Happy Fall, Y'all!
I'm so happy to be a part of my first ever Ten on the Tenth Party, and I confess that I found it challenging because it's been in the nineties here in Central Alabama this month! Plus, we were at the beach last week for Fall Break...and have I mentioned the *heat*???
The challenge: ten fun fall ideas, each under $10.00. Oh, how I love autumn and everything about it. I'm the type girl who loves pumpkin spiced EVERYTHING, and I also love cooking pumpkin recipes, too. But when it's hot as stink, and I'm still wearing shorts and t-shirts, it's freakin' HARD to get into the spirit of fall, with or without pumpkins!
So what's a girl to do, living in the Deep South? How can I possibly get into the spirit of fall AND conquer this challenge? FAKE IT, of course! We're good at faking stuff in the South, and if you didn't know that, well, bless your heart! My {very loose} theme for this challenge is: Faking Creating a Fall Atmosphere and/or Mood in Our Home.
Before you read any further, crank down your air conditioner (because that's what I did for inspiration).
1. Mood music
Turn on Pandora radio to set the mood for fall. I recommend three stations:
A. George Winston Holiday Radio (great for straight chilling if you're alone)
B. Autumn Radio (nice variety of songs, and this station does have an autumn feel to it)
C. Hipster Cocktail Party Radio (everyone always asks us what station we're playing when we have this one on, and it appeals to all ages and musical tastes....this station is magical!)
Cost: Free
2. Morning fall aroma that's good for you
It's morning, and you must needs caffeine before you take on your day. But before you put sugar in your legal stimulant of choice, try this instead: For every 4 tablespoons of coffee you place in your coffee maker or French press, add 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Not only will your whole house smell like heaven, but there's something about the addition of cinnamon that makes it sweet, and you won't want to add much if any sugar.
You probably already have cinnamon in your pantry, but if not, it won't break the bank!
Cost of cinnamon: around $3.00
Cinnamon reminds me of fall baking! Our local grocery store stocks cinnamon brooms in early autumn, and the aroma hits customers as they enter the store!
Sorry about the weird light in my kitchen photos. It's either been too light or too dark the past couple of days, so my photos aren't the best!
3. Perk up your breakfast bar or other spot in your kitchen
Instead of drinking alcohol, I buy flowers every week. I love them. And they're calorie-free. Bonus! YAY!!!
About every other week our local Piggly Wiggly sells pretty spray roses for under $5.00. These are called Mambo, and I love the shade of orange. Plus, add some colorful cocktail napkins that compliment your roses.
I'm starting to get into the spirit of fall. A little...
Costs: roses: $4.95 cocktail napkins: $4.25 Total: $9.20
4. Perk up your fridge
I actually stole this idea from my mom. She changes out photos on her fridge for each season and/or holiday. Instead of photos, I've placed seasonal recipes on our fridge with the hopes that mayhap they will encourage me to cook them!
The cost of this should be free, but if you like a perfectly spotless kitchen and lack kitchen magnets, I found some lovely fall ones on Etsy:
This magnet set can be purchased via Etsy HERE.
Cost of magnets: $6.97
5. Washi tape!
I'm a little obsessed with washi tape. I add it to snail mail as well as other projects around the house. The package above is being sent to one of my daughters, and I love the football mums on the tape. Do you remember wearing football mum corsages to homecoming football games? They didn't count unless they were bigger than your head! All three fall mini floral washi tapes come in a set from Paper Source.
Cost of washi tape set: $7.95
6. Thanksgiving stamp
While at Paper Source, I found another under $10.00 fall beauty. Plus it's helping me plan ahead! Take any craft paper (or any paper for that matter....everyone has paper) and make little cards. Stamp the "I am thankful for..." stamp on them, and your Thanksgiving guests can fill out cards and place them in a jar during the day. When everyone wakes up from their tryptophan-induced nap, or maybe after dessert, someone can pull them all out of your jar (yep, you can make the jar because I bet you already have one) and read them.
Cost of stamp: $6.95
7. Cheese plate Friday night
Cheese plate Friday night is a thing at our house. We love it! Weather permitting, we enjoy it outside on our patio while watching movies, with or without a fire. Normally our plate is much larger than the one shown above, but it isn't Friday night, and I didn't want to take out a bunch of cheese for demonstration purposes, but you can use my search engine if you're interested in past posts about our cheese plates.
Getting back on subject: cookie cutters aren't just for cookies and pies. I thought it would be fun to use them on a few of our hard cheeses for Cheese Plate Friday Night. This was free for me because I've had these cookie cutters for a long time. But I did find a cute set of autumn leaf cookie cutters from
JoAnn Fabrics!
This is my set.
Cost of cookie cutter set: $6.99
8. Dining Table decor
Here's an idea for your dining room table that doesn't cost much. Purchase a set of fall leaf parchment paper for cheese trays and place them on a solid color table runner. I'll admit that it can be hard to find these for under $10.00, but I did it! I purchased ours from our local wine shop. I used a pale pink table runner, but any solid table runner or tablecloth will do. Then just add a pretty casserole, bowl, or tureen, et voilà! Fall prettiness on your dining table.
You can purchase this similar set HERE.
Cost for parchment leaf set: $7.80
9. Cozy mysteries
I'm still not quite in the autumn spirit. Mayhap I need a little literary inspiration. I visited the library, and I've curated a few cozy mysteries either set in autumn or with autumn themes. I enjoy reading cozy mysteries in the fall. It helps me get over the sadness of the end of baseball season!
Come back Friday for a review of The Pint of No Return. Saturday, I'll post a fall cozy mystery round-up post with a brief synopsis of the other nine books.
Cost: Free
10. Snack time!
Thinking of this challenge and running to the library has made me famished. It's snack time! When the girls were little, I enjoyed thinking of creative after school snacks. This one should be enjoyed by kids of all ages. The snack of choice: Bigelow's Salted Caramel Tea and Walker's Shortbread. YUM!
Oh, how I wish you could smell this tea. It smells heavenly!!! It's a rule that you must dunk the shortbread cookies into the tea.
You should be able to find the tea at your local Walmart; if not, they can order it for you.
You can order the tea online HERE.
Cost: shortbread: $3.94; tea: $2.48 Total: $6.42
That's the end of my ideas for this challenge. I hope I didn't bore you... It was hard! But I truly did enjoy it, and I want to thank the sweet group of bloggers who let me participate in the challenge with them. Please use the links below to see their creative solutions to this challenge. It should be fun!
My Heart Lives Here
Bluesky atHome
Exquisitely Unremarkable
Pandora's Box
Poofing the Pillows
The BoondocksBlog
White SprayPaint
Patina andPaint
The Sketchy Reader
Until next time...
Blessings!
Ricki Jill
