A special welcome to the Between Naps on the Front Porch readers. Thanks for popping by to check out us simple girls!It's almost Thanksgiving! This is the first year we've been responsible for mostly the whole shebang, so I've been little-by-little getting things together. Since we don't plan to use our formal dining room until then, the adult's table is pretty well set. Minus the whole ironing stuff thing! (How, oh how, did my grandmother even iron people's underclothes? Saint of a woman!)
So glad you're here to check out this simple and affordable tablescape. As many of our other readers already know, this is a favorite combo of ours to be sure. (Forgive the bad lighting as it's a glarey kind of day outside... so much prettier when those blinds are open wide!)
I went with the traditional fall colors grounded by a lot of black, mostly because this speaks to our house in general. Especially the dining room!
The centerpiece is an old urn I found at a local antique store for under ten dollars. I love it and use it for almost all of the seasons. The inside is stuffed with funky gourds, pumpkins, and such... picked up for a quarter a piece at Wal-Mart. Speaking of store finds, I found those napkins several years back at Garden Ridge also four for a dollar!
During the same trip to Wal-Mart, since it's not a convenient stop for me, I picked up two cheap-o packages of split peas and beans. I layered them in tiny juice glasses found at a yard sale for a quarter a piece and popped tiny tealights right in the middles. Each place setting, along with table's center, gets some candlelight this way. And I'm realizing I'm getting a lot of bang for all those quarters!
Each place setting also gets a simple place card... scrapbook paper, letters, and stickers. All I need to do now is add a little hole punch with gold, black, and silver ribbons to tie everything together. A couple of years ago I did this same kind of idea except with little gift tags tucked into brown paper sleeves... inside each one was a reason we were thankful for the guest. We have another thankful tradition I'd like to begin this year, so I just stuck with the names.
From the lighting fixture, I hung candle rings turned mini wreathes with two coordinating colors of ribbon. The picture doesn't really show it, but some of the small jewels really pop against the dimmed bulbs and candlelight.
Great places to get beautifully cheap scrapbooking supplies are dollar stores or Big Lots. Same goes for pillar or tealight candles.
As for an adorable assistant photographer, replete with bed head at three in the afternoon, I can be of no further assistance. Except to say that she's at the top of my thankful list. :)Hope you have lots of joy around your table this Thanksgiving!
Katrina
ps... Check back, hopefully this weekend, for some easy side dish recipes. Yum!
