Cozy Fall Decor & DIY Ideas! Mystery Box Challenge

Are you ready for some warm and cozy, vibrant fall DIYs? If so, you are in luck, because that is exactly what we are doing with this round of the Mystery Box Challenge. Hello and welcome. My name is Jennifer, and this is a little bit of common crazy where I love sharing easy DIYs and budget decor. I hope you will subscribe and become another crazy crafter. If you are brand new to the Mystery Box Challenge, this entire thing is organized by Courtney over on Creative on the Cheap. But this year, every other month when we do it, she puts a different one of us in charge of hosting, and the host for this round is Christina from Christina Elizabeth, and she has definitely made it a lot of fun. So how all this works is there are eight crafters that are involved this round. We each send another crafter a box that we get to craft with. I was so lucky because I got to send my box over to Wendy at White Sparrow Living, and I cannot wait to see what she creates. There is an entire playlist, so you can hop around to each one of us so you can be inspired for some of your fun fall DIYs. So right after you watch this video, you're gonna wanna go check out Wendy's. Now, I got my box sent to me from Lisa Birmingham, and I cannot wait to see what she sent. So let's bust into the box and see what I get to craft with this round. Look at this, she wrapped it all up. It's gonna be like Christmas, and I can already see there's one of the challenge items. I will open that up at the end. Okay, card on top. Hey, pretty lady, happy mystery box challenge. I can't wait to see how you put your amazing decorating touches on these items. I know everything will turn out beautifully. Lots of love, Lisa. Okay, let's see what I got. The first three items are sender's choice, and we first have a four by four square glittery gold picture frame. Okay, I actually have something I wanna do with this, so I'm really excited. Next sender's choice. Okay, we have a cutting board. I think it's a tomato shape, but either which way, it's sturdy, it's strong, it's plastic. We can do something with it. Third sender's choice. We have this photo grid. This might be a challenge item, because, I mean, I could put photos on it, but is that cheating? I guess we'll see. Now for the items that she was a little bit more specific about. For what item, we got this tiny little bird house. The pumpkin, we got this cute little sign with the pumpkins on the bottom. That's cute. For something orange, we got some floral. So for the florals, we got these yellow flowers. They kinda look like sunflowers, but they aren't. They're, I need glasses, I cannot even read that. Anyway, sunflower adjacent. Our next category was fabric. This is like an upholstery fabric. It's a very, from a Magnolia home. It is thick. Look how pretty that is. Nice. Okay, I love using navy colors or blues for fall, along with the orange colors. I just think it's super pretty, so this'll be fun. Something from the beauty section. I'm a little, oh, she was so easy. I got bows. That was very nice. I can work with bows. Our item from the garage is this towel holder. That's a really pretty color. Okay, one, I will not be changing the color. That's for sure. I like that color. Now I just gotta figure out what to do with it. I don't know. Let's get to it. Florals is one of my favorite things to add when it comes to fall, and I absolutely love these. Now, the orange ones definitely are more of a spring, but the pop of orange in a wreath is gonna be super helpful. So I grabbed this grapevine wreath. I picked it up at Walmart. That's the best price I find in town. It was only $10. Now, when I go to do florals, I like to grab an array of things, lay it out so that I can have lots of different textures and colors, and I picked up all of these picks from Hobby Lobby. I grabbed three to five of everything. Now, I'm working with an 18-inch wreath, and so I wanted an abundance. I want this to be a very full wreath, and as you can see here, I'm first going ahead, and I'm prepping everything. For these orange flowers, because the leaves are such a bright green, I'm just taking them off because that bright green definitely will not work with this fall wreath. Once I have everything prepped, now it is time to build out the wreath, and I, for a grapevine wreath specifically, do not hot glue or even wire anything. I just take the stems, and I weave them through the grapevine, and I just start layering on. First, my base, which generally is more like leaves. It's the broader things that will help cover up that wreath itself, and once I have all those on there, then I can go in with some color, like little pops of color. This is where I'm pulling in those yellow and orange flowers to give me those pops of colors. Once I have all that on there, and I feel like the wreath looks pretty good, now you want to add those eye-catching pieces, like this gorgeous green sunflower. I love how huge it is. Some larger pumpkins, things like that really help to draw the eye and complete the wreath. I absolutely love this wreath. I love its fullness, its brightness, bold, warmth, all the things. This is definitely a wreath I'm gonna wanna pull out year after year and be so excited to do so. Before we do the next craft, I do want you to know that we wanna hear from you. You have an opportunity to vote and let us know what is your favorite DIY challenge items, so many other categories. So there are gonna be two more links down in the description box. The first one is going to be one where you have a cheat sheet so you can take notes so that you know exactly what you wanna vote for, and the next one is so you can actually vote. So take the time after you watch all of us to go and vote because we definitely wanna hear from you. Now let's get back to these DIYs. Out of all the items in the box, this one stumped me the most. I went ahead and removed the clips. I will use one of those later, but I wanted to focus on this photo grid to begin with, and I decided to just go for it. So I went ahead and I started to bend it very carefully because I didn't wanna break anything or have my wire pop, and so I'm trying to bend it in half, and after a little bit of finessing, I was able to get it to place. To hold it there, though, I went ahead and grabbed some smaller zip ties and zipped it in three locations, at the top, in the middle, and at the bottom of it to hold it nice and secure. Now it's time to cover this up and start making what it is I had in mind, and here I have some paper. This is the paper Hobby Lobby gives you when you have something breakable that you purchase from them, and I just keep it for different projects or different uses, I should say, and I'm taking it and I am wrapping this item up like you would if you were swaddling a baby. It doesn't have to be perfect. This is just a base layer. I did go ahead and secure it with tape, and I might have been a little excessive because altogether I wrapped it up three different times, each time covering a little bit more of that wire. I don't think you need to necessarily be that excessive, but you do wanna wrap it up. It will give you that smooth, clean base that you're gonna want for the next step, which includes using even more paper. So this is the paper you get when things are being shipped to protect them, and it is perforated, and so all I did was tear it apart at that perforation. On the very bottom, you wanna go ahead and wrap it up, kinda like create like a pocket around it. This time, instead of tape, I am using hot glue to secure that in place so it will have a stronger hold. Once I have the bottom all wrapped up, now it's time for me to go ahead and wrap up the rest of it. So you're thinking of the paper like you would like a thicker piece of fabric or a ribbon. So I took another strip, I folded it in half, I wrapped it around, I cut off the excess, and then I took that half and I cut it in half because you don't need it to be doubled over. From here, you just start covering up the container. I used hot glue again to secure it as I went. I make sure each layer is overlapping the layer before so that it does like a stacking kind of look. I wanted it, again, to look like fabric or ribbon would be wrapping around it. Once I got to the top, I did take a couple of shorter pieces and tuck them over the edge and then secured it down the sides to hold those in place. If you haven't figured it out yet, we are creating a wall pocket, so we need a way for it to hang on the wall, and I chose to use some rope to do that. Now, I did tie knots on the end to give it just a little bit of a thickness down there and to make sure that it doesn't come undone. Hot glue to secure that down with a little loop at the top, and the final finishing touch is grabbing one of these bows that was set in my box for my challenge item, little hot glue, pop that on the front, and now you can just add whatever florals you want. Now, of course, this is fall, so I went with some fall florals, but you can absolutely use this for Christmas, springtime, summer, it doesn't matter. It's a very neutral piece that you can use around the year, year after year. Now, this tomato cutting board is the perfect item to do the twist I was assigned this month, which was I was assigned a theme and it was an apple picking theme that I had to create something that I got in my box and make something with that. So I decided to turn this cutting board into an apple or a chalkboard-styled apple by painting it black, and then once it dried, I did paint the back, by the way, because I'm one of those kind of girls, but once it dried, I grabbed a white paint pen and I went in and spelled out caramel apples, 25 cents. I'd show you me writing it, but I don't have the best handwriting, so I am not the person to learn from on this one. Once that was completely dried, I then grabbed another one of those bows that was sent in my box. I trimmed it down so that it was smaller and would look much better sizing-wise onto my now apple, and the finishing touch was just to add little white dots all the way around, just for a little decorative pizazz, and I think this turned out so cute. Now, you can't have a caramel apple sign without some caramel apples, and do you say caramel or caramel? I would love to know. So here I have some apples, some paint, and Mod Podge. Now, for the nuts, I'm using this litter or bedding for hamsters, and it will give that perfect look without having to worry about anything going rancid. So pull out your stem, and then I like to take a pair of pliers to pre-do my hulk. Stick in your dowel, and you are all ready to start making your caramel apples. So what you need to do is take your Mod Podge. Here, I already have some in a cup, and I'm adding a little bit more paint. The paint is the color of caramels. You don't need a ton of paint, just enough to tint your Mod Podge. Stir that together till it is well blended, and then you can just dip your apple straight into the cup, swirl it around to make sure it is coated and covered as much as you want, and then roll it into that hamster bedding, hamster litter, to get that nutty topping that will make these look like perfection. Now, as I'm rolling them around, I also have to take some and dust them, pick them up in my hand and drop them on the top, because I really wanted to make sure it's nice and coated. Once you're happy with the coating, set them aside, let them set up, and then you have yourself the cutest little caramel candy apples. I absolutely love these. Lisa also sent me this, well, it's a five-by-five glitter frame, but it has a four-by-four mat. So I grabbed another four-by-four frame, and I want to pair these together, but I also thought it'd be fun to give you a couple of printables. Whether you wanted to go pumpkin-themed or apple-themed, either way, you have some items that you can pick from, and these are all four-by-fours. The next step is that I need to paint these frames to help them be a little bit more cohesive, and I'm using Waverly's paint in truffle. It's a gorgeous warm. Right now, I'm totally loving the brown. I feel like it's a lot softer than doing a black, but a lot more warm than using a white. I make sure I paint the front and the back, and once they're all dry, you can just pop in your prints, and you have yourself a great little way to display whatever prints or photos you want to do. I absolutely love this. Isn't that brown a gorgeous color? I really wanted to repurpose this house, but in order to do that, I needed to break it apart, and the easiest way to do that is to heat the glue, and then take a scraper and get in between each piece to help kind of peel it apart. It takes a minute. It's not very hard. These are just kind of hot-glued together, but once you have it, then you have all of these different pieces of wood that you can work with, and I thought it'd be really fun to create a little easel to hold a two-by-three print or photo, so to do that, I took a couple of pieces that I used some wood glue to hold that together, and then I took another piece, hot-glued it to hold those pieces nice and tight, and now the little part of the house, the top part of the house, is what I'm using to create the stand. Hot-glued that on. Then I just painted the entire thing. Again, I'm painting it truffle. I love this color right now. It's just a beautiful color, great for fall, and now remember those clips from earlier? Simply hot-glue one of those on top. Take another one of these prints that I made. This time, I just trimmed them out so they would be two-by-three. I did tape them together because I actually wanted to do two. I thought that would be fun. Pop them in that clip, and there you have something that's so easy that you can put on a tray, add it to a vignette. Easy-breezy, only will take you a few minutes, and it is just so simple. I really think this wood sign is cute, but I wanted to beef it up a little bit. I really only wanted to use that pumpkin on the bottom, so I wanted to remove it using my heat gun again, but this time, I'm not gonna lie, it was a lot harder than doing that little birdhouse. It took a lot more work and a lot more patience because I do think it was probably put on with wood glue and not hot glue, but I did finally get it off, sanded it down to make it smooth, then grabbed this smaller but beefier little wood round. I got it at Walmart. I have some brown paint and orange paint. With the brown paint, I'm creating a faux stain, so I'm mixing it in with some water to really thin it out, and then I just brush it onto my wood round, and I'm using a baby wipe to wipe off the excess, and then I just painted the pumpkin orange. Let both of those pieces dry, and once they were dry, I used some wood glue to glue them together, and voila, there you have a really easy little piece of decor. By itself, I think it's kind of plain Jane, but as a whole vignette, I think it's the perfect added touch. As soon as I saw this fabric, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I want to create a table runner, so to do that, I took it over to my cutting board and got my rotary cutter out, and I'm cutting it 15 inches in width, and I kept it the same length. I took my little Cricut mini iron, and I'm ironing about a quarter of an inch of a seam. Now, if you want to go ahead and sew this, by all means, please do. My sewing machine is acting up, and that was not an option for me, so I did take some hot glue to put that seam down. I did that on both sides, and I left both of the edges raw, and I did not even cut off the little bit that was on there, because I'm covering that up with this brogain ribbon. To keep the ribbon from fraying, I do burn the edges, and to secure that down, again, I use some hot glue, and this table runner was quick, easy, and it's such a good complement to those fall colors. Now it is time for me to tackle my last challenge items, this towel hook, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to create a refolder, so I headed to Home Depot, and all the things that you will need for this are all located in the same area. You're gonna need a four by four post, two one by ones with those slanted edges, as well as a topper, whether you want to go with a finial like they have here, depending on what kind of hook you have will determine what you put on the top. Mine's a little bit more modern, so I went ahead and grabbed this cap. Now, the total was 33.24, and I'm telling you this because I saw similar items on Etsy that were 150 to $300, so this is so much cheaper if you are to make it yourself. Again, here is everything you're gonna need for this besides some screws, I'll show you that in a minute. Four by four post, the one by ones, which are the only thing that you need to cut, and the wood. The one by ones, I cut 12 inches length, and then I have eight screws. This is how we are gonna set it up in the end around the post. Now, each one of the legs, you do need to go ahead and drill in two holes where you're gonna be placing the screws, and you're gonna do that towards the back. So the flat edge is going to be along the wood like it is here, and you're gonna screw in two screws to hold it nice and tight, and then you are gonna do that all the way around, so the flat edge will always meet up with the previous leg and onto the post, and then you are just going to swivel around. Think like a Christmas tree holder. It's the same idea, right? So at this point, you have your post, and you have your four legs, which secure it and brace it and keep it upright. The next thing you wanna do is to cap it off, and simply all you need for a cap like this is to use some wood glue. If you're using a finial, then of course you would screw that in. After that, you can paint this. Now, I chose to go ahead and paint it black because I feel like black will fade away and not pop out, and I want the item that hangs on this to be the item that pops, but you can paint this whatever color you want, and the final finishing touch is to add this hook. Now, I got sent everything that comes with it. You could also use a dowel. The kind of hook that you use is completely up to you, but the idea of creating a wreath stand I think is such a fun one. I will definitely be using this all year, year after year. This is one of those items that I'm going to have so much fun decorating. As always, I would love to know which of these is your favorite. Let me know that in the comments. Also, don't forget, check that description box so you have the link to the entire playlist and so that you can vote. Thank you so much for spending your time with me, and I will see you in the next one. Bye.