Fall Mantel & Felt Foliage Garland

Now that it's officially Fall I thought I'd finally share some of the spaces in our house that I've been decking out in Fall colors! First up on the Fall house tour: our fireplace mantel.

I'm such a traditionalist when it comes to decorating for the holidays, so it's hard for me break from the pretty Fall colors and natural accents. You'll notice I'm the same way with Christmas decorations in a couple months! Also, in case you're new here, I'm waiting on Santa for my big girl camera so I have to work with crappy morning lighting and iPhone pictures for now!

Ruby's toys photobombed this pic! ha!

When we were looking for a house to rent, I was really pulling for something with a fireplace so that I could have a mantel to decorate for the holidays. It makes it feel more like home to me. My husband didn't really get it at first, but now he feels the same way. At least he says he does... in which case I've trained him well.

Of course I had to have a monogram... this one was purchased from Life's a Stitch on Etsy. You can't really tell in these photos but the monogram came cracked in the middle of the M. Luckily the tape held this one together long enough for me to hang it and take some photos until the replacement comes!

The candlesticks are from Ikea and were already a part of our mantel decor. The battery operated candles are from Hobby Lobby and the orange vase is from TJ Maxx. I already had the branches in a different arrangement, so I just re-purposed them in the vase.

After sharing this Halloween bunting tutorial and tissue paper garland, I'm sure you can all tell by now that I love bunting or basically any kind of garland. I've seen a lot of adorable felt foliage garlands popping up on Etsy and considering felt is so cheap, I thought I could make it myself. See the end of this post for details on how I made it!

This basket is from Target. We keep a couple blankets in there as well as our Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel. We've been throwing that one at the TV a lot lately...

This pillow is my first attempt at making a pillow since that same 7th grade home economics class I mentioned here. By no means is this pillow perfect, which is why I didn't do a tutorial. I was too lazy to change the bobbin so I handstitched the felt leaves on. Its acceptable enough for the fireplace decor as long as you don't look too close...

All in all, just adding a few fall touches to the fireplace cost me about $25, including the pumpkins. I didn't count the monogram since I'll be using that for other holiday decor...I think it would look perfect in the center of a Christmas wreath with a big plaid bow!

I mentioned earlier that I'm pretty new to the sewing machine and I actually couldn't find a good tutorial on how to make the felt foliage garland so I just had to wing it! This is a classic case of do as a say, not as I do :)

I bought 2 pieces of felt per color, each at 34 cents (plus a 15% off coupon) and since I only used one piece of felt per color this ended up costing me a little over $1! I googled "fall leaves" and found a free printable with various leaf shapes so I pinned those onto the felt and started cutting. That was probably the most annoying part of this project!

After your leaves are cut, pick a neutral color of thread and start sewing! I used a standard stitch (not even sure if that is the right wording.. see how new I am at this? ha!) and backstitched on the first and last leaves to keep the thread in place.

The major lesson I learned doing this without a tutorial was to stitch towards the top of your leaves. I sewed in the middle and because some of the leaves are top heavy, they flip over even though I wanted them facing the other way. I also wasn't entirely consistent with the space in between each leaf so just keep that in mind. Other than that, its super simple and cheap which is perfect in my book!

If you're new to Home Sweet Ruby, don't forget to check out my 5 favorite Fall DIY projects and my $16 Fall wreath!

Anyone else decorating with the traditional Fall colors or are you mixing it up a bit?!

Linking up with Thrifty Decor Chick