What comes to mind when Fall arrives? For me, it’s many things like the smell of cinnamon, pumpkins, turkey, spice lattes, and soups. It’s also a time to start decorating your home and art projects.

It doesn’t matter if it’s still 90 degrees outside, whenever autumn comes around, I always get an urge to bake and create! The best colors to ring in fall are oranges, yellows, gold.  All the beautiful colors of the earth. You can pull colors by just stepping outside your door.

I have so many memories of making mixed media art with my mother. She could do the most amazing pieces. Some were even sculptural. We used anything we could find at home, and outside. There were six girls in the house, and this was one way to keep us busy and engaged. During this time she’d share stories of how it was growing up in Puerto Rico. She said that life was simple then, and their toys consisted of branches, rocks, leaves, and mango pits. Yes, you heard right...mango pits. There were many mango trees, so they would eat mangos, let the pit dry in the sun, brush out the hairs, and paint faces on them.  Sometimes the simplest toys are the best!