2 years ago in October, I decorated our home for fall and shared this neutral and simple fall mantel with cozy touches. In true frugal fashion it featured DIY wood shutters, a DIY cotton wreath, a chippy white $1.00 yard sale basket filled with thrifted throws, and a estate sale barn find white bench.
It was the second fall season we had spent in our home yet it finally was starting to really feel like home since we had moved in during summer the year before, had a baby 3 weeks later, and the house was quite the fixer-upper requiring lots of updating and major yard work. I loved decorating this simple fall mantel and was so enjoying being able to really go all out decorating for the seasons again.
Fast forward almost 2 years later to this past spring, and I get an email… Apparently a magazine had found this simple fall mantel and wanted to use it in an upcoming fall issue! It would all depend on if the pictures fit into their final layout, so I tried to not get my hopes up too much just in case it didn’t work out.
Well, spoiler alert… they published them!!! Several pictures of my fall mantel are featured in the Country Sampler Autumn Decorating issue that just hit newsstands last week. I finally found the issue in my local Publix, but you can also find at your local Walmart, Dollar General, and Barnes and Nobles store and possibly other stores.
Seriously… can someone just pinch me?? I am sure the people that walked into that magazine aisle that day thought I was bit crazy as I may have been a little overly excited when I found this, and then proceeded to take pictures and stories for Instagram. 🙂 But this has been a huge dream of mine and I am still in a bit overwhelmed that it came true. They used my pictures that I took and the articles says photography and styling done by me – just a huge dream come true.
Seriously just so excited!
Here’s a peek inside… but you really have to go find it and check it out yourself! It’s a beautiful issue with tons of decorating and fall baking inspiration and several other of my blogger friends have features inside too.
And I have to say thank you to you too.. without you, without my readers, this wouldn’t even be possible. I would have no one to share my decorating and DIY projects with every week and that wouldn’t make this ole blog of mine any fun. 
Thank you for coming back again and again to see what project I am working on or decorating I am doing… your comments and messages are such an encouragement to me. So thank you for sharing in this little ole dream of mine with me! <3
Congratulations!
How exciting ! This is such a fun surprise! You are so creative and do it without spending a ton of money. Love the photo of you holding the magazine, you are positively beaming!
Well deserved! You continue to inspire me with all of your talent and taste!
I was walking through Dollar General today in Tobaccoville, NC and saw that magazine – it caught my eye because the cover was so pretty. I was in a hurry to get home with my children, but I thought, I need to go back and look at that sometime. And then I read this post tonight and see that you have pictures in it. Congratulations! I’m not surprised. You do a great job.