Have you ever seen those artists that dress up and pose as statues, you know, at amusement parks and such? I know some people think they’re funny, but they’re not my thing. I don’t like being spooked, and the pretending feels awkward to me. I will admit, though, there is one pretend statue that never seemed to bother me.

This statue wasn’t a statue at all really, but rather a scarecrow. Each fall, the scarecrow would dress up in blue jeans, a flannel shirt, boots, gloves, and a mask. He’d put on a hat and stuff hay up underneath it so as to look like a scarecrow. Then he’d pull a chair out and sit on the porch waiting for passersby.

Oh cool, look at the scarecrow, they’d say. And they’d poke and prod, giggle and laugh. At some point during the ruse (carefully timed by the scarecrow), the scarecrow would ever so slowly turn to look directly at them, and in the quickest blink of an eye….open its eyes. EEEK! It’s alive they’d shout, and run fast and far away down the sidewalk. It was all in good fun of course, and the neighborhood parents knew the game. Looking back, I think the kids probably knew too, but played along for the fun of it. To this day, whenever I see a scarecrow, I am reminded of that scarecrow long ago who liked to pretend with the neighbor kids. They all called him the scarecrow, I called him Dad.

I have lots of other nostalgic memories of fall too – from the Lombardi pumpkin patch my parents took us to every year, to the hay display my husband and I put up our first night in our new home (we didn’t even have furniture yet – we had just received the keys that day, Halloween). And then of course there are the smells – cinnamon and apple, pumpkin spice – and the food (oh how I love a harvest squash!). There are festivities and festive decor, cozy blankets and warm woolen sweaters, football spirit and neighborhood comraderie. I just absolutely love fall! If you love fall too, then I have the perfect kit to share with you today (complete with a not-so-spooky scarecrow).

New this week from Karen of Snickerdoodle Designs, a warm and cozy fall collection in the hues of autumn, Hay Day. You can find Hay Day here at theStudio – or just click on the preview below.

Karen is the Featured Designer at theStudio for October, and so Snickerdoodle Designs’ entire store will be on sale for 40% off from October 1-15, including the featured Hay Day collection (be sure to check out all of the extras, including glitters, scenic papers, stacked papers, clusters, and krafts).  As always, you will have the opportunity to download the Addon for Hay Day and enter your Hay Day layout for a chance to win the full kit. You can find the details of the Featured Designer challenge here in theStudio forum. Of course, if you choose to purchase the full kit (or collection!) prior to the end of the challenge, you will win a coupon for your choice of kit from Snickerdoodle Designs’ store instead. Can’t wait to see the Addon? Here’s a little peak:

Cute, right? I can’t wait to see your layouts! Good luck in the challenge! If you need a little inspiration to get you started, here are a couple of layouts from the SD creative team:

Beautiful! As always, I’ve made a freebie for you to download to get a feel for the kit (you didn’t think I’d forgotten, did you? lol). Just click on the preview below to download. Enjoy!

*DOWNLOAD*