The Thanksgiving Table

(Photo via http://tipjunkie.blogspot.com)

One of my favorite blogs, Tip Junkie has assembled some amazing ideas for making your Thanksgiving table beautiful. You can see ideas for centerpieces here. You can see place settings and other ideas here. See what ideas you can incorporate into your Thanksgiving table.

Brush Up on Your Photography Skills

With the holidays fast approaching, why not spend some time brushing up on your photography skills now? We all take hundreds of pictures between Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve and everything else in between. Take a few minutes and check out Mom Shots blog. She has some great tips and tricks to help you get some great pictures. Be sure to check out her tip of the week for some really good pointers.

http://www.momshots.com/

Thanksgiving Countdown Turkey

(Photo and idea via www.makeandtakes.com)

Have your kids make this cute turkey full of feathers to count down the days to Thanksgiving. I especially love the idea of writing a new thing you're thankful for on each feather each day. That way when you get to Thanksgiving, you have a fully decorated bird. Another alternative is to pluck a feather each day until the turkey is bare. You can get all the step by step instructions here.

Dress Up Your Desktop

Here's a simple project you can do to dress up your computer screen for the season. Set one of these cute background wallpapers to your desktop and enjoy!

1. Smashing Magazine I love these. Every few days I change my desktop to one of these new backgrounds. I've used Fly by Halloween, Fairy Tale Forest, Sad Autumn, and Halloscene so far this month.
2. I love this red leaf wallpaper
3. A very cute Halloween wallpaper
4. A cute one to personalize with your own photos
5. Shabby Princess October desktop to customize with your own photos

What's on your desktop?

Alternatives to Pumpkin Carving

(Photo via www.howstuffworks.com)

I have to admit, I love the idea of carving pumpkins, but every year when we start scooping out the pumpkins and spend hours carving, I quickly lose steam. I thought I'd share some alternatives to carving your pumpkins.



1. Paint your pumpkins
2. Write words on the pumpkins with puffy fabric paint
3. Make a Mr. Potato Head pumpkin with a kit
4. If you can find it, make a Lego Pumpkin
5. Add vinyl silhouettes or lettering to your pumpkin
6. Punch holes into your pumpkin with a golf tee
7. Spray paint your pumpkins different colors
8. Get your pumpkin carving fix online



If you have any other ideas, let me know. I'm always looking for alternatives to getting ooey and gooey from slimy pumpkins.

Mini Witches Brooms

(Photo and idea via www.marthastewart.com)

I love this idea! I think it would be great to have the kids make these and take them to grandparents or teachers on Halloween. All you need are some paper lunch bags, sticks or twigs and some black twine. You can find all of the simple directions here.

Spooky Black Halloween Branches

I saw these darling black painted branches on a display at Oh Sweet Sadie this last weekend. Doesn't it look darling for displaying spooky ornaments and halloween decorations? Go find some twisty, branches and spray paint them black. Place them in a cute vase or jar and decorate the container with some cute ribbon.

Here are some other cute black branches used as Halloween decor:
Design Mom's branches
Spooky Halloween Tree
Branches w/ Halloween Garland
Bewitching Branch w/ instructions

Fall Decorating

(Photo and instructions for feather wreath can be found at www.marthastewart.com)

I love the warm colors of fall and the cozy and whimsical decor that starts to pop up this time of year. Here are some fantastic links to get you inspired...

1. Black stenciled white pumpkin on a pedestal
2. 20 fall decor ideas along with instructions from Martha Stewart
3. Berry branch photo holder
4. Black & orange mantel decor
5. Fruits & vines for decor
6. A bunch of cute autumn decor

Pumpkin Topiaries

(Photo courtesy of http://www.lowes.com/)

(Photo courtesy of http://www.hgtv.com/)

This is a project I'd love to make this fall season. You use the craft foam pumpkins to create something that will last a long time. You can view instructions here on the Lowe's website.
Here are some beautiful topiaries for inspiration.
Halloween topiary
Polka dot topiary
Happy creating!

10 Ideas for Windows

(Photo courtesy of http://www.hgtv.com/)

Look at your windows. Time for something new? Check out these 10 ideas for inspiration on how to dress them up. I especially love the LED curtain rod and the ceiling mount fixture from Pottery Barn.

Paper Pricking

Remember those grade-school days when your teacher would give you an outline of an image and tell you to poke along the lines with a pin onto black paper to make a design? After carefully pricking your design you would proudly hang your black papers in the window and let the light shine through illuminating your work of art. I think today we should introduce our kids to this same project. Do an internet search for kids coloring pages to get great outlined pictures for your kids to poke. Give them a push-pin and lay their picture on the carpet and turn them loose. I think we'll poke out a Disney princess and a Nintendo Mario picture at my house today.

Easy, Unique Wall Art for Your Home

I always love inexpensive, inventive ideas for decorating and sprucing up the house. When I found this idea, I bookmarked it for future reference. The squares are styrofoam blocks covered with scrapbook paper and ribbon around the edges. Think of the possibilities with all the cute scrapbook paper lines out there! I'll be trying this for sure. Here's the link with the instructions.

Hand-Stamped Card

I thought I'd share an old hand-stamped card I made with Stampin' Up! supplies. I don't know about you, but I love getting homemade cards.