Thanksgiving Tables

Food. Family. Friends. Thankful Hearts. It's my favorite holiday. Oddly, I never do table decor for Thanksgiving. But that's only because my sister hosts it every year. At first I was a little bitter, because afterall, it is my favorite holiday. But I have come to love this tradition - my sweet sister packs her home with every single friend, neighbor and coworker that is without family. Everyone brings a dish, or in her friend Jodi's case - 7+ homemade pies, and we dine. We spend the entire day together laughing and telling silly stories. The kids do Christmas crafts and wish lists from all the black friday ads my sister has collected. Oh, and we also give my sister and her pie-loving friend Jodi a very hard time for their die-hard tradition of a 4:00 am Black Friday shopping spree complete with mani-pedis in the afternoon.

This year, when I saw the above Shanna Murray plate at West Elm (no longer available sadly), I couldn't help but day dream a little about what my place settings would look like if I were to host this grand meal.  And wouldn't you know it, I got stuck at placemats. With all the amazing choices, how can you not get stuck?

It all starts here - the brown kraft paper (found at your local Dollar Tree) with simple pen and ink:

Then I found these amazing gold dotted placemats at Paper Source:

Then I thought, what if you just bought sheets of wrapping paper and cut them in half? That's when the world of opportunity opened wide:

Or go for a bit more color and a splash of whimsy:

Add to those paper placemats a Thanksgiving Stamp and some lines for thankful lists and it's a win!

Someone please tell me I'm not the only one that daydreams of this stuff. Please? It's just over a week away; are you ready? xo

Around the House: Busy Bees

Hey Homies!  Did you spend the weekend stuffing your mouths with left-overs while decorating for Christmas? We did. And since my guys all have allergies out the yang I am forced to light a pine scented christmas candle instead of having the real thing. None the less, the Christmas jams were kickin' the house was smelling all Christmas-y and I was sweating my buns off because it was HOT. Why 80's in November I ask. Why?

 Getting to decorate our new home for Christmas is so fun! But I have some other insanely fun things to share with you guys this week. Like I said, we were busy bees. Or was it stuffed turkeys? Whatever, we got loads accomplished over the long weekend. Excited to show you everything.

Tell me, did you use your long weekend to rest and take it easy or were you a weekend warrior, checking items off your to do list like mad? We did a little of both! xo

Around the House: Halloween Decorations

My boys love Halloween. What's not to love? There's candy till you puke, dressing up and staying up late. If you're under 12, it's like a dream come true. Here's what I don't like... all the scary things associated with Halloween that are mystical: vampires, witches, ghosts, zombies, etc. So, I try to stick to decorating with things that are real and kinda scary: jack-o-lanterns, spiders, snakes, bats, crows and owls.

Outside:

Entryway:

Halloween is so much fun. I hope you're having as much fun decorating as we are. On wednesday I'll show you how I made the owl "art" using things around the house, as well as some other crafty ideas using stuff from your recycle bin. xo

Weekly Challenge: Decorate for Easter Already!

This week I finally got around to decorating for Easter.  Part of me thinks this is a good thing because I don't want the boys to think this holiday is all about bunnies and candy. The other part of me wishes I had taken more time to pour into them the importance of Easter and what it really means. Oh teachable moments are all around.  This weekend we will make Resurrection Rolls and have a flashlight Easter egg hunt. 

When I was growing up, my Mom would make a Easter Bunny cake with fresh coconut every year.  She used two round cake pans and created the bunny from them. She dyed coconut green and poured it all around the bunny, adding jellybeans for more color.  This was one of my favorite traditions.  To honor that (and her) without the sugar, my youngest little and I made a bunny for the boys door. It's so easy.

 grab two paper plates, cutting one as seen above

 color the ears and bow from the cut plate

 create your bunny face on the remaining plate (we hotglued pom poms for eyes)

 last, glue on the ears and the bow - add whiskers if you like. (I think this would make a great mask too - just cut out the eyes and add ribbon/elastic to the sides!)

I finally made a banner for our front porch.  It reads, "He is Risen." I have it facing backwards now and will flip it Easter Sunday.

The boys and I also made little Easter gifts for their friends on our block. This little craft is so easy and just came to me one morning while I was getting out of the shower. I think it turned out great.

Materials:
Empty soap boxes
Scissors
Cotton Balls
Tape
Glue
Brown craft paper (or brown paper sacks)
Green construction paper - run through the shredder
Candy
Pen

 cut end flaps off one end of box

 "wrap" box leaving the open end unwrapped

hotglue cotton ball for bunny tail

 stuff shredded paper and candy into box opening

 write message on box! we used this as an opportunity to share the Easter story with our friends.

Hoppy Easter peeps. I pray yours is filled with lots of love, grace, remembrance, family and friends. xo

Around the House: Injecting Christmas Cheer

More and more decorations are finding their way out of boxes and into their "spots." And all my Christmas candles are doing a fine job of tricking me into thinking we have a real tree and my guys don't have allergies! I love the scent of pine - not Pine-Sol, but evergreen pine. Yum.

Possibly my most favorite addition this year - the tree stump via SHIH.  Thanks for the tip Alli!

I love what others are doing this holiday season too and can't wait to put some new decor and traditions into the mix. If you're looking for some new ideas, stop by Smile and Wave. Rachel's hosting some amazing bloggers and their inspiring traditions in a little series called Home for the Holidays.

Do you have a favorite holiday tradition or decor? xo

Around the House: Thanksgiving

 
my mayflower - centerpiece of my dreams!

You eat. You give thanks. You love on family and friends. You nap. You laugh. You drink a little wine. You watch a little football. And if you're my sister or her friends, you carefully plan out your holiday shopping excursion that begins the next morning at 3:00 am. It's Thanksgiving people and it is my FAVORITE holiday. Because it is my favorite and it so very often gets skipped over, I wanted to share some of my favorite crafts, tabletop decor and other fun stuff you can do in your home to celebrate this special day.

art display - love

for the littles

hoot hoot (if i could afford it, these little guys would adorn my table for sure)

simple beauty

outdoor inspiration - love this so much!

leaves - for my "thankful tree" or garland

No matter how you celebrate Thanksgiving, I ask that if you live in the States, please celebrate it! It's way too great of a holiday to get skipped! We have so very much to be thankful for. Happy Monday - I'm thankful for new beginnings - everyday.

Tell me, do you have one table for the whole family or a grown-up table and a little table? xo

PS - It's America Recycles Day! I plan on recycling a lot of nature, halloween decor and glass jars into my Thanksgiving decor.

Pumpkinology

I never knew that there were so many pumpkins with so many silly names. Thank you Dallas Arboretum for educating me.

 red wharty thing (ha! kinda how i feel sometimes)

 birdhouse gourd

 mini white baby boo, baby tiger striped, mini orange (really? that's as good as it gets for a little orange pumpkin? insert sad face here)

 knucklehead

 jarrandale, caveman club, turk's turban, lumina

Big D Arbo, you have truly outdone yourself this year. Thank you. Thank you.

Hey, dear readers - if you could name the "mini orange pumpkin" what would it be? xo