Check out this craft I found in a recent issue of Better Homes and Gardens’ 100 Decorating Ideas Under $100. It’s an Autumn Monogram “Wreath.” Their instructions for it consisted of two pictures of the finished project and three sentences. Hopefully you’ll find my extra info a little more helpful.

You’ll need to buy a paper-mache letter, some silk leaves,* and some strong magnets at your local craft store. You’ll also need a hot glue gun and paint if you don’t already have them. These are all pretty cheap supplies. I think I spent $10 or less for everything {except the glue gun and paint which I already had}.

When I made mine I cleared off the kitchen table and placed down some newspaper. Then, once the glue gun was hot I glued on my magnets. I later discovered that the magnets are so strong that the hot glue won’t cut it when it comes time to take your wreath down. The letter pops right off and the magnets stay stuck to the door! So you might want to try super glue. Whatever you use I recommend attaching the magnets before the next step.

You’ll need to paint the letter a color that will work well with your leaves. I chose red. I found it was easier to paint the edges of the letter with the magnets already glued on because they acted like little feet to lift the letter off the table. Make sure you don’t miss any spots, but you don’t have to worry about doing a perfect paint job since you’ll only be covering it later.

Once the paint has really dried you can glue on the leaves. I arranged my leaves on the letter first to find a layout I liked. Then I went through and glued each leaf. This is really a very easy and quick project. The biggest hassle is waiting for things to dry in-between steps. Your children could do this project and would probably have a lot of fun too!

Once everything’s dry just hang it on your door! If you don’t have a metal front door you could probably use 3M sticky-tabs instead. Or you put it on your fridge.

You can also modify this project for any season or holiday. A glittery, white initial would look like snow for winter, or you could glue on peppermint candies for a Christmas look. You could use silk flowers for spring or summer, black roses for Halloween, pom-poms for a birthday party…the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Happy Autumn!

*You could go out and gather dried leaves but I chose silk for two reasons; I can store the project and use it again next year and I can use the wreath now at the start of fall instead of waiting until there are leaves to gather.

So…despite the fact that it’s 93 degrees right now  {seriously…I’m in CANADA! Shouldn’t it be nice and cool?} Autumn is here! And what better way to celebrate the season than with food? So I’m going to share my mom’s awesome pie crust recipe with you {hi, Mom!} as well as the secret to getting the crust to turn out great! You can squirrel away the info for Thanksgiving, or make a pie now, just because pie is yummy.

Also…I’m sharing this picture of me in which I look like I’m twelve. You’re welcome.

Pie Crust

• 3 cups flour
• 1 and 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 tsp salt

mix together then add

• 1/2 cup very cold water
• 1 beaten egg and
• 1 tsp vinegar

bake at 475 degrees for 8-10 minutes

Now, for the “secret!”

When it calls for “very cold water” it means very, very, VERY cold water. Get that water as cold as you possibly can!

This recipe should make enough dough to do a lattice or to make dough leaves like the pie in the picture. Just use leaf-shaped cookie cutters or cut them freehand with a knife. You can also glaze the leaves with egg white if you’d like, or sprinkle them with cinnamon-sugar.  When I was a kid my mom would roll out the leftover dough, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar, then bake it on a cookie sheet. We could then break off pieces as “pie-crust cookies.”

What’s one of your favorite “fall foods?”