I've got the joy joy joy....

Joy deep down in my heart.
Thats a lyric from a song we sing at church.... but what I mean to say is happy thanksgiving everyone!
(photos are my thanksgiving table setting, this is at my parents house, were we are currently living while our house in under construction)

We had my husbands thanksgiving get together last weekend and my parent went on a trip this week, so my siblings and I decided to have our own thanksgiving and invite friends. We decided this on Friday and invited people for Saturday. We had a pretty good turn out considering the short notice. I think on thanksgiving weekend everyone thinks everyone else is busy with family, so no one makes other plans... which worked out perfect for us!

I made the little turkey with an oreo that i stuck 5 candy corns to with icing. (i cut off the white tip of the candy corn) then I used a white tip of the candy corn for a nose on a chocolate malt ball, stuck on with icing. The red part is a cut up jujube and icing for the eyes. Reeses pieces iced on to the oreo, and the malt ball iced on to the reeses pieces. Kind of cute, eh?

It was so fun... here are a few photos to prove it:

DIY White Stick Tree with Paper Leaves

I decided it was time to take down my winter stick and lights display... Its been crazy warm here for this time of year and I want my house to reflect the spring time refreshment! So I came up with this display for my dining room. I trimmed down my spaypainted trees and hot glued leaves I cut out of an old book. I brought in the old window from outside.

A Christmas Dinner

Last weekend we hosted a Christmas dinner for our friends. It was such a good night. I had so much fun decorating my table. So I have two projects that I want to talk about. The first was my little party favor... I did chocolate snowflakes. I was actually looking for a snowflake cookie cutter and could only find this chocolate making kit at the store... so I thought why not. I think they turned out pretty cute.

Second project is my silver table runners... I thought it would be something different then place mats. The flowers are organza fabric cut into circles and then you melt the edges by bring them close to a candle flame.



And here are a few fun pictures from the evening : )

Center Piece Idea

I made a centerpiece for my dinning room and it was so easy and cheap, but looks awesome. I think it would be a cute wedding centerpiece.Supplies include sticks, fake flowers and beads. I cut off the flowers and put a pearl in the center then hot glued them onto the sticks. I glues a few pearls straight onto the sticks as well.

It's Out!

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So, my blending in decorations did not last very long. I had to take the little skeletons down after Halloween, which left my chandelier a little bare. I bought the snowflake garland at dollaramma and the pine cones were my last year's Christmas craft.
On the table I still have my painted gourds... they are still there as a statement of November being a transitioning month (and I love them I can't bare to throw them out). Mixed in with the guards I have snowflakes, my trees (from last year as well), candles and my new purchase, my reindeer. He is only 5$ at Super store, so run out an get one! (They also have a lying down one, which is on my list of must haves.)

One, Two, Three, Four... Tell Me That You Love Me More

Our table numbers... probably my favorite part of our wedding! (I think I have said that at least three times in the past month!) I think instead of using words I'll let the pictures explain this time:

Centerpiece! Centerpiece!

Wonderful, beautiful centerpiece. Look out here comes the centerpiece! (If you couldn't tell you were supposed to sing that last part to the tune of the spiderman theme song.)
I never realized how pricey centerpieces can be. If you want just a wide candle, 5$ a piece x 30 tables... boom 150 dollars! Then when you add flowers... supper crazy prices! We never actually considers flowers, peacock feathers inspired our colors, they were what we wanted and just happened to save us a bundle.
For a price breakdown: I think I spent about 70$ on all the feathers. I spent 35$ on the green swirly sticks. Then we spent 40$ and one full Saturday on the wood and to make the step contraption candle holder. The dark wood stain I had, the sand was free, the green rocks were found at a dollar store for about 5$ in total, tea lights probably 2$ (tea lights are the way to go) and the glass vase were a dollar each and we bought 35. So all in all we spent about 187$ on our centerpieces... for thirty tables that is about 6.25$ a table. Not to shabby!The design was a lot of fun to come up with. And we had so many different ideas, we contemplated a few square tray ideas, some with moss, some with sand... but always with the peacock vase. Once we settle on steps we still had to work out the arrangement of steps. There were many choices and voices involved, but in the end they were unique and hand made and wonderful!

I Think My Table is a Gypsy!

I seem to often decorate my table in a gypsy style of way. I can't explain why, I think my table must be a gypsy. With rich plum, hot pink and orange colors and glass beads, black stones and candles my latest display is no different. I love the look of the patterned fabric in the vase, it's funky and textured but still tidy. The plum fabric and the pattern fabric I just found at the thrift store, everything else I had from before.

Stick Bouquet

Most of my creativity this month has come from some dire urge to fill all my vases. This blog is no different. I had an empty glass vase, well more of a bowl, and decided it needed to be filled. I came up with the idea of a stick bouquet. I've seen it done before, usually in a taller arrangement with less sticks. The funnest part of this craft was getting the supplies. I took my dog on a walk and collected sticks in a bag as I went. Since my dog is a puppy, and a cute one at that, we attracted a lot of kids. My favorite was this cute, kind of chubby girl with a t-shirt too tight and a juice stain on the front... but still totally adorable. While she was holding Polly she asked me "Why do you have a bag of sticks?" I told her I was making a bouquet, except instead of flowers I was using sticks. She looked at me a little weird for a second, but then went back to playing with Polly. All in all this was a fun craft and totally free to make!

Apples. People have been doing this for years!

I know this is not a new idea by any means. People having been using fruit to decorate probably since Adam and Eve... but I thought I would share my take on this timeless decorative display. Although, I don't know how smart keeping fruit on the window sill is. Luckily it's still pretty cool out and we don't get too much sun through our front windows... so hopefully they'll stay that bright green for a while!

Thank You Junk Drawer!

I was doing a little spring cleaning slash rearranging and decided it was time for a new center piece. The vase in the center used to have a fish in it, but that didn't end well so the vase was not being used. The black rocks and the glass beads were in my junk drawer and so was the candle. A little trip to Urban Barn for the black place mat and coasters and voila.... center piece!

Let's Play!

I spent about an hour this morning trying to decide how to do my table. I kept putting different fabrics down, but nothing looked how I wanted. Then when I was searching in my chest I found this old game I had bought at a thrift store. (I am really into board games, new or old) That is when I got the idea to use a game board for my center piece mat. This board is from the game "Inventors", and it works perfectly because it has the lime green in it and I love the fonts used. I decided to keep my globe and two side candles, but it still looked a little empty. I wanted something to match with the brass of the orb holder, so I raided my jewelery and used my recently purchased miniature furniture pieces and this is what I came up with. To me it kind of looks like treasure.

A Table Orb Story

The other day, while getting a tour of my friend's new house I mentioned that I liked their antique lighting fixture in their front entrance . Yesterday I went to the same friends house and they re-did all there lighting and he saved that antique fixture for me! What a happy surprise! Well we might hang it in our bedroom... but for now it is making an appearance in my home as a table orb. I think it looks totally funky... like a gypsy globe. I want to add more to the arrangement eventually, I think some more wood items... or maybe change the table clothe. Or, to go in a completely different direction from the wood, I might spray the bronze pieces black and then use more black. Lot's of options!

A Snowy White Winter Wonderland

I have these wonderful black candlesticks that I wanted to still keep on the table during the Christmas season. So I went with a black and white, mostly candles... which are so romantic and perfect for cold nights, themed table. So I have eleven candles on my table, luckily I have a firefighter for a close friend! My favorite item on is this display is the fake snow. It's marvelous... it's about 3$ for a little bag, it looks like powder but you just add water and it's sparkly snow. A warning though, it drys out fast so you have to keep spritzing it or adding water almost every other day. For the best effect use it on glass. The fuzzy snow flakes are from Dollaramma, so are the brandy glasses and the plate. I found the four silver candle holders at a thrift store. The two black star cut-out rolls are from Fabricland. We only use our table for eating, otherwise it would be a pain to have to move this arrangement. So if you are like me, in the matter that your table doesn't get much use, then its a great place to add a little holiday pizaz.