~harvest garland~

 Hello long lost blogging friends.

Hopefully you've all not given up on me. 

My lack of blog posts hasn't been due to 

lack of projects completed. 

It's been entirely due to lack of computer time. 

I'll spare you the details and excuses.

I kept my Thanksgiving deco this year real simple.

I had a bag full of big, beautiful, vibrant leafs 

that I gathered in my Aunt's yard that I knew I

wanted to use for something. I decided

to make a simple harvest garland with them.

I added some pine cones and called it good. 

If I get around to it you'll be seeing more 

of the leafs and pine cones on my 

Thanksgiving table setting. 

 

I'm thinking I'll be using the pine cones for 

Christmas decorating too.....

keeping it simple.

~kids pilgrim ship art project~

I'm the room mother for my kid's classroom.

This is the project we will be doing tomorrow

after their Thanksgiving Feast.

I found it on Pinterest (here).

So simple.....a ship with their hand print.

We'll see if I'm saying "so simple" after

trying to stamp 18 different 5 year olds

hands and clean it off before they end up

with hand prints all over their clothes too. 

   

~a little tiny peek at my Thanksgiving decor~

 I haven't had time to do a full run down of

my Thanksgiving decor this year....

Here's a little taste of it:

As you can see-I'm all about the fall foliage.  

GOOD NEWS!

 I am finished with the quiet book and all other

birthday projects for my little lady. I will be taking

pics of them today and posting on here within

the next few days......PROMISE.

  

~Thanksgiving table decorations~

Remember I was saying I wanted to decorate

my table for Thanksgiving dinner?

But I wanted to keep it simple?

Is it coming back to you now?

Well-this is what I came up with:

Nothing too fancy and extravagant but still nice.

I wanted to use things I had on hand and because

I waited until 2 hours before, I didn't really have a choice.

(my daughter's birthday party was the night before!)

First off, I took some tulle I had on hand and tied

it around the backs of the chairs. I then took some

ribbon I had and tied a bow at the center.
I didn't have enough tulle for them to match,
they were all different colors. I did have enough
ribbon so I figured since the tulle was all the same
color palette, the ribbon would bring it together.

The tablecloth was my Grandma's. 

I put it over a plain white sheet.

For the center of the table I put a 

Thanksgiving table runner I've had for years

and never really used. I know it looks better with

some type of arrangement in the center but 

it's just not realistic if you want to fit lots of

food on the table. Plus-it blocks the view when

you're trying to talk to a person on the other

side of the table. So-for these reasons,

I didn't put an arrangement in the center.

For the place settings I got out one 

of my dish sets and placed them on some 

green place mats I have.  The napkins go

with the set of place mats. I've had them for years.

I only had two napkin rings like this so for the

other two I tied raffia around the napkin as if

it were a ring.

This was my favorite part....

the name cards.

I got some pine cones out of my Christmas

decorations, stuck a fall leaf in it and placed

the name card in it. I got these name cards
at Michael's last year after Thanksgiving
for 50 cents a package. There are 12 per pkg.

It was just us and my husband's Grandma for dinner

so we were all able to fit at the kitchen table.

Grandma kept commenting about how pretty the 

table looked....she loved everything about it.

The funniest thing she said about it,

"Oh my...you even have matching dishes!"

She loved the napkin rings and wondered what 

the heck they were....she'd never seen them before.

She couldn't get over the tulle around the chairs,

"What is this material? I've never seen it before.

WOW...it's beautiful."

We had a great dinner and even had enough room

on the table for the food:

Considering I had to throw it together at the last

minute I was pleased with the outcome.

I love setting a nice table. I wish I had the 

opportunity to do this more often.

I hope your Thanksgiving was filled 

with all things beautiful that you love.

~blessings~

Do you decorate for Thanksgiving or do

you skip that and go right from 

Halloween to Christmas? 

I've always dreamed of decorating a beautiful

table for Thanksgiving dinner but I haven't 

as of yet. It doesn't seem realistic once

you get all the food on the table. 

Sure, I've seen TONS of beautiful table settings

but let's see how that looks with a feast on

the table and a bunch of people sitting there too. 

That being said, we are having a very low key 

dinner this Thanksgiving. Just us at home with

our little family and my husband's Grandma.

I think I'm going to take a stab at a pretty 

table dressing this year. I want to keep it 

really simple and toned down and most of all

REALISTIC.

So-on that note, let me share with you

another of my Thanksgiving decorations.

I made this a few years back with some vinyl I

got from an old high school friend at a girls

reunion party we had. The wood it's on is

from my Grandpa's old barn. Although I

love the way it looks I don't recommend 

using barn wood on vinyl projects unless you

are prepared to spend lots of time trying to 

get it to stick! This was a bugger.....

After I got the vinyl attached I embellished

it with a bit of fall foliage that I got at Michaels. 

It's one of my favorite Thanksgiving decorations.

To me it symbolizes the two things I am most

grateful for in this world.....

Family AND Friends.

The wood is representative of my 

Grandparents, the legacy they created

and the love my family has always offered me.

The vinyl is representative of my friends

and the joy and support they have

always been in my life. 

Some of you are familiar with the saying on it..

it's from a church hymn. Just saying it out loud

makes me laugh and smile. It takes me back

to a church pew, sitting with the Dana girls,

holding back laughter as we are listening

to the lady in front of us belting this out

in her best opera voice.

I can hear it now.....

"Count your many blessings. Name them one by one."

....and I am laughing again!

If you thought this was going to end on 

a reverent note, you were wrong. 

~decorating with jars~

My holiday decorations differ each year.

Same stuff but I never arrange and display them

the same two years in a row.

I don't do it on purpose.

In fact, if you want to know the real truth

it's not because I'm creative....it's 

because I can't remember how I did it 

the year prior. I really need to start

taking pics of the stuff because there have 

been years that

I've been quite proud of myself.

I have a lot of jars.

I can veggies in the summer/fall and 

my husband cans smoked fish (the best you've ever had)

in the winter. We always have jars stashed away

in the hutch. Often times I end up using the jars

for my holiday decorating. 

Here's my latest with the jars:

I stuffed them with a little bit of fall foliage

and plastic pumpkins,

turned them upside down and 

tied some raffia around them. 

Simple and understated yet still festive.

You should see what I do with them at Christmas....

maybe you will if I can remember :)

~two-faced~

I love fall decorations.

I've said that before right?

Let me show you a trick I've been doing for

years with my pumpkins out on the front porch.

With the SAME pumpkins, I transform my porch

from this:

(nothing spectacular I know...I wasn't feeling it this year)

To this:

SAME PUMPKINS....just turned around and embelished a little.

If you are to get up close and look at the backside

you would see this:

Hey....I've got to get my money's worth.

Talk about getting your bang for your buck.

In years past the pumpkins have actually lasted 

until Thanksgiving without wilting and caving in.

I just turn them around and put some fall

foliage that I bought at the dollar store in and around them.

If you haven't already thrown out your jack-o-lanterns

TRY IT!