DIY Holiday Cordless Lamp Shade

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I was introduced to this idea by something I saw in a store and I knew I wanted to recreate it for our cordless lamp. We bought this lamp a couple of years ago because we love the idea of being able to move it around to places where we need it without it needing to be plugged in. If you can make sure to charge it every few days, it'll work great for you! Anyway, this cordless lamp shade is easy and almost free to make and can be changed out every season or holiday.

All you need to gather for this project is the stencil, scrapbook paper of your choosing, scissors and some tape. You may prefer double sided, but I'll get into that a little later.

This is the exact stencil I used for our lamp shade and you can just download it/ save it. The square should measure 1" x 1" when printed and it should print across two sheets.

First you will need to cut out your stencil. This is the time you will want to make sure the stencil fits around your lamp. You can create your own new stencil based on this one if you need to make it bigger. But if your lamp is smaller, it can just be overlapped.

Once your stencil is correct, trace it onto your scrapbook paper. If you can get the thicker kind of scrapbook paper that would work better, but any will do. You can even use wrapping paper as I did for a Christmas themed one.

It should look something like that.

When you roll up the paper and meet the top edges and the bottom edges it should look like a lamp shade.

Wrap the paper around your lamp shade and tape the edges together. They will overlap a little and that is how it is supposed to be. Just overlap as much as you need to and tape it together. I used a gift wrapping tape that disappears and as you can see, it's almost indistinguishable. I like this over double sided tape because I can cut the tape at the seam and store the shade flat when I want to put it away. If you use double sided tape it would be hard to separate the edges without ripping the paper, but it is possible! Up to you.

And you have an adorable lamp adding a nice little touch to each season.

Because we taped the lamp shade to itself, it will lift off very easily from the lamp.

I decided to make a few of these at the same time so I can have them ready for the next few seasons without having to go into DIY mode every time I want to change the lamp shade.

And here is the Christmas plaid one- I love it! 

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6 Elements of A Perfectly Decorated Halloween Porch

After spending the past three years working on completing the inside of our home (and still not being done!) we finally decided it was time for us to be able to decorate for the seasons. Before we lived off grid, we really enjoyed decorating and spent a lot of time on this blog sharing that journey. So we are happy to be back doing something we love to do and love to share.

1. Something you made. First off, I made these witch hats that were inspired by an Anthropologie item I saw this year. They were much pricier than I wanted and I wanted them to light up. You can see how I made these from Christmas trees here.

2. Something unique. We found these copper pumpkin cauldrons at our local Home Goods and had to have them. The backside of them are solid so when Halloween is over they can be turned around and still be a nice fall decoration. I don't think they were intended to be planters, but that's how we are using them. We just kept our mums in the planters they were already in, wrapped them in some lights and popped them in the cauldron.

3. A classic layered rug moment. Definitely not original, but something we personally love and change out seasonally. We have a few different colored larger plaid rugs that go under the foot wiping rugs and they are washable so we can keep washing and using them. A rug by the front door is crucial to our tiny home life because they amount of dirt 2 people and 2 dogs can bring in is WILD!

4. A classic pumpkin stack. If you can find a farm near you who sells pumpkins, you are going to get a better price and better quality and unique pumpkins. Try to steer away from buying your pumpkins from big box stores, if possible. The two top pumpkins actually started out fully green and have changed colors on the porch. This was fun to see and now they look very quirky. In the back of the stack we have a vine pumpkin that lights up to add a little sparkle up front.

5. Spooky details. To turn up the Halloween vibe on the porch, you'll want some things that are less fall specific and more spooky. These giant spiders came from Dollar Tree but you can also buy them here.

Another spooky detail we wanted to create that this whole porch decoration was sort of born out of was a tree with crows sitting in it. For this we pulled limbs out of the woods and attached them to our porch. Check out the process in the short video below.

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These are the exact crows we purchased. We used hot glue and the wire already attached to them to get them to sit upright on the branches. 

6. A themed wreath. I made this wreath out of a grapevine wreath, some sticks, a toy snake, and some homemade ribbon. It's simple but sweet.

Our final details were these floating candle lights that are inspired by Harry Potter. I love them so much and can't wait to integrate them into our Christmas decorations. They are attached by a fishing line so they look like the are floating and it adds such a magical touch.

To top it off, the lights are activated by a wand that also lights up itself. They are so fun to turn on and off even for adults! See them in action below!

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I hope we gave you some ideas for your Halloween porch, or even your fall or Christmas porch. Pin the image above for inspiration at a later date. Happy Holidays!

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5 Fall Inspired Table Scapes + 5 Universal Table Pieces

We love decorating a table for any occasion. And you know what? It's really easy because we have a stash of a few things that work for basically anything. Let's talk about the few elements that you need to set up a cute table on the fly. And then keep scrolling to see 5 Fall Inspired table scapes using these same pieces.

And since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, go ahead and check out our last post where we talk about 5 Christmas decorations you need year after year.

1. Table Runner

2. Cloth Napkins

3. Live Centerpiece

For this could use things like greenery, flowers, or even whole foods like pumpkins. You can even head out into your yard and cut things like branches and herbs to create a dreamy centerpiece. Any combination of these bring life to the table!

4. Classy Flatware

5. Neutral Plates

There are so many options in each of these sections, but picking pieces that are more neutral will always allow you to create something that goes together any time you need it. Now let's get to the  fun stuff- the inspiration! Check out these 5 table scapes we've done for past Thanksgivings and Fall dinners below.

1. Colorful Boho. Check out our blog post here to see more!

2. Live Table Runner. Check out more about this table scape here.

3. Fall Tablescape without Pumpkins. Check out more about this table scape here.

4. Pumpkins + Candlesticks. This is one of our simplest table scapes, but it works wonders. Little pumpkins can last for a while and you can move them around as needed. Also this black candlestick holder sits on our fireplace sometimes. Double duty. Check out more details of this table scape below.

5. Minimal Boho. This table runner work for so many different themes. This one is simple and easy. We just used pumpkins we already had in the house and then added some Fall colored flowers. See more details below.

Thanks so much for checking out our blog and this post! Don't forget to save your favorite photo to Pinterest for later use!

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A Guide To Fall Creek Falls State Park: 7 Things To Do

Fall Creek Falls State Park is, by far, my favorite state park we've ever visited. Maybe it was the colors of the leaves and the time of year... but it was phenomenal. It is sort of like a tiny national park with it's lookouts and drivable loops. Why had I not heard of it's awesome-ness before? I've seen photos of the waterfall but in all honesty, that was my least favorite part of the park.

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Now I'm not gonna lie, our time at Fall Creek Falls State Park was cold. The days were lovely, but the nights were almost unbearable for us tent campers. If you go to the park this time of year (beginning of November) you'd probably be more comfortable in a cabin or camper than a tent. And trust me, this is the time of year you want to be there. Now let's talk about some things you should do while you are there!

1. Drive around at sunrise. The first thing you should do is wake up early. If you are camping in a tent, you may be like us and be freezing so much that you have to move to your car in the wee hours of the morning and by default you'll be awake before the sun rises! But if that is not the case for you, set your alarm. You won't want to miss the gorgeous views and the stunning sunlight shining through the fog. There's a scenic loop you can drive and there are plenty of places to pull look over. But even just driving the roads in the park (it's pretty big) we found the most gorgeous views, like this road above.

2. Stop at Millikan's Overlook. In the early morning you'll probably only see a person or two out. Fall colored leaves, sunrise, and fog- it's all there for you in the first part of the day. This is probably the coolest view in the park. It makes you feel very small.

3. Look out for wildlife. We saw plenty of deer (and raccoons) while staying at the park, and I know that seeing deer is very common, but it's still exciting every time I do.

4. Hike one of the many trails. The amount of trails here are endless. You mostly just have to figure out what length of hike you'd like to do and go from there. We only hiked the Woodland Trail from Fall Creek Falls to the nature center. This hike is short, but you get to see a lot! Unfortunately the nature center was closed for remodeling when we were there so the trail stopped there. Normally you can add on another trail from if you wanted a longer hike.

**It was not anywhere near Christmas time when we were on this trip, but Whitt only has one sweater and it was stinkin' cold, so he had to wear it.

This is the view over Cane Creek.

5. Walk the suspension bridge over Cane creek. We came across this on our hike from Fall Creek Falls itself, but you can also park really close to the bridge and hike down to it in about 5 minutes. The bridge is right by the nature center, so just find your way to that and you'll find the bridge!

This bridge is really swingy/bouncy. Which our dogs HATED. And honestly, if I hadn't been on one of these just a week before, I would've also not loved it. I guess you could say I got my "bridge legs" while we were in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But walking across was still a little unsettling. Especially since this water ends in a waterfall right near the bridge. But the view is breathtaking, so it's okay.

6. Check out Fall Creek Falls. I'm assuming this is the whole reason you want to go to the park! And while it is pretty cool, it surprisingly wasn't my favorite part of the park. I still loved it though! We actually ended up being at the waterfall when the sun was rising and also when it was setting. In the morning we saw two people during our whole gallivant. In the late afternoon is was really crowded. Also, for the dog owners out there, the trails around here are full with other people and their dogs. It made for an interesting hike since we too had our dogs. Let's just say there was a lot of barking happening, pretty often. This was fine with us, but something to keep in mind if you or your dog isn't a fan of other dogs.

7. Watch the sunset over Fall Creek Lake. This lake is small an not anything to write home about, except when the sun is setting. It was covered in fog in the morning so you couldn't even see what was going on. But go ahead and stop here in the evening.

If you've been to Fall Creek Falls State Park or are planning to go, we'd love to hear what you favorite parts were in the comments!

Save this post for later by pinning the image below!

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