Five on Friday | Planning for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is almost here! Plans are under way . . . 

{one}

This year we will have 25 around our Thanksgiving table! 

I am so excited that our whole family will be here to celebrate together! We will put several tables together end to end so that we can all sit at one looong table. 

This table was from Thanksgiving 2022

{two}

Earlier this week I picked up two new plates that were on clearance at HomeGoods. I keep adding to my collection of brown transferware. I am not sad about it. When I use brown transferware on my Thanksgiving table, I use a variety of patterns and they all seem to work together. 

{three}

I have a very small collection of fall/Thanksgiving mugs, but I love the ones I have. Becki of Field Lilies blog said that she would like to see the turkey one a little closer, so I zoomed in. 

{four}

It is our tradition to use place cards for Thanksgiving dinner. One year I was running short on time and considered forgoing them, but then I was told that the grands have games that they play with their place cards each year. Well, a Gran cannot certainly not ruin such a happy tradition, so I found time to make them! 

This year, I am going to resurrect a version of these printables found in an issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. You used to be able to download them from her website, but that link has since been removed. Fortunately, I have the original page from the magazine that I can photocopy. 

Thanksgiving 2011

{five}

We will have our Thankful Tree this year!

A Thankful Tree is a simple tree (I am not an artist, so it is truly simple) made of brown craft paper. I cut out a gazillion leaves from cardstock, and everyone writes something that they are thankful for on a leaf/leaves. When we were raising our children, we had a Thankful Tree every year, from the beginning of November until sometime after Thanksgiving. 

Now, we are in a different stage of life and we don't always have one. But this is Kati's year to come for Thanksgiving and all of the children/grandchildren will be here and I want all of the grands to remember this special tradition, so we will hang the Thankful Tree up before they all arrive. 

When I went to Hobby Lobby to purchase card stock in autumn colors, alas, there was none. I came home and found something even better on Amazon: a package of 120 fall leaf card stock cutouts! No tracing or cutting . . . I simply need to punch them out. And they were delivered to my door the next day. Win! 

Punched out three sheets of leaves while I sipped my morning coffee.

Thankful Tree ~ 2023

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD,
and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:
To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning,
and thy faithfulness every night.

Psalm 92:1, 2

A Grain Painted Picture Frame

This was one of those "one thing leads to another" kind of projects. 

When we bought the poster bed from Marketplace in October, we had intended to store it to be used in a future guest room.

But when I saw it, I wanted to use it in our bedroom (at least for now), and Ron agreed. 

But the picture we had over the bed looked too big between the bedposts. 

Too big and too high!

Ron really wanted to keep the picture. We had seen one in a Cracker Barrel restaurant a few years ago and it had rekindled a childhood memory for him. He believes that it was hanging in his grandparents' house. Our son-in-law Andrew tracked it down online, and Ron had ordered a colored print and made a frame. 

So we cut the matting down and Ron made a new frame. 

Then there was thinking/planning time . . . and the holidays . . . and some plain old procrastination.

But in February, I determined to get that frame painted and I wanted to try my hand at colonial grain painting. Although I was able to find examples of grain painted frames online, I was unable to find any real "how to's," so I just jumped in and tried to replicate a simple design. 

I painted the frame with two coats of barn red. Then I did the design in burnt umber, using the beveled edge of a foam brush to dab the little lines. I finished with a coat of Briwax stain.

Ron had already had a piece of glass cut at Lowe's, so he quickly put it all together and we (finally) hung the picture over the bed! 

It looks so much better than our first try! The proportion is right, and, as a bonus, I think the colored frame suits the colored print more than the plain wooden one did, and it complements the other colors in the room. We think it was quite worth the do-over! 

A New "Antique" Silhouette

A while back, I spied this little picture in an antique store and the lovely grain painted frame got my attention! Never mind that the Victorian girl did not match the colonial frame. I knew that I could make a new "antique" silhouette to put in the frame because I had seen Megan Miller create one! (If you're on Instagram, you really should follow Megan who is full of inspiring home ideas and thrifty finds.) 

It was such an easy process! 

◾  I Googled to find a silhouette that I liked. I held my paper up to my laptop and used a pencil to trace the outline. 

◾  I went over my pencil outline with a fine-tip Sharpie.

 ◾ I filled in the outline with a regular Sharpie.

◾ Then I popped it back in the frame and used some heavy brown paper (from a roll of gift wrap) for backing. |

Voila! An (almost) instant "antique!" 

I intended to hang my silhouette with this grouping, but it was throwing off the balance. (I may need to make/find another one or two. 😊) 

For now, it is sitting on my mantel and I kind of like it. 

Not bad for less than $10 and about an hour's work! 

Christmas Gift Wrapping

Yesterday was a big wrapping day here!

Bekah had the day off and so we made an occasion out of it. We cleared the dining room table and piled it with all of our gift-wrapping supplies. Then we played Christmas music, drank coffee, and wrapped, tied, and tagged well into the evening. 

Each year, I choose a wrapping theme. I don't necessarily wrap everything the same, but I like for my gifts to coordinate.

The first step is getting out all of my wrapping paper rolls. I have some leftover from past years, some that I have bought at after-Christmas sales, and rolls that I have purchased this season. I put it all together in one place and choose which designs I will use for the current year. 

Here is an assortment from a few years ago.
You can see how I have divided it into "themes."

This is the group of papers that I chose for that year. 

And this is how it came together.

For the past several years, I have made my own gift tags. Yesterday, I ran out of them and had to make up some more. 

Past years' wrapping themes . . . 

And this year's . . . 

Even though I had FIVE rolls of the red ticking paper in my stash (oops), I decided to give that a rest this year and use only two papers: a red plaid and navy ticking. I had found some lovely navy ribbon at Target and wanted to highlight that color. I also had picked up a roll of olive green ribbon and I thought that looked so nice with the navy ticking. I went back several times to look for more of the olive ribbon, but I never saw it again, so I used navy or plaid ribbon on some of those packages. 

There is more wrapping to do (honestly, I have a bit more shopping to do!), but the bulk of it is finished.

I love wrapping gifts! I find it more enjoyable than shopping! 

What about you? Do you enjoy wrapping? 

Turkey Time

All through the fall, I have added a pumpkin here, a gourd there, some autumn potpourri and colorful leaves. Bit by bit. 

And now that November is here, am I ready to put it all away and move on to Christmas decor? 

Not at all! 

In fact, now it's time for turkey! 

I made this primitive turkey about ten years ago and I look forward to getting him out every November. He has landed in many places through the years. This year he's in the kitchen, hanging out with the cook. 

He still makes me smile. 

So Far This Summer . . .

A lovely teatime, hosted by a friend who spent many years as a missionary in Zimbabwe.

A summer cold.

Three grands came for a few days.

Judah was chilly after his milkshake, but Alaine wrapped him up snug as a bug in a rug.

Macie and Judah wave good-bye to Caleb after a Skype call.
Not sure if you can see in the photo, but Caleb is waving too!

Me too!

The living room sofa was reupholstered!
(What? You think it looks the same? Ahem. Same fabric. 😂)

Oyster fritter supper with friends. (Have you even eaten an oyster fritter?)
I didn't get my camera out until dessert.

New storm door.

A little summer decorating.

A young friend's voice recital.

Alaine came for a sewing lesson and stayed for dinner.

~ lavender sachets ~

Annual Grand Summer Sleepover!

Make-your-own naan pizzas & raw veggies and dip

Pajama races!

All the furniture is rearranged for movie time!

Nine grands came this year!

Bridal shower

Father's Day

I love this photo of our son-in-law Brian with his niece Joanna!

My mom had recently purchased two products that she remembers her father using when she was a girl. She had wanted to capture his scent, but she said that they were not the same as she remembered. I encouraged her to bring them to our Father's Day celebration for "show and tell." 

Inspired by her show-and-tell, I had everyone share a scent or a particular item or memory that they associated with their own fathers. Baseball. The smell of the wood shop. Stories from childhood. His shirt. Bedtime songs. Dad making breakfast before dawn and making lots of noise. Name label he wore at his job. Coffee mug with a German shepherd on it.

We had two "gift fairies" this time . . . Macie (5), 

. . . and her brother Judah (2) who wanted to join the fun.
He did a great job!

Kati and Andrew sent Ron a nifty barbeque tool . . . 

. . . which also came in handy for opening a box when he couldn't find his pocket knife.

My dad had his pocket knife!

Joanna ~ 2 and 1/2 months old 
(Photo creds: Bekah)

And now . . . 

I am going to be taking a blogging break. 

I'll be back at Thinking About Home sometime in July.

Happy summer, friends! Make lots of memories!