Page 18 2015 Fall Home Improvement and Garden LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.COM SEPT. 29, 2015
For indoor use, brush your cat tails with
decoupage glue then sprinkle them with glitter
to give an extra burst of glitz and color to a fall
centerpiece.
Another good filler for a fall basket is plumes of
Pampas Grass. In this area, there seems to be a lot
of the feathery plumed plants growing in yards.
So see if you have a friend that might let you, cut
a few from the center of the bushes.
Straw bales are also neat for fall displays
outdoors. Bales are available at farm supply
stores such as Big R in Lincoln, and also at
farm markets such as Gail’s Pumpkin Patch
near Beason. At Gail’s they offer bales in three
sizes, so you can pick and choose what you need
according to the space you want to fill.
Pick out a few pumpkins and gourds, add a stick
scarecrow and you have the perfect display of fall
for your yard.
As Halloween approaches, add a carved pumpkin
or two and you’re covered. Beware though not
to use flames in the pumpkins that are on this
display as straw and corn stalks are flammable.
Instead use a battery operated tea light inside the
pumpkin, or use solar powered spotlights to shine
a light on the entire display at night time.
Tips for carving pumpkins
Draw, score, carve – Before you cut, draw the
shapes you want to carve in your pumpkins. Then
using a sharp short blade paring knife or an exacto
knife, score the outline through the skin of the
pumpkin. Breaking through the skin is the hardest
part. Scoring first
will make it easy
to carve your
pumpkin without
having an “oops”
moment with
the knife. Also,
the wall of the
pumpkin can
be quite thick.
Sometimes it is
to your benefit
to repeat the
scoring process,
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