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I have a thing for a short fall saying in a frame. Not a giant wood plank sign, not vinyl, just words I printed and slid behind glass. The entryway console got the first one this year. Three little frames in a row, all rust and black ink on cream, and people stop and read them on the way to the kitchen.
Here is what I learned the hard way. Print the words, then read them out loud before you frame anything. I framed one, set it on the console, walked past it twice, and on the third pass saw the typo. Reprinted it. The black ink cartridge was already low and the second copy came out a shade weaker, so now I keep a backup. My sister thought I planned the two shades. I did not.
A lot of these started as a saying file from an indie design shop, the kind you print at home and pair with clipart you already have. Some of the links below are affiliate links, so if you grab one I might get a tiny cut. Costs you nothing. Here is what made the cut.
Little Mushrooms for the Corner of a Quote Sign
A saying in a frame can look bare with all that empty cream around the words. That is where this mushroom set earned its place. I tucked two tiny toadstools in the bottom corner of an “every leaf speaks” print and suddenly the whole thing felt finished instead of like a leftover Word document.
The red caps read warm against rust ink, which surprised me. I expected a clash and got a match. I printed at home, cut close around two of the mushrooms, and glued them flat to the cardstock before framing so nothing curled under the glass.
One nitpick. A couple of the smaller mushrooms have thin white stems that vanish on cream paper. I had to set those on a scrap of kraft instead, or skip them. The fat red ones are the keepers.
A Reading-Nook Cat for the Bookish Sayings
Some fall sayings lean cozy-reader instead of harvest. “Sweater weather and a good book” was the one I had in mind, and this little black cat with its stack of books sat right under the text like it belonged there.
Black cat plus black ink is a gift when your color cartridge is gasping. I printed this one almost entirely in grayscale, dropped in the rust just on the lettering, and saved a real print run for the frame on the porch shelf where the light hits it in the afternoon.
The nitpick is the eyes. A few poses have these big glossy highlights that print muddy on a tired inkjet, so the cat looks half asleep instead of cute. I picked the wide-awake pose and moved on.
A Pencil Accent for the Back-to-the-Desk Crowd
My sister teaches, so one frame on her console had to nod to that. This leopard pencil with the little bow was the accent, paired with a “hello fall, hello homework” saying that made her laugh.
The leopard print picked up the rust ink almost exactly, which meant the print and the words looked like one set instead of two random files mashed together. I kept the bow soft, printed it small, and let the saying do the talking.
Nitpick: the coquette bow has a lot of fine detail that mushes at small sizes. Below about two inches it just looks like a pink blob. I printed it bigger than I wanted, then trimmed the frame mat to hide the extra. Worked, barely.
Sunflower Cat for the Last Warm Sayings
Early fall, before the rust takes over, I like a saying that still holds onto the sunflowers. This Luna cat with a sunflower tucked behind its ear went with “a little sunshine before the sweaters” on the entryway console.
The yellow is bright, so I leaned the rest of the frame neutral and let the flower be the only pop. Printed it on the cream cardstock, framed it, and it carried the console through that in-between stretch where it is not quite sweater season yet.
The nitpick is timing more than design. By mid-October the cheerful yellow felt out of step with the porch pumpkins, so this one is a swap-out, not a leave-it-all-season piece. I rotated it out and kept the frame for the next saying.
A Soft Bear for the Sweetest Sayings
Not every fall saying needs to be clever. Some just need to be sweet, and that is where this teddy bear set comes in. I used a chubby one in a tiny scarf next to “gather, grateful, grin” and it softened the whole frame.
The bears print warm and brown, which sits nicely beside rust ink without competing. I put this one on the porch shelf at kid height so my sister’s little one could find the bear every time they came by.
Nitpick: a few of the bears have faces drawn so simply they look blank, almost spooked, when you shrink them. I scrolled until I found one with a clear little smile. The blank-faced ones I left alone.
A Football Tie-In for the Saturday Sayings
Fall in this house means somebody is yelling at a screen on Saturday. So one saying went sporty: “fall means football and forgiving the score.” This game-day football graphic was the accent, small, in the corner.
The brown leather of the football reads almost the same tone as rust ink, so it blended in instead of screaming team colors at me. I printed it, framed it, and parked it on the console near the door where the game-watchers pile their jackets.
The nitpick is that some files in this set come loaded with team-style banners and pennants that fight a quiet cream-and-rust frame. I used the plain football on its own and ignored the busier pieces.
Woodland Friends Around a Longer Saying
When the saying runs long, like “may your coffee be hot and your leaves be crunchy,” the frame needs a little crowd of small art around the edges so the words do not float alone. This woodland animal set is built for exactly that.
I scattered a fox, a hedgehog, and a tiny acorn around the corners, all printed small, all in tones that play nice with rust. It turned a wordy print into something my sister actually wanted to keep on the porch shelf past the holiday.
Nitpick: the set mixes a few highly detailed animals with some very flat ones, and side by side the styles do not quite match. I stuck to the three that shared a look and benched the rest.
A Pumpkin Bow for the Welcome Sayings
The frame closest to the front door gets a welcome line, and “hello fall, come on in” needed a friendly little something beside it. This pumpkin with a bow on top did the job without me having to draw a thing.
The pumpkin orange leans warm enough to sit beside rust ink without a fight, and the bow gave it that put-together look I was going for on the entryway console. Printed at home, framed, done in ten minutes.
The nitpick is the bow. On a couple of the pumpkins it is a glossy, overly shiny ribbon that prints with a weird halo on cream paper. I picked a matte-looking bow from the set and skipped the shiny ones.
A Preppy Goose for the Cheeky Sayings
My sister has a soft spot for anything preppy, so one frame got a little plaid-scarf goose next to “stay golden, stay grateful.” It is silly and it is her, and that is the whole point.
The scarf carries a bit of rust in the plaid, which let me match it to the ink without thinking too hard. I printed the goose small, framed it on the porch shelf, and it became the one she points out to guests.
Nitpick: the coquette styling means lots of tiny bows and ribbons, and on cream cardstock the palest pink ones nearly disappear. I bumped the saturation a touch before printing so the goose did not look half-erased.
The Round Saying That Skips the Frame
This one breaks my own frame rule, and I let it. “It’s fall y’all” comes as a round sign, so instead of glass I printed it, mounted it on a cardboard circle, and hung it on the porch where it could turn a little in the wind.
The round shape was a nice change from a row of rectangles, and the rust-and-cream version I printed read clean from the steps. The porch is where it belongs, since the entryway console is all framed pieces and this one wanted air.
Nitpick: it is sold as a wind spinner, but printed paper does not spin in real wind, it just flops. If you want actual motion you need to laminate both sides and add a real swivel, which I did not bother with. Mine sways. That is enough.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to make fall decorations with corn stalks?
Bundle three or four dried corn stalks, tie them tight with twine about a third of the way down, and lean the bundle against a porch post so it fans out at the top. I stand mine on either side of the door and tuck a couple of small pumpkins at the base.
For the entryway, I cut the stalks short and stand a tight little bundle in a tall crock next to a framed saying. The dry rustle of the stalks plays off the cream-and-rust prints without me adding another color.
Can I print these at home?
Yes, that is exactly how I do it. I run them on a regular inkjet on cream cardstock and slide the words behind glass. Just read the saying out loud before you frame it, because I framed one with a typo and only caught it on the third walk-by.
Keep an eye on your ink. My black ran low mid-batch and the reprint came out a shade weaker, so a backup cartridge saves you a second trip.
What file formats do these designs come in?
It varies by listing, so check the file list on each one before you buy. The sayings and clipart I framed were image files I could send straight to my home printer, no extra software needed.
If a design is built for a cutting machine, the shop usually says so on the page. For a frame on the console, you mostly want the printable version, so look for that note.
Do I need a Cricut or Silhouette to use these?
Not for what I did. Every frame on my entryway console and porch was just printed and slid behind glass, no cutting machine anywhere in the process.
A Cricut or Silhouette helps if you want to cut vinyl letters or shapes, but if you are framing a saying or gluing flat clipart to cardstock like I did, your printer and a pair of scissors cover it.
Before You Print
The console by my door is three frames deep now, all cream paper, rust and black ink, a different saying behind each pane. The porch took the round sign and the bear at kid height. None of it cost much, and the only real casualty was the typo print I caught after framing and had to run again.
My sister keeps asking which saying is next, which is how I know the row is working. Read yours out loud first. Then frame it, prop it a little crooked, and let people slow down to read on their way past.
