DIY Thanksgiving

A few ideas for doing your own Thanksgiving Tablescape

It seems like Thanksgiving creeps up on us.  Well, here are some ideas that I hope will inspire you to create a beautiful table for family feast.  I get a lot of my design inspiration from nature.  This fall the colors were more subtle.  I woke up one morning after a rain to a deck filled with yellow-green leaves.  These against the backdrop of wet tree bark got me thinking about that green/cream/chocolate brown combination.  I am seeing the white pumpkins everywhere, so my idea of a beautiful tablescape this year would be yellow-green, white, and chocolate brown.

Use your imagination and put together a collection of items in your favorite color scheme.  You don't have to use just flowers.  Thrift stores are filled with items that your grandmother might have used, and these somehow have been forgotten over the years.  A soup tureen and an elevated cake plate are perfect for displaying pumpkins, gourds, dried wheat, leaves, or whatever you may find still growing in your yard.  

Drop a candle down into a glass vase, and surround it with some nuts or acorns, and you have a perfect accent.  Spread a few pumpkins around--the miniature ones work great for this.  

Try using a burlap table runner underneath your placemats.  Tie your napkins with jute for a natural look.  You can make place cards and attach them to miniature pumpkins.

For a real simple solution, just fill a vase with fresh or dried wheat.  There will still be room for the turkey and all the trimmings.  Your beautiful table will be as memorable as the meal!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Are you STUCK?

How to remove hot glue

Hot glue is the go-to adhesive for a lot of things floral.  But it can be almost impossible to remove it, or to remove the object it is holding in place.  Sometimes when I'm designing a piece for a funeral, and have been asked to personalize it with a figurine or some other item, I will use hot glue to hold it in place so it doesn't fall out in transport or--worse yet-- in the service.  But when you get that item home and would like to display it, you find it is a hot-gluey mess to get rid of.  No worries!  Simply use a paint brush or Q-tip to apply some rubbing alcohol to the glue, and it will completely dissolve.  No mess guaranteed!  Or if you don't want to try this yourself, bring it to me and I will do it.