FALL Home Decor Archives

Thanksgiving Place Card Holder Turkey / Free Personalizable Place Cards Printable

November 17, 2012 By Laura 9 Comments

I’m so happy to offer you some free printable designs I created just for you:
Thanksgiving Place Cards

as well as an adorable turkey craft to hold the cards, or as beautiful added detail to your table, if you’d like.

Thanksgiving is only days away. If you are still scrambling to add a little ‘fancy’ detail to your Thanksgiving table setting, here’s an idea for you. This idea is one I came up with for my own Thanksgiving table setting from last year that I never got a chance to share with you all. Our guests loved them, and hopefully you will too.

Turkey Place Card Holders

I think they are just simple, yet classy and beautiful looking. They are easy to make, and require minimal supplies. It’s so easy, there is no point in even showing you how to make them, when I can simply tell you in a few words:

I got a net bag of plain, natural pine cones at Michael’s Arts & Crafts. They are for crafting and decor. I recommend not using the pinecones from any kind of potpourri, because they can be so strongly scented, and really clash with the otherwise enjoyable aromas of your Thanksgiving dinner.

The feathers were also bought at the same craft store, and come loose in a clear, flat cellophane bag.

The kids and I simply put some glue right between the last two rows of blades, on the backside of the second to last row. Then we simply stuck the feathers onto the backside there, starting in the middle and working our way outwards to the sides,being sure they were facing forward, and fanning nicely as we worked across. That was it! These particular feathers are very fine, so it took just a little patience. But I chose them because I loved the colors in them. We used toothpicks to be able to maneuver the feather into the position we wanted on the still wet glue, without using our fingers and getting glue all over them.

I made them to be place card holders, so I needed to make some of those too . . . . . .
. . . . . . and I’m going to share that customize-able printable with you too, so you can have your own personalized settings like this.
I printed them out on sheets of card stock that a variegated warm beige color to it, rather than bright white.

Of course you also have the option of putting the place card on the table, beside the turkey, as seen in the photo above.

We also did something special on the inside of these place cards; and so this is another idea or suggestion for you:
In light of Thanksgiving, and being most thankful for the blessing of those we love, the 6 of us in our family wrote a little something on the idea of each person’s card, expressing something about that person that we love or are thankful for. It was an unexpected surprise for those joining us around the table this holiday; my father, brother, and a family friend. And I’ll tell you what; they all cried, finding more inside, and reading it! The kids wrote the sweetest things.

If you would like to add a more whimsical flair to your turkeys like these, for just the kids or for everyone, you could add some googley eyes on white cardstock, and an orange waddle with felt, foam or construction paper. I just happened to love the more subtle indication of a little turkey.
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Free Thanksgiving Place Cards Printable

O.k., here is the customizable/personalizable place cards printable I promised you, but you must get it using one of the links to the downloadable file (you choose) below . . . . . .

PSD FILE: This version is still in layers. If you use Adobe Photoshop or any other program that works with PSD files, you can add in each persons name, to personalize each card. The color for the font is hexcode #6f3014, and the font style I used is Cecily. I forget the font size, but if all I just mentioned didn’t go over your head. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Ha ha.
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JPG FILE: This version is flattened, and ready to print as is. You can simply write in each person’s name with a marker.
Specs: 8.5 x 11 printable – Use same size card stock; I’m suggesting a light and warm or compatible color, perhaps that goes with your table setting.

And now for a little Giddy-Diddy:

If you love this idea . . . . .
Just SHARE it however you do!
But most of all please know this year . . . .
We’ll be giving THANKS for YOU!

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Decorating with Autumn Leaves; Door Garland and Candle Jars

November 10, 2012 By Laura 26 Comments

I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone on God’s green earth, who appreciates the foliage that Autumn brings, more than I do. I am mesmerized by the leaves, from beginning to end. Ask my kids. They are often amused at how taken I am, with the beauty of this season. And they’ve certainly come to understand that I don’t want them to miss one bit of it, any more than I do. I get especially excited when we are driving here and there, which with 4 kids I can tell you, we do a whole lot of. “Oh!! There’s a tree starting to change right there! Do you see it guys?” And as fall progresses., each week is more full of awe than the last. As we go along, I’ll burst out “LOOK!….at that GORGEOUS tree guys!! LOOK AT THE COLORS ON THAT THING!!” I’ve startled them. And they’ll be like, “We know Mama! Watch where you’re going!” It’s true. I probably shouldn’t be driving at all in the Fall. Certainly not during peak foliage week. There is just a span of weeks in this season, where the trees are all I can talk about, everywhere we go. Sometimes, I feel God made Autumn, just for me. Perhaps not. But gosh, it sure feels like such a gift of love.

The peak beauty of the season, is really all too fleeting for me. I want it to stay just as it is in those weeks, forever. At least, I want to save as many beautiful leaves as I can. But I’ve never found a great way to preserve them for a while, until this year. Oh yes, there was the waxed paper trick but, I heard that never worked all that well. And besides…..Confession of Domestic Shame: I really hate ironing. So when I learned that using Glossy Modge Podge really worked well, I was so excited to try it. And I immediately started dreaming up a very simple, very rustic leaf garland for my home.

The kids helped me Modge Podge countless leaves they had collected for me, over the weeks. We had them drying and being pressed between the pages of newspapers and magazines all over the house. I’m willing to bet we’ll be finding several we missed finding again, well into spring. But I found you can actually Modge Podge a fresh leaf right away, anyway. I do recommend the Glossy medium. I tried the Matte finish just as a test, and it seemed to strip the color, and not look very impressive once it was dry either. Something about the Glossy really does enhance the color of the leaf, and add lustre. To Modge Podge (MP) the leaves, we just poured some MP in a non-pourous bowl, and used foam brushes to apply it to our leaves, doing the back of the leaves first. Then you can lay them on newspaper or whatever, until they dry. They don’t really stick anywhere as drying, because they are not flat or heavy. MP is so easy to clean up anyway.

I wanted my garland extremely simple and rustic. Jute was just the kind of string for the job. I love this stuff.

I took 4 pieces of equal lengths of the jute, knotted the ends, and twisted the quadruple strand quite a bit before push-pinning it over the frame of our sun room french doors.

Then, I just stuck my leaves in between the twisted jute string, arranging as I wanted to, all the way across.

There it is. Done in like, . . .a couple of minutes.
And I didn’t fall off while standing on the chair I had to keep moving, even once.
(Although I think I had my husband and kids nervous, because they kept reminding me to be careful. That might have to do with the many happenstances I have had. But not this time!)

Look how pretty! Honesty….my heart is racing a little bit right now, just looking at them.
No two alike….such beautiful shapes and colors.

Do you see that long pointy leaf? After being out and about collecting leaves, the kids came running in, so excited to give me that one. They call it my giraffe leaf. I love giraffes, and they saw a giraffe skin pattern in it. I do too now. I felt the love, and that leaf makes me smile even more than all the rest now.

I also used the glossy Modge Podge to apply more leaves to jars. I love that you can just slap that MP all over the jar with a foam (or flat bristle) brush, and everywhere it dries where there is not a leaf, it looks like frosted glass.

Isn’t it beautful?
I’ll warn you that this project took a little more patience than I had anticipated. Certainly not as easy as my garland! It’s worth the little bit of trouble I think though! It’s just that the leaves, which I had MP’d the back of, as well as the jar, don’t want to lay down flat right away. It’s all kind of slippery. It’s only once the MP glue starts setting a little, that is starts sticking as you need it to. You need to MP over the leaves too anyway, so I kept kind of poking the leaves down where they were sticking up. Once the whole jar was dry, I did one more final coat. Oh and I just let stems hang free off the glued down leaf. I liked them that way anyway, if they didn’t want to stick.

They give such a warm glow of radiance.

I can see myself doing these same projects with leaves every year, from now on. And other preserved leaf projects I’ll think of I’m sure now too.
I so enjoyed every minute of working with the leaves, and I am so very happy I found a way to preserve them, and let the beauty live on in my home, as the world around us outdoors drains colorless.

Thanks for coming by, and listening to me go on and on about my love for the colors of Autumn.
It sure was an amazing Fall season this year, and I thanked God for it every day.
Do you get a colorful foliage season where you live, in the Fall? And if so, have you done anything with the leaves?

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Rustic Autumn Wreath | A Simple Craft

September 24, 2012 By Laura 20 Comments

If you’d like to add a touch of crafted Autumn decor to your home, but don’t have a lot of time or energy right now, this wreath is for you! It is so very simple and quick to make. I think it’s beautiful, and has a real rustic flair that fits right in here at our homestead.

I hung our wreath in the sun room, on the wall directly in front of anyone coming in through our front door.

It’s so very simple to make, you really don’t even need to be shown how.
But I will tell to you how, and give you a couple of tips as well.

Start with a stick/branch wreath, which can be found ready-made at your local craft store.

The pumpkins I also found at the craft store. They are very light in weight, made of a paper medium, and some kind of painted wire. They are finished with a shellac, and they came as a bunch in a net bag, much like potpourri comes. So you may want to look in that area.

To attach them to the wreath, I used a small piece of raffia! I simply slipped it under the wire on the bottom/underside of the pumpkin, and tied it onto a branch where I wanted the pumpkin placed. How easy is that? I cut any excess tails of raffia I didn’t need, but I don’t even care if it is seen, because it just adds to the simple rustic charm of the wreath, in my opinion.

Then I added some nice looking faux fall leaves. You can simply just tuck them under the intertwining sticks of the wreath. But if you want to be sure they stay, and/or plan to save the wreath to use year after year, I recommend using a dab of glue from a glue gun at the base of the leaf or stem area, and stick in between branches in an inconspicuous place. The leaves don’t need to be any more attached than that, and keeping the leaves loose gives it a more natural look.

Just follow that technique with leaves and pumpkins, all the way around.

The little birdie is just a clip on, and was also picked up at the craft store at some point. It was one we had, and it not only went perfectly with this wreath, with it’s warm tones, but added new interest.

The wide ribbon is wired, which can be a little difficult to work with, when tying bows or making nice curls. But I found a trick I’ll share with you.
TIP: When working with wired ribbon, use an aluminum can, cup, or any cylinder object to make nice curls for the tail of your ribbon, or uniform loops in your bows. Simply choose an appropriately sized cylinder object, relevant to the size you’d like your curls or loops, and use it to shape your ribbon. You can place the cylinder into the loops to make them nice and round where they curve around, and/or wrap the ribbon around the tails to make nice curls.

It’s really as easy as that! It can literally be done in 10 minutes.

It’s not only a simple and beautiful wreath for this awesome season, but you can say you made it yourself.

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Our Halloween Decor! (Indoor-Outdoor-Photos Galore!)

October 9, 2011 By Laura 22 Comments

BOO, People!! So excited here, to show you all around! I had a goal this year (2011), to have our whole homestead Halloween decor done (known as the 3-day Hallowtide, to us) by October 1st! That way, we could enjoy it all the whole month of October. I also wanted it all blogged no more than a few days later. How long can it really take, to photograph, edit, and blog it? Apparently….9+ days. With my kids busy schedules, I’m in the driver’s seat, in gyms and on fields, more than in my computer chair these days. (Enjoying it, although behind in work to say the least. But my kiddos come first!)

Now, I have to explain real quick, that I have been trying to ‘find my place’, with Halloween decor, for years. From a spiritual/Catholic point of view (always where I am at), I don’t like to stray too far from the true meaning or Christian roots of any holiday, including Halloween. This is why we have always extended our focus to Hallowtide = All Hallows Eve, All Souls’ Day, and All Saints’ Day. (You can see more about that, and how we roll, HERE.)

On a completely unrelated note, but tying in with the theme, I personally am a big baby, some may say. I do not like scary/gory/terror/evil anything. My kids laugh at everything they see, and I look away. I freak out inside a little bit, myself. Not to mention (ok, I will….), that I see zero value in all of it. So…. decorating has always been a bit of a reluctance / confusion for me, about what I wanted to do. But I can say this year, I found my groove, and the game was on!
In that light, I hope you enjoy seeing our homestead, outdoors and indoors, that I have photographed for you all.
LET’S GO!

best Halloweeen decor Off the bat ( <—- <giggle!), I’d like to give huge props and thanks to Emily from Frosting & Ink Social Designery! <—- Click on the link to see her Etsy shop! I purchased this Halloween Party Collection from Frosting & Ink, and used it for my home decor! While I can design much of anything myself, I hardly have time these days. And besides, when I saw what Emily created, I was all over it! So she deserves lots of credit here! I’ll be posting some her beautiful designs, and showing you how I used them throughout these photos. I actually have not used them all yet, but there is always next year!

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Got to warn you: I handed the Hubs the cobweb stuff, to be in charge of getting that done, and he went crazy with it! Even {O} giggled watching him and said, “I can tell you’re having fun with that stuff Daddy! You don’t want to stop!”

One more note: I had fun editing these photos, with some little grunge effects, etc. My house is not actually this grimy looking, inside or out! Not that’s it’s perfectly clean either. If anything, it gets more of the messy & dust-bunny kind of dirty. LOL ; )

So here is my very favorite Halloween creation, I made with a design from Frosting & Ink….

best Halloweeen decor

My Halloween Parking Sign! That’s right, I’m the witch around here! Heee hee heeee! Some will agree with that, in a heart beat. ; ) Others will argue, “No000 sir. She is kidding you. She is the sweetest thing ever!” Depends who you talk to. LOL. (Or the day? lol). Just kidding.

best Halloweeen decor

Anyway….I smile every time I pull the car into our driveway, about 20 times a day, and see my sign. It’s something I made to be able to use every year, for years to come. I saw the whole thing in my head, the second I saw the design. Michael made the jagged wood board for me, and we painted/distressed it, etc. It is weatherproof.

If you are wondering how, I do plan to do a quick post in the Crafts section, about how I made some of these Halloween decor things, sometime this week. But this post is just about showing our decorations for now.

best Halloweeen decor I just have to show you the amazing and beautiful detail in Emily’s work! I always loved that font used for ‘Parking’. A band I love, Daughtry, uses that letter-style for their logo. It’s called Bleeding Cowboys, I think. It’s a perfect choice for Halloween designing. Good call, Emily!

best Halloweeen decor

I was soooo on the fence (<—-another pun…giggle!) about getting this skeleton at Michael’s Arts & Crafts!! I definitely am drawn to skulls and cross-bones and stuff, you know? I have no idea why. They just ‘look’ cool to me. Yet I don’t really want to like them so much. LOL. So….this is about my line, as far as decor goes. See? Call me a wimp. As long as we placed him humorously, was our/my decision. I do like seeing him, hanging out there! (As long as it’s not dark out! lol)
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007_halloween-garden-home-decor Here is a wider view of our front-yard-gardens.
The flowers are pretty deadish now, which really kind of makes it all work! Don’tcha think?
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best Halloweeen decor

Another perspective of our friend. From Snap Peas to Skeletons!
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best Halloweeen decor I love my newly painted buttoned bottle.

best Halloweeen decor The potting bench.

Bats swarming our front door. It was a popular idea last year, that I loved. But I’m slow. : )
Details of how I did this will be in the Crafts post too.

best Halloweeen decor This chest Michael picked up free somewhere in front of someone’s house. It’s super interesting inside! Really old…meant for shipping clothing and goods, etc., I think. There are all of these compartments inside. BUT, when opened, there is a heavy mold/mildew odor (which I am immediately allergic to), that we can’t get rid of. So, we’ll be tossing it, instead of doing anything more with it. But I thought it would be cool to keep through Halloween out on the front deck, anyway.
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best Halloweeen decor

Through the glass of our front door here, you can see our Halloween wreath I made, with another design from my party pack from Frosting & Ink!

SO……that’s about it for our outdoor Halloween decor.

Would you like to come in??…

best Halloweeen decor When you order for this particular pack from Frosting & Ink, you are supposed to give her your last name, so she can customize this design. I incorporated it into a wreath. I’ll share more about how I made this later, in the craft post, too.

best Halloweeen decor The wreath is technically on the inside, because it is not weatherproof, in any way! Just turning it over here, so you can get a better look of it as a whole. But faces outdoors.

best Halloweeen decor

Our Halloween Tree. Yep….still have that stick tree there! LOL.

The Halloween lights and black crow were bought at Michael’s Arts and Crafts.

Some of you may know, I love making inter-changable fan pulls, for our all-season room. (Anyone?) I haven’t made one in a long time. BUT, I did make one for Halloween this year!….

best Halloweeen decor Beads and this spider, from Michael’s Arts and Crafts.

best Halloweeen decor

How cute are the little ghosts??

best Halloweeen decor

I did this kind of thing on our French doors, for Christmas and spring too. I used the the little Cupcake Toppers and Party Signs, from the same Frosting & Ink Party Collection, for what I call ‘Fancy Strands’, down my doors.

025_ A little over the top with the cobwebs, much? It is a bit of an old family portrait now. Well, only 2-3 years. Time for a new one, although we’ll keep this one up somewhere in the house, too, anyway. But that’s the fam.

Well would you look at the time!….

It’s late, and I must get to bed. I am sure we’ll have something more Halloween-ish to share, in the coming weeks. We do plan to do something with pumpkins! And as I said, I’ll be showing how I made everything crafty in this post, in a coming post in the Crafts section. So….we do hope you come again. (If you DARE!! Because we’re wicked scary….right? ; )

ETA: Here is the link for: Tips, Tricks and How-To’s to our Halloween Decor in this post

Please say “BOO!”….if you enjoyed this peak of our Halloween Homestead!!?

Feel free to share the post, or PIN any photos you’d like, as well!

Isn’t the Halloween season fun??

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creative Halloween decor

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An Autumn Decor Peek & a Wicked Little Bit of Halloween.

October 18, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

We’re sharing our current Autumn decor with you today! We’re so glad you’re here. Come on in!

I’ve been taking a couple of photos here and there, of our homestead autumn decor, simply because it is FUN for me, and I know many of you love to see this kind of stuff. So, I’m sharing, just as I did last year. It’s just a small collection of shots, and most all of the decor I’ve done is indoors. Not much has been done with the outdoors at this point in time, although we did rip out all of the tomato plants and cosmos. It seems we still have some jalapeno and bell peppers growing though, so we’ve left those for the time being. Marigold plants remain for now as well, adding some color to the near empty gardens now. The strawberry beds need to be ‘put to bed’ before the first frost! Which feels like it may be soon! It’s gotten pretty chilly around here. Especially at night! We’ve even built a fire or 2 in our wood stove, and it’s given us that nice cozy atmosphere we love through the cold season.

autumn-home-decor
But one thing I do have outdoors, is this new flag that I picked up for next to nothing. It was one of maybe 50 designs, and apparently the last one. It was the one and only I wanted. I made the staff of the store go through quite a bit to get this display one down for me. I really wanted it! And I got it. And it makes me smile every day.
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I made this wreath, but don’t be too impressed. It was already vine like, and I made it into a circle, and hung it.

Come on in and take a little look around, to see a few other seasonal touches around the homestead.

Some faux fall flowers, dropped into an antique milk jug.
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Our wall table, and some family photos in a big frame, that I just stuck some faux leaves in. Above on the wall is a new sign I had to have, for the Halloween season. I got it on sale too.
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It’s so suitable for the Halloween season. But I love it because it’s a slang word I have used all of my life. I’m originally from western MA, and it’s common language out there. When I came out to the Boston area to art school, I quickly found the whole world does not actually use the word like I do. Or at all. But I still use it. I cherish it. I find the word wicked useful.
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Great craft and treat ideas in this special Halloween edition magazine of Matthew Mead’s, from last year.
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These are the kid’s. And….these are the kids. LOL (They know which one is them.) But here they are sticking in the weave of a basket in the kitchen. Until they grab them again. Come to think of it, I don’t even know if they are still there. But I’m not going to look now. I got my photo.
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An Autumn ribbon that hangs our Prayer List Chalkboard. I’ve mentioned that I love the idea of changing out the ribbon on our chalkboards, to go with current season and holiday home decor.
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A hedgehog ornament. Cute, huh? She’s hanging on our season tree (branch).
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Apple cinnamon tea, in a beautiful ceramic mug, that seems perfect for Autumn.
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It’s been a happy Autumn indeed. May the coming winter be as good to us.

Have you happened to do any autumn decorating at all this year? We’d love to hear a little bit about what you’ve done, no matter how simple. And, if you’ve taken photos and blogged it, leave us a link! We’ll swing by your place!

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Free Thanksgiving Place Cards Printable

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