November!

I always feel old when time moves by too quickly.  It's been an amazing fall this year with great weather and many blessings!  I'm ready for the Thankful/Grateful season of November.

Here is a fall themed table scape I did the other day.

My napkins are folded and sitting up in a wire basket that I found in the Target $ spot area.  It was $3!  I feel particularly proud of that this year.  

My favorite part was using my tree slices as a charger.  I used these tree slices as part of centerpieces for my wedding (4 years ago!!) and now they are spread throughout the house with all kinds of things like vases and candles on top of them.

I also always like to add different heights of interest at a table.  So I turned my brass bowl upside down and set up a dessert plate on top.

I love mixing grey/tans/browns/gold/silver tones together.  I think it makes for a warm comforting feeling.

If you like the printable table decorations you can find them in my etsy shop!  They are so easy to use, you can print them at home and just write names or sweet messages on them and add that extra finish to your fall or Thanksgiving table!

Kids' Table: Placemats

I have to admit that this post is inspired by my parents.  That is, I still sit at the 'kid table' which ranges from 2-40 and has two generations.  Last year my parents made it a lot more fun.  They used craft paper as a tablecloth and used sharpie to outline our place settings.  There were crayons in the middle of the table and we all colored on our 'plates'.  

I decided to make a table setting with only things I had around the house.  Including several paper grocery bags.  I wanted to make it all kid friendly and entertaining for the little ones.

I could make two placemats out of one grocery bag.  

Step 1:  Take off the handles of the grocery bag.

Step 2:  Cut along the length of the bag and cut the bottom off.

Step 3:  Cut the remaining rectangle in half for 2 placemats.

I kept the pinked top edge of the bag as the top of the placemat because I liked that look.

I painted 'thankful' on the top of all of the placemats.  I simply used watered down black puff paint because I was out of any acrylic paint!

October Tablescape!

I may not care for Halloween much, but I love to decorate for fall!  After all I did get married in October and had mums lining my aisle.

My house has so much gold in it, it's fun to move things around and suddenly the items look seasonal!

I made this table runner 2 years ago.  I got the fabric from Hancocks, but I thought it had a decidedly Orla Kiely look about it..

I got the candlesticks and candles from Home Goods this season.  Wondering around Home Goods is only my favorite way to kill a Saturday afternoon.

The green Oliver Vase and these leaf plates were wedding gifts from Crate and Barrel of course!  The gold bowl is from the Nate Berkus collection at Target!

The wood slices covered in moss are from my wedding too!  Those were a DIY project that became more than a labor of love with help from my whole family.  It all started with my father-in-law cutting down a dead tree and slicing it up for me.  I then took the slices to my parent's house to dry out in the garage.  To our delight, those wood slices started to grow mold on them!  Everyday either my mom, dad or I would go outside hand scrape the fresh mold off of them and lay them out to dry in the sun.  Preferably we would lay them on their thin side so that mold didn't grow on the under side.  I think my dad even rubbed bleach into them to kill everything.    After enough of that and the day before the wedding my mom, bridesmaids, and I covered those suckers with floral tack and moss.  The nice thing is I think almost everyone has a few slices around their homes!