Velvet Pumpkins and a Thanksgiving Tablescape Preview

We're hosting Thanksgiving again this year and I'm so excited! 

I love entertaining.

I posted earlier about my blue pumpkins and I showed you how I made these. 

I've been drooling over these velvet pumpkins .  The originals are pricey, 3 for $84. 
 I tucked this picture away with plans on making some at a later date.

Then I found this great tutorial at the Lemonista and decided to make some for my
Thanksgiving table.

Mine are just a little different.  I couldn't find enough real pumpkin stems so I made my own out of clay.  I can't find my stem pictures, but it's very simple.  I shaped the stems out of air dry Crayola clay and spray painted the stems gold.  I notched all the tops of my stems to hold place cards.

 Another change I made was to add a couple stitches from the center top of my pumpkins through the center of the bottom.  I like a flatter squished down pumpkin. 

 Just hot glue the clay stems on and that's it.

The small pumpkins will be used on my Thanksgiving table to hold place cards for each guest. 
The extras will be used for the center piece.

I made 18 pumpkins for around $25. 

If I had purchased these that would have cost me around $500. 

I mixed in some real pumpkin stems and they received the same coat of spray paint.

I'll mix in some silver and gold foliage for some pumpkin glam.  I'm not sure if we will be eating inside or out this year? 
We'll have to see if the weather cooperates.

Are you hosting Thanksgiving? 

Are you whipping up any DIY creations for your tablescape this year?

I would love to see them!

Thanks for checking it out.

You might also enjoy
My New Living Room/Office Gallery Wall
Stud Pumps

Piper

I'm Thankful for this bundle of love. 

She came into our lives at the perfect time.

We were mourning the loss of our beloved Roscoe.

Her sister and brother are champion show dogs.

This is her sister Tina the "Super Model."

Piper is a champion cuddler. 

She wants nothing more than to sit in our laps and be loved.

"Pet me please'

 

  She concentrates intensely when I talk to her trying to figure out what I'm saying?

 She's very curious and loves to be in the middle of whatever I'm working on.
I think Roscoe must have told her I need help on my projects.

Piper has filled our grieving hearts with love.

Do you have a a fur baby you are thankful for?

Thanks for checking it out and have a great week!

It's Nice To Be Nice

I was in the grocery store the other morning very early, it was just me and the food stockers it was so early.   I happened to be in the bakery section were a man was arranging a pumpkin and wine display.  He was very apologetic for blocking the aisle with three huge wine barrels.  I replied "no problem," I left my cart and navigated the obstacle course on foot to get to the peanut butter.

I frequently make small talk with strangers, just being nice, and today was no different.  My kids frequently ask me, "mom do you know that person?" as I tend to start conversations with people I don't know, no I don't know them, just me being friendly.  I said "hello" to the wine guy setting up the pumpkin and wine display (at the time I didn't know he was a wine distributor). During our quick conversation I asked him where he got the wine barrels from and if I could buy one?  He explained that he worked for a local winery and yes they sold them at the winery.  I thanked him for the info., tucked it away for a future "project," and wished him a great day.  As I was leaving he waved me over and asked if I wanted one?  I thought he was trying to save me a trip to the winery to buy one, but no he was asking if I wanted one for FREE. 

He even loaded it in the car for me. 

Cool! 

Getting it out of the car and in to the backyard by myself was fun. 

Can I count that as my workout for the day?

I love it! 

I have NO IDEA what I should do with it?

 Got any ideas?

I would love to hear them!

This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't stopped to say "hello."  Has just being your friendly self ever come back to you in ways you never expected? 

I'd love to hear your story.

It's nice to be nice.

Thanks for checking it out.

Living Room/Office Gallery Wall

I've been thinking about doing a gallery wall somewhere in my house for awhile now.
 I just didn't have any extra wall space to put one?
I saw this picture on Lauren Liess's blog Pure Style Home.
It's a picture of Karen Robertson's showroom at High Point.
Sorry the quality didn't turn out when I copied the picture. 
If you go to her blog you can see it in better quality. 
It's hard to tell it's framed sea life.
I also love the white slip covered couch and the blue accents.

About a month ago I painted this pair of mirrors that hung in my living room/office.  
It was part of my attack on the Tuscan brown pieces that still occupy my house.   

I call this the "Before, Before."

I liked how the mirrors turned out. 
I'll refer to this as the latest "Before."

For the new gallery wall I started with a scale drawing and figured out how I wanted to arrange the new items I wanted to use.  I'm glad I did this step because it's completely different than I originally imagined and it saved me from patching a lot of unnecessary nail holes.

Here is the first "After."

You can see my Thanksgiving Tree in the left hand side of the picture.
I still haven't made time to slip cover the couch.  It's on the to do list.

The sea shell frame is just glued shells on an old oak mirror. 

I made it years ago before I blogged.  The gold framed mirrors were borrowed from my master bedroom.   

Total cost of this project with spray paint $16. 
I don't think the new look is necessarily better than the old mirrors. 
I just get bored with my surroundings and like to mix it up.

I liked the changes I made, but I always need to live with the newness for a few days before conceding it will stay for the time being.

Mounted sea fan art like this is everywhere, it's far from an original idea, but I had the old frame, the burlap, and the plastic sea fan.  Using stuff I already have saves me money.  The frame was white and I painted it and the sea fan with the extra blue pumpkin paint.

No sea fans were killed for this project, they're plastic.   I use them in my Christmas trees, Thanksgiving trees and in other urn arrangements.
Here they are unpainted in one of my shell urns. 



Here's how I used another sea fan last year for my front door during Christmas time. 
This one was spray painted aqua.

The mirror on the bottom left hand side of the wall was picked up at a garage sale for $7 and started like this.  The previous owner screwed the hanging bracket through the front of the frame?

I filled the holes with wood putty, painted it white, added the blue pumpkin paint to the damaged fabric border, added some gold accents, and glazed the whole thing with a gray wash. 

So I lived with it like this for a day. 
My plan was to replace the bottom right hand side gold mirror with a painted  piece of art.
I might still? 

While taking apart this arrangement from my husband's Birthday Party I got another idea.

Here is the "After, After" and final change for this post.  I picked up this frame at H4H for $5 several months ago and it sat in the "garage filled with too much crapolla" for months.   I mounted the branch on the wall with a nail and some twine.  The Tilandsias are thriving and should do great in this room.

It creates three dimensional living art.

I just need to give the Tillandsias a little spray of water every once in awhile to keep them healthy.

So what do you think? 
Should I go back to the old mirrors, stick with the new gallery, or ditch the stick art and paint a picture for the frame, I would love to hear your opinion.

Framed any sticks lately?

Thanks for checking it out.

Marti Gras Homecoming

Casey went to her first Homecoming dance last week. She went with her best buddies from school. Our great friends the Mendlers offered to host all the kids for dinner at their house since their kids, Ben, a senior and Maddie a freshman, were going.  

Sofia, Vicky, Casey, and Maddie

 Kristy is a wonderful cook and made most of the food. 
Kristy got me started blogging. To see her blog Mi Casa San Diego go here. 
We were partners in crime for this party.  I helped her come up with the dinner tablescapes to help make the party a festive occasion.

The Homecoming theme was Marti Gras.

Unfortunately I didn't get great pictures of the table before the kids arrived.

More importantly I was busy getting pictures of the kids.

Here are the flower arrangements we came up with.  We put them on top of tall iron candle sticks so the view across the table wasn't blocked.  I don't know about you, but I like to see who is sitting across from me while I'm eating.

Dyed eucalyptus, mums, and sunflowers.

The Seniors

I added my magnetic crystal drops to the candle sticks for some bling.  They looked sparkly in the candle light.  We added the black and white striped fabric to balance all the feminine purple.  We didn't want the boys to feel like they were at a "purple princes party."

The dinner was outside on the back patio.  It was a gorgeous San Diego evening.

I helped the Mendlers design their pool and new landscaping. 

A fireplace at the end of this patio was part of the original landscape design. 

It's part of phase two of the backyard plan and when it's completed, will block out the view of the fence and house you see in the background.
  Just picture a large cozy fireplace at the far right hand side of this picture.

Kristy and I found these amazing lanterns on a shopping trip to H4H for a great price.  They are perfect for the patio.  Her handy husband Don installed them.

Appetizer table

I picked up these masks at the dollar store and tied them around the large glass votives on the table.  They did double duty for the dance after the meal.  All the kids wore masks for the Marti Gras theme.  I'm sure that lasted about five minutes.

Maddie

Casey

The freshman

Vicky, Sofia, Greg, Maddie, and Casey. 

 I think Greg is a lucky guy.

Vicky, Maddie, and Casey have been friends since first grade.  Sofia is a newer addition to the group, they met in Middle School.  I'm very grateful Casey has such a nice group of girl friends.

My mom and Casey shopped for her dress together. 

My mom is the best personal shopper.

Casey and me.

My little girl is growing up.

Thanks for checking it out.