Fall is my favorite season to decorate my front porch. Christmas is my husband’s domain but Fall is all mine. I’m not a fan of spooky, give me scarecrows, pumpkins, hay bales and corn shucks. I love to start putting things out mid September to help ease my end of summer blues.

This year I wanted to replace a decoration that had seen better days. Looking online, at the big box stores and at local farm stands had lots of expensive options but I’m trying to save every penny I can. I cobbled together the best of what I saw and created a cheerful fall basket to welcome visitors to our porch.

I started by heading to my local dollar store and grabbed a laundry hamper, fall flowers, leaves, 2 strands of white lights and a couple of scarecrows. Next, I hopped over to a home improvement store to pick up a can of spray paint. I chose an acrylic Krylon textured spray in brown. It’s a hammered finish. I had some left over leaf garlands, an assortment of fake pumpkins and gourds, 10 yards of 3 inch wide burlap ribbon and some felt pieces.

Painting the basket
I weaved the burlap over the top and through the sides of the basket, securing with hot glue where needed.
The Fall stuff!
To add height to the basket, I filled bags with newspapers and a box to give a stable surface for the top layer.
To hide the base layer I placed an assortment of fall colors of left over felt scraps on top. I got glued the scraps together and then began gluing leaves to cover the felt.
Next, I wired two scarecrows to the back side of the basket. Finally I glued a large pumpkin on top of the top layer.
I filled in the bare spots and added pieces of leaf garland to give volume & height.
To add color and more visual interest I added yellow fall flowers and the pumpkins & gourds.
I wanted this to be visible at night and add brighten up my porch, so I added lights to the display.
The final display!!