter & Glink! Hey, y'all!  I am so excited about today's post!  I am an ambassador for Expressions Vinyl, and they recently contacted me about being a part of a fun vinyl competition with a bunch of talented bloggers, so of course I jumped at the chance!  I knew about the contest way in advance, but in my usual style, I waited to the almost-last minute to create my project.  My main problem was that I struggled creating a hand-lettered design, only to realize after I finished it that I hated it.  After that waste of time, I realized that I had a hand-lettered design from last year that I made a printable with that would be PERFECT for some fall art.  So today I'm sharing my brand new Hand-Lettered Fall Wall Art, and because I always want y'all to be able to easily recreate my projects even if you have no hand-lettering skills, I'm giving you the free Silhouette cut file so that you can make your own!  And at the end of the post, I'm sharing the link where you can go to vote for your favorite vinyl project (hopefully mine) and enter a giveaway from Expressions Vinyl!

Now I don't know if y'all have ever created art with vinyl before, but it is SO EASY.  All you need is a painted board, some vinyl, and a cutting machine, and you can have brand new art in no time!

Hobnail Milk Glass-Inspired Dollar Store Pumpkin Makeover

Hey, y'all!  Today is the last day of dollar store pumpkin makeover week on the blog.  Today I'm showing you how I made a milk-glass inspired pumpkin using a cheap carve-able pumpkin from the dollar store, hot glue, and paint.

It's easy to recreate this hobnail milk glass look with a few supplies.

Vintage-Inspired Shabby Pumpkin: A Dollar Store Craft

Hey, y'all!  I told you Monday that over the weekend I gave several dollar store pumpkins a makeover.  And I also told you that because I'm sharing those makeovers this week, I'm declaring this dollar store pumpkin makeover week here on the blog.  So today I have a brand new makeover for you.  This pumpkin makeover is vintage-inspired, and while it's a little more shabby than chic, I know that a lot of people are fans of this style.  I'm calling it my Vintage-Inspired Shabby Pumpkin.

To recreate this look, you'll need a few supplies...

Dollar Store Pumpkin Makeover Using Paint and a Paper Flower

Hey, y'all!  I guess you could say this is the week of the dollar store pumpkin here at Pitter & Glink.  Why?  Let me explain.  I had the house all to myself Saturday because hubby went to the Clemson game, so I took the time to work on lots of projects, and for some reason, many of those involved dollar store pumpkins.  I challenge myself every year around this time to try to come up with new ways to makeover dollar store pumpkins.  You know the kind: those styrofoam carve-able ones that just aren't  cute.  Today I want to show you how I made over one of the pumpkins using paint and a paper flower, and later this week, I'll show you the other pumpkins I gave a makeover too.  Hopefully by the end of the week, there won't be any cheap pumpkins left at the dollar store because they'll all be at y'all's houses getting made over.  Anyway, on to today's pumpkin makeover.

 I used a few supplies to take my pumpkin from cheap to chic.

Free Hand-Lettered Fall Poem Printable

Hey, y'all!  Fall is SLOWLY coming here in the South, and there are a few things I think of when I think of fall: cozy sweaters, football, warm drinks, and beautiful leaves.  I had all these on my brain recently, so I wrote a tiny little poem and hand-lettered it for y'all so that you could have a fun printable for your fall decor.

Once I digitized (is that even a word?) my hand lettering, I filled the words with some fall colors and even found a few embellishments to add around the words.

I think the printable turned out pretty fun!  You can download your own copy of the printable {HERE}.  The printable colors are actually a little deeper than photographed and look even more "fall-like."  If you don't really like the different colors though, you can download an all orange version of the printable {HERE}.  

No matter which version you choose, I hope you enjoy it!  If you use the printable in your fall decor, I'd love for you to post a picture on Instagram and tag me or share a picture to my FB page. Happy Almost Fall! Related Posts:

 Halloween Treat Bag with an Extra Treat (Printable Gift Tag Included)

Thanksgiving Pallet Art

{Duck Tape Decorated Dollar Store Pumpkin}

Hey, y'all!  Did you survive Halloween?  I did, and now I'm ready for Thanksgiving.  In preparation for Thanksgiving, I have a lovely pumpkin project to share with you.  Y'all know that I love those dollar store pumpkins.  (Remember my Fabric-Wrapped Dollar Store Pumpkin and my Pink Glitter Pumpkins.)  This time, I've decorated one with spray paint and Duck tape, and I love how it turned out.

To begin this project, I started with a dollar store pumpkin, of course.  :)

Let's face it: that orange, styrofoam-looking thing is not that cute.

So I used a pretty turquoise color spray paint made by Valspar called Exotic Sea to begin its transformation.

I wrapped the stem of the pumpkin with twine to make it stand out from the rest of the pumpkin.  Then it was time to add the Duck tape design.

To create the design, I used Duck tape, a ruler, a craft knife, and my fabric cutting mat.

I stuck a strip of Duck tape to my mat and used the ruler to cut triangles.  You can see in the above photo how I did that easily by cutting two squares and then cutting those squares in half diagonally to create triangles.  Then I placed those triangles on the pumpkin in a geometric design.  You can create whatever pattern you'd like.

I love the final product.  The gold Duck tape looks really pretty paired with the turquoise paint.

A grouping of these pumpkins and some pretty candles would make a lovely centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table.  Who says Thanksgiving has to be brown, yellow, and gold?  ;)

{My Favorite Bloggers: Give Thanks Printable}

Hey, y'all!  I'm back today with a brand new post.  Y'all probably have noticed that each month for the past few months I've been teaming up with my favorite bloggers for a themed post.  

This month's theme is "Thanks."  I came up with a cute little printable to share with y'all.

Being thankful for all our blessings is something easy to forget.  Sometimes we fall into the trap of expecting blessings, and we forget to be thankful for what we have.  Yes, there are things in my life that I really want that I don't have--a baby, for instance--but I have SO MUCH to be thankful for no matter if those desires are ever fulfilled or not.  This printable is a great little reminder of that.  You can print this as your own reminder.  Frame the printable, use it as a postcard or attach it to the front of a blank card to create a thank you card!  You can download the printable below.

To download the printable, simply click on the arrow with the line under it.  Please note that printables are for personal use only.  You may not claim the printable as your own, sell, or redistribute it.  I created the printable as a 4x6, so if you want to print it any other size, I highly recommend doing a print preview first.

Now that you've seen my project, check out these other great projects from my blogging buddies!

Nancy's  Turkey Embroidery Hoop Art

Kara's In All Things Give Thanks Printable

Bethany's Give Thanks Printable

Amy's Gratitude Centerpiece

Kristen's French Inspired Stamped Necklace

Chiwei's Origami Ninja Star Thankful Ornaments

Sky's Giving Thanks Printable

Marilyn's Thanks Dinner Rolls

Tara's An Art Piece to Give Thanks

Melanie's A Preschooler's Guide to Giving Thanks

As the season of reflecting on thankfulness begins, I'm curious.  What are you thankful for?  I'm thankful for many things, and one of those is YOU!  Have an awesome week!

{My Favorite Bloggers: Pumpkin Canvas Art}

Hey, y'all!  I'm sorry that I'm not posting as much as I was during the summer, but I'm sure you can understand that school has me a lot busier than I was then.  Anyway, I'm here today to share a pumpkin project with you as part of My Favorite Bloggers' Monthly Themed Post.

Let me introduce you to everyone participating. Starting at the top, left to right: 

Kirsten from One Tough Mother, Adrianne from Happy Hour Projects, Marilyn from 4 You With Love, Sky from Capital B, Tara from Suburble, Bethany from Pitter and Glink, Melanie from It Happens in a Blink, Lauren from The Thinking Closet, Kara from Petals and Picots, Carlee from Ladybird Ln, ChiWei from 1 Dog Woof, Kadie from 7 Alive, Amy from One Artsy Mama, Sarah from Repeat Crafter Me and Nancy from Small Things with Love. 

These ladies and I have each come up with a pumpkin themed project or recipe.

So without further ado, here's my project.

All you need to complete this project is a canvas, paint, a paint brush, and a brown ink pad (optional).  I started by sketching a pumpkin with a pencil on my canvas.

I should have painted the background of my canvas first, but I was so excited to start painting my pumpkin, I forgot!  So you should paint your background first and THEN sketch your pumpkin.  After your pumpkin is sketched, you need to fill in the design with the appropriate colors.

In this picture, I have painted the background, the pumpkin stem, and, of course, the pumpkin.  The trick to making the pumpkin look somewhat realistic is by shading.  Shading when painting is really fun, and it's not that difficult to do.  I shaded the pumpkin by painting the base of the pumpkin orange, and while it was still wet, I used a small brush loaded with a little bit of brown paint to paint the lines in my pumpkin.  Then I brushed over the brown paint with the brush I used to apply the orange paint.  I didn't load any extra orange paint on the brush; I simply used what was left over on the brush to blend the brown paint into the orange paint.  As long as you add different color paint while the base paint is still wet, you can easily blend the colors to create a nicely shaded pumpkin.  (You can even add white or tan paint and blend it in to create highlights.)

In the above photo, you can see a bit of shading that I added to the stem of the pumpkin.  Later I painted the leaf and curly vines and shaded those as well.

When I finished painting, the background of the canvas was a bit too "clean" for me, so I decided to lightly rub my brown distress ink pad over the canvas.  I blended the ink in with a damp foam brush, and once I had enough of the distressed look for my taste, I was finished with my pumpkin canvas.

I love everything this pumpkin art represents: cooler weather, fun holidays, and time spent with family and friends.

If I can create pumpkin art, you can too.  Give it a try, and you'll find that it's not as hard as you may think.  And you know what else you might want to try?  Any of the other pumpkin projects or recipes from my favorite bloggers, so hop on over to my friends' blogs to see their awesome projects.

{Pumpkin Card}

Hey, y'all!  I have a quick, easy-to-make project to share with you today.  With fall just around the corner, I couldn't wait to craft something for the upcoming season, so this weekend I created a pumpkin card.

To make this pumpkin card, you will need a blank card and envelope, two coordinating pieces of scrapbook paper, a small piece of sandpaper, an ink pad, glue, and any embellishments you'd like.  I began by cutting a pumpkin from one of the pieces of scrapbook paper.

I used my Silhouette to cut my pumpkin, and then I sanded the edges of the pumpkin to distress it.

I wanted to make sure that my pumpkin stood out from the other paper I planned to use on the card, so I inked the edges and a bit of the top of the pumpkin.  Since I had previously sanded the edges, the ink really soaked into the paper and gave it just the look I was going for.

I then cut a square piece of scrapbook paper the size of the blank card.  When I was ready to glue all the pieces together, I decided to try some new glue called Glue6 Craft Paste that Nine Lives Products sent me for free.  (It's made from recycled styrofoam.  You can find out more about the Glue6 Craft Paste HERE.)

I glued the scrapbook paper square to the top of the blank card, and then I glued the pumpkin to that.

To spruce up the plain envelope, I stamped a pumpkin on the back.

I added a glittered chipboard embellishment to the pumpkin as my card's finishing touch.  (Y'all know I love my glitter!)

I love the fall colors and all the words on the background scrapbook paper.  We've been having ninety degree weather here, so creating this card made me even more excited for the season change and the lovely weather that comes along with it!  Now I just have to decide who needs a taste of fall in her mailbox...
UPDATE: My contact from Nine Lives Products emailed me to let me know they are having a back to school special for my readers.  From now until October 31st use the code "Fall2013" to save 25% on your order at checkout.  Visit Nine Lives Products now to order your own recycled glue at an even greater price than usual. Disclaimer: While I was given the glue from Nine Lives Products to use in my crafting, all opinions in this post are 100% mine.  To find out more about my disclosure policy, check out the fine print tab at the top of my blog. 

{Wooden Jack O'Lantern}

Hey, y'all!  Today I'm sharing a cute wooden jack o'lantern with you that I originally shared over at Through the Eyes of the Mrs.

I bought a wooden jack o'lantern cut-out from Michaels recently because I knew I'd find something to do with it.  (You would think I had learned about buying stuff I don't necessarily need by now, but what's a girl to do when the nearest craft store is forty-five minutes away?)

When I found some snazzy black and white polka dotted napkins from Walmart, I thought the two were destined for each other.

I traced the cut-out on the back of one of the napkins.  Then I cut out the shape from the napkin.

I painted all the cut-out except for the stem with black acrylic paint.

Then I Mod Podged the napkin onto the wooden cut-out.

I painted the stem with metallic gold paint.  Then I painted a coat of gold glitter over it.  I also painted some clear glitter over the white polka dots.  I covered the back of the cut out with book pages, and now I have a fancy wooden jack o'lantern.

I think the polka dots are a bit unexpected on a jack o'lantern.

And the black and white goes really well with the traditional Halloween orange.  I don't really like gory, scary Halloween, so this little guy is right up my alley.  What type of Halloween decor do you prefer?