Last Minute Thanksgiving Decoration Ideas

With Thanksgiving days away, and given the fact that I, for some reason, volunteered to host the dinner for my family as well as my husband's family that we have in town, I was stricken with the craft bug this weekend. I just wanted a few things to spruce up the house and make it feel a bit more festive. Now for me this means a few simple and subtle decorations around the house, I am not one for clutter and gaudiness in decoration. Keeping this in mind, I came up with four simple decorations that were quick and easy to do that could help our house to look a bit more eventful. 3 of the 4 I either saw on Pinterest or YouTube one is pretty much a variance of one of the other decorations. So let's talk DIY:

1. Monogram Burlap Wreath

I have been seeing these all over Pinterest lately and got the bug to make one when a friend of mine from high school posted a pic of one that she had made the day before. After talking with her and getting advice on how she made hers and watching numerous YouTube videos on how to make burlap wreaths, I pretty much just made up a way that I felt was right on how to make it look good. I actually have no idea how exactly I made the wreath but I do know it took less than an hour. I would suggest looking at a few Pinterest pictures and just playing with it until it looks the way you want.

2. Glam Glitter Candles

For these, I took candles that I already had and taped halfway through the candle with scotch tape. Next, I used a paintbrush sponge to coat the bottom half with mod podge. While it's still wet I poured glitter all over the bottom  of the candle. I would suggest using an adhesive spray after this step just so that the glitter doesn't end up all over everything you place it on. (A lesson I learned the hard way..)

3. Gussied up Glitter Candle Holders

For these, I used some candle holders I got at the dollar store and using a paintbrush, I painted a pattern in mod podge and poured glitter over the outside of the candle holder. This literally took less than 5 minutes and it looks like something you bought!

4. Burlap Lace Table Runner

I saw a pin for a burlap and lace table runner and thought "How gorgeous!" However after seeing the price tag, I though, "hmmm, I wonder if I could make that myself?" And thus the journey began. For the record this is the pin is is based on:

Pretty right? And if I might add, looks awfully close to my diy creation :). So, a quick pictorial on how I made the table runner:

Materials: one 15' roll of 12" burlap, two 9' rolls 2.5" lace ribbon (even though I am only showing one...), fray check (optional), hot glue gun (or fabric glue if you're fancy..) I started out using fabric glue but switched to hot glue because of the mess and trouble the sewing glue gave me...

 Roll out your burlap..

 Measure the length you want the table runner to be (in my case 8')

And cut!

I added some fray check to the cut end of the burlap to ward off any unraveling or loosening of the burlap weaving.

I glued the lace down one side at a time. I wanted the lace to lay flat and pretty much stick to the burlap on all sides. If you want you can just run the glue down the middle of the lace and let the edges hang free.  The rest is pretty much just gluing down the edges of ribbon to the burlap. If you use hot glue, be careful not to burn yourself because the holes in the lace and burlap will try to make it really easy for you. In the end you'll have a quick and pretty creation that will look like you either spent a lot of money on it or spent a lot of time working on it..

And if you're a more visual learner, check out this video...

I actually love planning and hosting events so I'm pretty excited for Turkey Day, not just for the break from work..I'm in it for the food...

Happy crafting,

xoxo,
Cass


Random Fact for the Day:
Four is the only number that has the same amount of letters as its actual value..

It Feels Good to be Back

A possibly over-used sentiment but it is so very true, I am glad to be reunited with my laptop and my blog. I didn't realize how big a role my laptop played in my life until I didn't have it. A few months ago my hard drive crashed, causing me to pretty much freak out and lose a lot of things I had been working on over the last few months. You see, I hadn't backed up the last, oh, YEAR of my entire life..don't ask me how that happened, I will just say that when you are so used to having something so quickly at your disposal you tend to take it for granted. That was my relationship with my external hard drive. I must say though, now that I've been reunited with my computer I have been keeping that baby awfully close. I am almost obsessed with backing everything up at this point, I'm sure that will fade eventually but for now I am grateful to have the opportunity to create a copy of the things I hold most dear in case such a catastrophe happens again. The verdict is still out for my laptop's original hard drive (fingers crossed that my pictures and videos can be recovered) and I will hopefully find out soon one way or another on that case.

Anywho, so much has happened in the past five or so months that I haven't had a chance to write about but let's do our best to give a quick recap of some highlights... I graduated with my Masters in May...Woot! Currently the only pictures I have from that weekend are the ones on my phone..sadface. I really just want the pictures from graduation and my graduation party. Honestly, those documents are my only concern from the past 6 months, just because it is a milestone in my life and I would like to have the pictures to remember what an awesome weekend that was celebrating with friends and family.. Moving on, I became an aunt for the 30+ time! (counting mine and my husband's siblings' kids..). A gorgeous niece was added to the bunch and she is such a little diva! I lover her so much and cant wait until she's old enough for me to steal and take her to do girly things with. My husband and I both started new jobs, well I started a new job, he pretty much just changed companies. I am still transitioning into full adulthood and working all day five days a week is taking some getting used to . It is definitely tiring but it makes the weekends all the better. I definitely do not take them for granted anymore lol.

There are countless other small events and happenings, like my birthday/house-warming party and our family's labor day kickball tournament, but instead of looking on the past, I'm excited to look to the future. I have a lot of projects lined up and am excited to get back to writing and this little recap was just what I needed to get me back in the game. I look forward to sharing my new projects and things I'm learning along the way. I hope everyone's week has been great!

Positive affirmation for the day: "I welcome with open hands all the success that comes."

xoxo,
Cass