Last Minute Thanksgiving Ideas

Today is all about using what you have.  Its the day before Thanksgiving and you might be thinking you want to spruce up your table a bit or add something fun but just don't have the time to really even think about it.  Its ok, I've thought about it for you.  I have a little last minute table idea I put together to share as well as some other great last minute ideas I found thats all about using what you have.

Up first is my little Thanksgiving Table...

Everything I used I found around the house.  Grab your favorite vases, some mason jars, glass bowls - whatever you have and fill it with something pretty.

I had grabbed a bag of cranberries from the grocery store a few days ago, they were on clearance so I thought why not?  We have pecans galore in our yard so I gathered up a bunch and used them.  Acorns are another great choice, pinecones, twigs, leaves even those annoying sweet gum seeds can be used (check out the pic below).  I had some lighted branches that I used but you could totally just use sticks from your yard - it would be equally as pretty.

I didn't have a table cloth that I felt like fit the Thanksgiving feel so I just used a piece of scrap burlap as a little table runner.  I grabbed some twine and yarn to wrap the silverware - simple but I liked that I could use a little bit of the deep red to tie it all together.

Candles of course are always an easy solution.  A good rule when creating a grouping of items is to always use an odd number of things - its just more pleasing to the eye.

Next up is a bunch of little ideas from other sites that I had to share - they are all last minute, super easy and use what you have...

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Seriously, someone has made a sweet gum berry look chic.  I can't even get over this but I love it so much.

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Use your pretty fall leaves to write on for place setters.

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Pinecones, upside down glasses and pumpkins - easy and so pretty.

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Another great use of something you have on hand.

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I love this idea for a kids table but I think it would be totally cute for an adult table too.  PS - you can get brown paper like this at the dollar store - they sell it as mailing wrap in large rolls.  

So many cute ideas here right?  I just love using what you already have.

Just want to tell all of you how much I'm thankful for you, your encouragement, support and kind words you always give.  I love all of my bloggy friends!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Dollar Store Chalkboard Ornaments

A few weeks back a came across a christmas ornament diy that I just loved from Emily at 52 Mantels.  I love to chalkboard just about anything so this was right up my ally and I'm all about adding in some black this year to our christmas decor so this was perfect!  Oh, and its cheap - score again!  So here's my take on this little chalkboard ornament.

So first thing you need is a package of plastic ornaments from the dollar store in your choice of color.  I loved the idea of red and black together so I went with that.

Since they are cheap and plastic you just use the line that runs down the middle as your tape line.  I used a wide blue painters tape and it ended up setting up perfectly for me to paint.  Oh, I also removed the little gold tops so I wouldn't get paint all over them.

I just used chalkboard spray paint because I already had some.  I ended up doing two quick coats.

After a little dry time, I had a cute little chalkboard ornament!  I liked the idea of adding a little red and white bakers twine to hang them.

Super easy, super cheap but really cute!  Love these kinds of projects!

Take care and have an amazing Thanksgiving everyone!

Our Weekend in Boone

We have the sweetest people in our life.  Over the weekend we had a great opportunity to get away for a few days and spend some time together as a family in Boone, NC.  We were able to go because a family at our church thought of us and gave us their timeshare that they were not using.  We felt so blessed and so thankful and gobbled up the chance to spend a few days away together.  So, thank you so much John and Teresa!

Justin and I have not had a chance to really take time to explore and enjoy the NC Mountains in forever, we have gone many times as we have taken our students on ski trips every year - but those are focused trips.  We really just wanted to take the time to relax, slow down and let Silas explore - he is so into exploring and discovering right now and this was the perfect place for him to do that!  Oh, we also got to meet up with a lot of our ASU students and have dinner with them - such a sweet time for us as we have missed them so much!

We spent a lot of our time on the Blue Ridge Parkway, stopping at little trails and historical spots along the way.  Silas loved these little cabins or houses as he called them, walking though the woods on the trails and throwing rocks in the creek - all the things a boy loves.

We actually were able to snap a few family shots - something we haven't done in a long time and Silas actually cooperated.  We found that making a game out of the camera timer worked perfectly, at least for a little while anyway.

The next day we explored Blowing Rock.  I was actually pretty surprised that it cost $6 to enter - not that it is a ton of money but I couldn't understand what was so special about the views here - they were pretty and all but so were all of the views along the way, I guess its just the big rock?  Either way we still had fun and our friend Allison who is one of our college students at ASU got to come along with us - it was like old times.

Justin isn't the biggest fan of heights so this freaked him out a bit but, he quickly got over his fears and even let Silas take a look at the view.  

The last day we made a little drive to visit Linville Falls.  It was so beautiful but it may have been a little much for little Silas.  He hung in there but Justin had to carry him all the way down from the top - he just quit, haha (I laugh now but there was no laughing the .8 miles down the trail).  The trial was easy but I think a bit long for him.  He absolutely loved the waterfalls but once he saw them, he was done.

We took a thousand pictures, can you tell?  It was such a fun time, we enjoyed every second.  We have always considered ourselves beach people but there was something calming and peaceful about the Mountains that we enjoyed so much, so much that we have talked about when we were going to take our next visit.

The most beautiful thing to me was the night sky.  I don't know if I have ever seen such a clear and bright night sky.  You could literally see millions and millions of stars.  It honestly brought tears to my eyes as I felt so small under the vast greatness of God's creation.  His love and power was overwhelming.  I read a lot of verses that weekend about God's stars, creation and power.  I don't know if I've truly grasped the meaning of these words until this weekend.  Its really just pure awe and wonder.

He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Psalm 147:4

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Psalm 8:3-4

Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. Isaiah 40:26

If you ever need to be put in your place just go take a glimpse of the night sky (especially a Mountain view one) - thats all it will take.

There is something so precious about a few days away, I cherished every moment and I'm so thankful for the chance to do it.  

Hope you guys had an amazing weekend!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Reindeer Silhouettes

I'm continuing the Christmas theme and sharing another fun craft with you today in the way of Reindeer Silhouette Art.  This was one of those things that started out as something in my head and then just morphed as I went.  It didn't quite turn out the way my brain was picturing it but I had fun with it nonetheless.  It's an easy and cheap craft (yay for cheapos) and you could go a million different ways with it. Most of my supplies came from the dollar store or cost just a buck or two somewhere else. Oh, so this year I have gotten on this color theme kick for christmas and I'm loving adding a bunch of black accents - so I'm doing a lot of stuff with that this year.  I don't know why but I'm all into it.  Maybe its because I can chalkboard paint something (which I am doing so stay tuned).  Because for some reason I just can't get enough of that.  Anyway, here is my little tutorial...

I found a couple of glittery reindeer at the dollar store (two for one), picked up a couple of frames from the dollar store as well, spray painted them black, a couple of photo mats and then used an old red t-shirt for my backing.

So I got a little lazy and duct taped the fabric right on the back of the frame.  For me, this project was just all about having fun and nothing really serious so I just went with it.  After all, these are dollar store frames and no one will ever see this back - except now everyone has.

At first I left them like this and then decided they looked a little boring and I wanted to add something fun.  So I decided to paint a couple of photo mats to add a little whimsy.

One I painted with stripes, I just penciled off my stripes and painted in - I would suggest taping off and not free handing if you want a cleaner crisp edge.

I also made a little pattern out of a piece of card stock and traced it on my other mat and then painted this one as well.

And then I had these fun little guys and I know exactly where they will be going.  

I have more christmas things in the mix and will be showing you what I plan on doing with these soon. I may or may not already have some christmas decorations up in our house, we are six weeks from Christmas so I am using that excuse.  

Hope you guys have a wonderful wednesday!

Linking Up Here!

DIY: Salt Dough Hand Print Ornaments

It's not too early for Christmas is it?  I say its never too early.  Last year we (Silas and I) tried our hand at making salt dough ornaments.  Silas had just turned one and I really wanted to do something with him that would be special and memorable.  Let me just say, we had the best time.  He loved playing with the dough, squishing it with his hands and using the rolling pin and I loved watching and helping him.  Our ornaments might not have turned out perfect or magazine worthy but I don't even care (and usually I can become a wacko perfectionist when it comes to this kind of stuff so this is a biggie for me) because I love that memory and I will cherish it forever.  So here is our little salt dough ornament experiment...

So the dough is pretty simple:

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup water

1 cup flour

You just mix them together in your mixer until a sticky dough forms and then you are reading to start kneading your dough (about 10 min) and then on to rolling it out and making your ornaments. 

We chose to make hand prints so we found a little bowl that was a good size for his hand to cut out the ornament shapes and then the fun began with trying to get Silas to keep his hand still so we could get an adequate print without ripping holes in the dough - much harder than you may realize.  I also decided to write the year on the dough - in hindsight I should have used a stamp and then I did it and didn't want to redo all of them since getting the print had already felt like a grand accomplishment so I just left it (it was the memories for me anyway).  I also used a straw to poke a hole in the top before I baked them so I could hang them later.

We finally worked it out and got about four decent handprints to bake into ornaments.  We baked ours at 200 F for 4-6 hours (you need to get all of the moisture out so you are really just drying the dough out.

After we had our solid as a rock hand prints I let them sit a few days and then decided I wanted to add a little color and bling so I brushed on a little glue around the actual print and sprinkled on various glitters.  After it dried I sprayed them all with a clear acrylic coat to keep the glitter from flaking off.  

I pulled one out last week and remembered how much I enjoyed that sweet time and looked at how much my little buddy had grown.  If you have a little one you should definitely try and squeeze in a ornament making session this year.  I'm planning on doing another sort of ornament together with him again this year and then again next year and the next - until he decides he's too old for that.  

Hope you guys have a great week! 

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New Message Board and Updates

Some things you just can't leave alone.  I have this little message board that I made way back and is now on to its third rendition.  Maybe its because its such an easy project to redo, maybe its because I just can't make up my mind or maybe I just enjoy change every now and again.  Either way, I like the new message board and maybe I'll stick with it for a while this time.  Here's how the board started -

And then it went on to look like this...

Then I decided to make a new kitchen chalkboard which took over the message board living space so it moved and received a new update to now look like this...

I simply took off the twine and the old fabric and pins and recovered it with new fabric and spray painted the frame a glossy navy blue.  Simple changes but I love the result.

So moving on, I am totally already into the Christmas spirit and next week I will start sharing with you some of the Christmasy things I have been working on, can't wait!  I think its because Silas is so much more aware of things this year and I know he will be so into Christmas this year so I am so into to.  Can I say so one more time?

I've also working on some changes around here on the old blog - I'm working on a new project page which will hopefully be easier to navigate and find older project posts and soon I will be updating the home tour page as well.  I've also added a little space for holiday projects on the sidebar and I will be updating it with the new things happening next week.  So many bloggy things going on so check back soon!

Hope you guys have a wonderful Friday and great weekend!!