Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  Hope this day finds you able to spend time with loved ones around a table heaped with turkey goodness!

I'm thankful for the inspiration I have found over the years at this party!  I'm sharing this tablescape with folks there.  Thanks Everyone!

We are going to my SIL's place for the big meal, but I decorated the table here for us to enjoy throughout November.  I'm proud to say that we ate several meals together at the table this month!  We tend to eat late and catch up on a DVR'd program, but not this November.  Pardon the angle.  I was trying to catch all of the table and cabinet without catch the blue & purple post-its on the wall to the left.  My DH is still working on my birthday present from August.  I asked for him to put together our combined family tree.  We had big chunks of info already, but you'd be surprised how many gaps you find when you sit down to put one of these together!! I'm truly thankful for my Gram Ahboo (that's my nickname for her) who had TONS of info both on paper and in her head!

The scarecrow Mom made years ago and is supposed to light up, but I thought he looked cute here so I took out the bulb 'n cord.  She made the pumpkin too.   The turkey "art" was a $5 snag at HomeGoods this year and the printers tray I grabbed this summer up in Wells with grand plans to fill it. ;)

My MIL gave me the pilgrims a couple years back when I mentioned how I had so much for Halloween & Christmas, but so little for Thanksgiving.  The candlesticks were acquired from family hand-me-downs and thrift shops, the flowers, gourds, and "glass" acorns are all Dollar Store finds.

I love these turkeys!!!!  They are one of my favorite finds from last year (I think it was just last year- the years are flying by these days!!!)

The place cards I made a few years back to bring to the Family Thanksgiving Dinner, but I wanted to see how they looked on this table too. ;)  The dishes are our good china and are a hand-me-down from my Aunt Helen.  We love them, but never use them because they have to be hand washed.  We really should use them though.

This is my most favorite catch this year.  This HUGE leaf lantern I got for $7 at HomeGoods.  LOVE it!  I filled it with 5 battery operated candles.  With those candles and the real ones on the table & wall put off a beautiful glow at night.  We've been eating by candlelight at the table and it is so pretty. :)

Our decorated wine rack.  Honestly if it stands still long enough, everything gets decorated in my house.  The corn is a gorgeous wine color IRL.  The accordion fold art is from a class I took and though you can't see it, the flower pot is one I painted with a giant sunflower.  Remember when toll painting was all the rage in crafting?  The "messy" looking thing in the front is a knitted nest and it is fabulous.

It cost a pretty penny and I had to wait a year, but it was totally worth it.  My Harvest Nest came on my birthday last year and it is squeal-worthy pretty.  The gal who makes these is such a LOVELY person.  You can meet her and find out more about her nests here.

Hope you had fun checking out my table.  We are off to enjoy some turkey with family in NH now.  Please leave the shopping until tomorrow.  Be thankful if you are lucky enough to enjoy spending time with your family and friends today.  Not everyone is blessed enough to have this opportunity.

What'll ya drink?

I went nuts making some hot cocoa and hot cider stocking stuffers for the in-house craft fair. They are kinda addicting to make 'cause they are so fun to embellish!

I used a couple PTI mini sets to make the red apples.  They are really supposed to be cherries & the leaves are for the pears, but I love how they can be morphed into mini apples!!!  The sentiments are from MFT's lollipop set and I thought they helped to make the hot cider tags transform them into possible place cards instead of stocking stuffers. :)

Don't tell the other packets, but this snowflake is currently my favorite one because you have a snowflake ornament to use after you drink all the cocoa. :D  I think I might have to give it to our PE teacher as a thank you.  He helped lug all the stuff to my car when I took down my "booth" yesterday.  If I know him, he'll drink the cocoa and pass the snowflake along to his mom.  Whenever he wins something girlie, or gets something more on the girlie side, he gives it to his mom.  Isn't he sweet!

What stocking stuffers are you working on this year?

Who's Coming for Dinner?

 We've had a craft fair at work amongst ourselves the last couple of weeks.  I've been madly creating things and these place cards are one of the things I made.

I had made a version of these before and sold them in my Etsy shop.  Sooo much fun to make!  I used all kinds of dies from PTI that had been collecting dust. :)

A bunch of the papers I used on the base are from PTI and then others are smaller papers I had in my stash.  The Swiss dot paper is one of my favorite "go to" papers from Bo Bunny.  They add just the right pop without making things too busy.

So who's coming to your place over Thanksgiving- or where are you going?

Jingle Jars

Getting ready for a mini craft fair at work this week.  I made these for a swap I did with gals at my LSS & when I brought them into work to show my roomies, lots of people asked me to make more!

The version with the bells are all that are left!  They are fun to make though, so I didn't mind creating some more. :)

Off to pack up the goodies to bring in to work.  Fingers crossed that the snow they have predicted doesn't cause too much of a traffic jam!

Lil' Punkin's B-Day

I had the coolest Etsy order last week!  The community our summer cottage is in had a craft fair for the residents.  It was held outside at our pavilion and it was COLD!!!!  Totally worth it though 'cause I sold a bunch & a couple custom orders were placed. :)  I brought a bunch of goodies I had on hand, including these cards.  One of the gals that stopped by was excited to find out that I also had an Etsy shop because after getting a couple cards & seeing the pumpkin cards, she contacted me about making a pumpkin banner for her little gals birthday this month.

The theme for the party was pumpkins- how stinkin' cute!!!!!!  I pulled out my PTI pumpkin die and lots of pumpkiny colors & embellies.  So much fun to make & I'm so happy that she loved it.

In the process of making this inspiration struck.  I just finished that piece on Monday, so hopefully I'll get some pics up here soon. :)  Inspiration hit DH too.  He was looking at the banner as I had it set up to assemble and he said "The pumpkin looks kinda flat.  Can you add some extra texture like those dots?"  He meant the Swiss dot folder (which he bought for me when he got me a Cuttlebug years ago- such a great idea!)  Sadly, it just wouldn't cover the whole pumpkin and was a hot mess when I tried.  Then I thought- what about using the pumpkin ridge die (meant to cut slices of the pumpkin) and embossing the lines on instead?  Can you believe I had the foam/rubbery layer that helps you do this and NEVER used it?!?!  My husband was a genius to suggest added dimension AND I used another tool that I had never used.

Well enough of my babbling.  Hope you enjoyed this banner and are inspired to get out some goods you have and haven't used yet. ;)  While we are on the subject- have any of you joined the "50 in 50" group on Facebook?  A friend just told me about it.  The goal is to make 50 projects, in 50 days, without buying anything.  You make whatever you want and try to use up what you already have instead of buying new stuff.  I'm thinking I might have to join so I force myself to get more done!

Let me know if you've tried it!  I'd love to hear thoughts. :)