Out of My Crafty Mind: 'Tis the Season of Free Nature Decorations

Fall is my favorite season. The smells, the colors, the weather, I can really just go on and on.
This will be my first autumn in my first house and I am so excited to have spaces to decorate.
My usual process to get ideas flowing for decorating is just looking around the house. Seeing which rooms and spaces will work for decorations, keeping in mind that I have an eight month old on the move! I sit on the couch at night and look around and see what spaces I would appreciate extra festiveness! I also always keep in mind budget. With a new home and family I have a very tight decorating budget. This is where I tend to alter ideas in order to save money.
Next I develop a theme. I use previous ideas and other outlets such as Pinterest to get my mind flowing. This year I am doing a natural harvest theme. I picture hay bales and corn husks and scarecrows (oh my!) Sometimes I can overwhelm myself with ideas that are all over the place so I always try to stick to one theme.
My go-to first decorating space is usually the fireplace and mantle. So I will start with my ideas and projects there.

Here we go collecting supplies for decorations. I first made a twig garland with these twigs and vines that I found outside in my yard. To hang the vines I just used twine and tacks. Some vines I had to crack and break to shape them into the garland. I didn't want just a straight line of vine, so I just played around with them and added pieces here and there.

I then randomly hot glued leaves on to them that I got at the local $1 store with my trusty glue gun. I used this thing for EVERYTHING!

My next project for the fireplace area are some candles. I collected branches from outside.
I loosely tied a piece on twine around the candle to be able to hold the branches in place before securely tying them with more twine. This helped to place the branches straight and be able to hold them temporarily before I could tie the secure twine. I used branches on the taller candle and pieces of bark on the smaller candle.

For the rest of the display I printed a free printable from http://myblessedlife.net/2011/09/fall-printables.html and used a frame that I already had. I took a piece of a corn stalk and some leaves from the garland. I placed all of this on a small tree stump.

On the other side of the fireplace I placed a hay bale, a scarecrow and some pinecones and gourds (from the $1 store as well).

I collected some chestnuts and acorns from the yard. I placed these in a vase with twine tied around it and a candle. I am starting to feel the festiveness!