It's Great To Be Home

Can you believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner? I love this time of year, chock full of festiveness.

One thing that is especially cool about Thanksgiving is that it causes everyone to set aside some time, if even just a few moments, to reflect upon all of their blessings and be thankful for them. In that spirit of giving thanks, I whipped up these little place cards for our Thanksgiving table:

The idea is that once everyone finds their seat, they will fill in the card with what they are most thankful for. I think it would be fun for everyone to switch pumpkins and then read them aloud, to share with one another what they are each thankful for.

Except for 10 cents worth of raffia, this project was totally free (using my polished pumpkins from Halloween) and it really adds a personal touch to the table.

How about you guys – how do you like to personalize your Thanksgiving festivities?

This post is shared with DIY Day on A Soft Place to Land.

Taking A Shine To Pumpkins

There’s just no place for funky-looking pumpkins in an awesome fall display. So, after receiving a few questions about Tessa’s fabulously shiny pumpkins I decided it was time to spill the beans on how you can gloss-ify your own pumpkins – and keep them looking great all the way to Thanksgiving. Sounds pretty great, right?

The key to flawless, long-lasting pumpkins (or any gourd) is coating them with an acrylic floor sealer – the sealer not only helps preserve the pumpkins way past their normal life but it also makes them all shiny and gorgeous.

All you need are a few simple supplies:

~ pumpkins or gourds of your choice

~ foam brush

~ Future acrylic floor finish (although any brand will do)

~ towel (to protect your countertops)

Once you’ve assembled your supplies, just go to town painting those puppies! I like to turn them on their heads and paint the bottoms first – after I give them time to try (about 30 minutes), I just flip them over and paint the tops. And don’t worry if the sealer gets a little foamy when you apply it – once it’s dry you will have a perfect finish.

See? All shiny and happy:

I’m really pleased with how this display turned out – all it took was my fancy pumpkins, a hurricane from Ikea, 3 bags of river rocks, votives, and a silver tray. The best part is that I already had all of these things in my cabinets (except for the pumpkins).