Since J and I don’t host thanksgiving and since we are currently out of town I knew this week was going to be something easy and made with the things I have on hand. I only set the table for 2 since usually it’s only J and I for dinners.

The runner came from homegoods about a month ago.

I simply used our every day plates and set them on a red charger. I used our yellow spring bowls to play with the orange and gold in the runner. The flowers are napkin ring holders. The small candles & holders are from an iron wall hanging that I haven’t put up yet.

For the centerpiece I used real cranberries, water, and a floating candle in a small hurricane. In the pics you can tell the cranberries were still frozen… Id reccomend thawing them first. I would have liked to use white mums or flowers instead of a candle but they would have died by the time we got back. I set the centerpiece on a fall serving platter I picked up at starbucks last winter for a whopping 5 bucks.

Oops! I just realized i forgot to take a full table shot! I will edit and add when we get home…

Overall I’m happy with what I was able to pull together for FREE and it will be nice to return to a clean and set table!

Alright, let’s be honest – I don’t show up for everything on time. I’m not sure where it started, or when, but I KNOW I didn’t get it from my father. I drove him absolutely nuts when I was a kid because I would be “ready to go” and then have to run upstairs about 5 more times because I kept forgetting something which would make us me late. Even now, I don’t like to be the first one to something. I generally roll into social events about 10 – 15 minutes late (now it’s my husband I am driving nuts, not my father). I just can’t seem to shake the habit – but I’ll keep trying for J’s sanity! If only I wouldn’t forget my rings… then my phone… then my jacket…

Anyway, lets get to the point. Kim is throwing these awesome DIY blog parties every Monday for the next few weeks and the first one was this past Monday. I had every intention to be at Monday’s party on Monday. I EVEN set my google calendar to remind me on FRIDAY to do my post for Monday. Well, the weekend got the best of me (seems I forgot I had so much going on) and then Monday came, and I created my project. It’s been done since then. Well, almost done. But as done as it will be until I get home from Nebraska. Sorry I’m SOOOO late.

I still figure my idea is worth sharing, and hopefully you’ll agree. Initially this DIY was difficult for me, as my creative juices just weren’t generating anything worth sharing (or creating for that matter). Then, after surfing the web, I had an idea. I made a Thankful tree. Other girls at the party made some Thankful trees here and here. They are cute!

I started out by looking up family tree templates online to get an idea of what shape of tree I wanted. Once I felt inspired by a shape I liked, I grabbed a piece of gray scrapbook paper, drew my tree trunk, and cut it out. Gray might not scream uber-fall to some, but I love gray and it goes well with my other décor.

side note: Please excuse the picture quality… Husband suprised me with a camera for our trip to Nebraska so I promise to limit the iPhone photos going forward!

 I then took more scrapbook paper that is textured (you can’t tell from the photos) in some of the fall colors that would go well with other things in my kitchen since that is where it will be displayed until one day when I have a dining room. I cut out small-ish leaves (about 1.5 inches long) to go with the trunk. Fold the paper in half to cut the leaves which will also add more dimension to the overall look.

After cutting the leaves, I picked one to write on for this year. I used black, but in the future I think I will use the same color, different tone, of marker so that it is more subtle and not quite so stark.  I would also recommend maybe making your tree trunk a little larger so the leaves won’t be so small – but hey, we’re only planning to write things like “our house”, “our marriage”,  and “Toby” so small will work for us.

I then placed the leaves randomly around the trunk/branches.

I decided the trunk was large enough to hold a quote – so I thought I’d use “Give thanks with a greatful heart”. So I did. Then I realized that I’m an idiot and greatful is actually spelled grateful so I had to scrap the gray tree (since it was my last piece of gray paper and permanent marker and bled thru to the other side of the trunk) and go for more traditional brown tree.

I also didn’t love how my handwriting turned out on the gray tree, so I haven’t attempted to rewrite on the brown trunk. Eventually I will… maybe with a gold pen, or silver to add some shimmer. Oh, maybe I’ll use silver or gold to write on the leaves… Clearly this is still a work in progress.

I definitely wanted this project to be something personal and something that could be built on year after year. I thought about making place cards and giving everyone a leaf to write on and add to the tree but then I rethought that idea (since we probably won’t actually be hosting Thanksgiving any time soon) and decided that each year hubs and I can add one (or 2 or 50) new leaves to the tree of things we are especially grateful for that year so each year the tree will expand.  Eventually the leaves will overlap and make the tree more full, which will make it fun to look back at when it was this bear beginning of a tree (not that it’s a bad thing, you’ve got to start somewhere!).

Overall I like how this turned out. Currently it is taped inside of a gray shadow box, but I think I am going to move it over to a frame since I’ve got a great idea up my sleeve for my gray shadow box which I’ll share before Christmas because it’s a cute and relatively inexpensive gift.

Thanks Kim for hosting and everyone else who did show up Monday! I LOVED all the ideas. Especially these and this and Kim’s Owl Stamp. I think I’ll try out the lanterns for some festive Christmas décor (which will start to break out next week)!

(I’m not sure what happened. This was supposed to post yesterday… but things haven’t changed, it’ll just be belated)

Gram -

I love you. A lot. I wish I could be there to celebrate on your birthday – but instead know I am thinking of you and wish you the happiest 81 birthday!

We’ll celebrate on Thursday when J and I get into town. WOOHOO!!! Nebraska-bound in T-5 days!!!

If I can’t hug you, I can at least look at this picture and wish I could…

XOXO – Ky

If you’re a holiday decorating junkie like me head over to see Kim at NewlyWoodwards and check out (and join!) the DIY Blogging party that is going to be happening throughout the rest of Nov and Dec! I’m so excited that Kim, Emily, and the rest came up with this idea. Not only will it be fun to see what everyone else does, but it also sets some deadlines for getting things done and (of course) blogging about it!

Here’s the plan:

Monday, Nov. 16 – Dare to… be thankful!
Monday, Nov. 23 – Dare to… entertain! (Tablescapes)
Monday, Nov. 30 – Dare to… eat cookies! (YUM-O!)
Monday, Dec. 7 – Dare to… give homemade gifts!
Monday, Dec. 14 – Dare to… deck the halls!
Monday, Dec. 21 – Dare to… have traditions!

C’mon and join the party!

I’ve been debating on what to do with my pumpkin this year. We waited WAY too long to go to the pumpkin patch (last Sunday) so by the time we got there they were out.of.pumpkins. Seriously? Yes. Crazy! Okay, okay they had like 70 left with about 250+ families out and all the ones left were rotting, scratched, and uncarvable so J and I left the patch empty handed… but not before checking out these cute little dudes:

I get my love of little piggys from my Aunt. She’s awesome, and every year for Christmas I send her some little pigs – I don’t know when (or how) it started but its a fun challenge trying to find something new and pig themed for her each year. Really, how can you NOT love piglets?

Takin a Snooze in the Sun

ANYWAY… back to the original point of this post. Pumpkins. Our failed pumpkin patch trip sent me on a pumpkin hunt this week. I went to Wal-Mart (out), Publix (out), and then Fresh Market (who didn’t let me down!). I was able to pick up 2 large pumpkins and a small white one. So tonight/tomorrow J and I will carve out pumpkins and light ‘em up for the kiddos to admire run over in a mad dash for candy on the one night where it IS perfectly acceptable to get candy from complete strangers.

I’ve decided that since I waited so long this year, I am going to carve something that will add to my decor until Thanksgiving… assuming, hoping, praying, and crossing my fingers that my pumpkin can hold itself together that long.

Here is what I think I might attempt for my cute, un-halloweenish pumpkin:

Little Tree Pumpkin

Here’s to hoping I don’t completely botch the project… I’ve never tried to vary the depth of my carving – and Fresh Market is about out of pumkins too so this is a one shot deal!

Happy Halloween Weekend!

I’ll be honest… I’m having a hard time getting things in the house “put together”. We’ve been spending so much time outside cleaning up the yard that the inside has been slightly neglected. So I’m turning to blogland for help and suggestions. We have a breakfast nook in our kitchen (which is actually where all of our meals take place at the moment) and I can’t figure out what to do.

Wall 1:

Entry door to the far right, laundry door in the middle

Wall 2:

I thought about a plate rack, but then we have SO MUCH cabinet space that it doesn’t make sense. Plus the rack would jut out from the wall and when the leaf is in the table it would make a rather tight fit.

I have really liked the idea of doing some kind of silverware art on the walls. Maybe some larger-than-life utensil sets, like these:

Or just taking some black and whites of our silverware and framing them in thick black frames in a set of three. Something like this:

more spaced out on the wall - 8x10 each?

The walls are going to be changing colors (most likely another neutral — greyish tinted something), the countertops will go grey — not sure light or dark yet and we still have to decide on what hardware we’re going with (dark or brushed nickel… but that’s another debate)

Wall 1 definitely cannot be anything that sticks out b/c of the way our entry door opens. I’ve thought about a large chalkboard or something for that space… but I don’t think I’d use it.

If you were in my shoes, what would you do with these walls???

We are a long (loooooong) way from needing to have a play room, but I can’t help but share this cute idea with blogland.

I have walked by the window several times, and just kept thinking how creative and awesome the idea is. Thanks JCrew, not only do you have great clothes for tall women, but now you’re giving me home inspiration too!

*Excuse the photo, I had to take it from DwellingAndDesign’s blog b/c I didn’t have my iphone handy when we went to the mall this weekend.

Book Tree

I love the fact that you could actually create this easily with a low budget. You could use old books around the house or garage sales/thrift store books. The tree could be themed in a certain color and you could make it as large or small as you wanted. Personally, I’d go with a skinnier trunk, but keep the tree pretty tall. I’m a little puzzled on how to do the branches, but I’m sure with a little glue and hub’s help – we could figure it out!

Happy Monday.

Gotta love a GREAT before and after. And its always best to keep them close by when planning to attack home improvements on the weekend.

Heres what we were faced with on Day 1 :

YIKES!

Here’s the plan of attack:

Plan: Take Back Our "Yard" (if you can even call it that)

And here is what I was able to snap with my iPhone on my way to work today:

Ohh - Ahh

Please note you can now: 1) See our front door  2) See ALL of our windows 3) See the neighbor’s house (thru the trees, not just b/c I was further away)

Just excuse the little blue tarp up there… we’re *hopefully* getting a new roof next week after the roofers come out, find hail damage extensive enough for a new roof, and our insurance company agrees. This would be a HUGE blessing… although the soaked, mildewing cieling in the unused bedroom at the moment is not such a blessing – thank you flood-of-the-century ‘09. BACK to what this post is truly about…

Remeber we’ve only been here since July. I’m 100% positive we have succesfully saved a TON of money by doing all this work ourselves (with help from awesome friends and family – shout out Matt, Dad, & Claw). We’ve also increased the value on our house – I don’t know by how much (any guesses) but curb appeal is definitely a HUGE part of selling a house (we’re not), and ours now looks like the cute little ranch we just knew was hiding behind all that green. We still have our work cut out for us — seeding/sodding, taking back our backyard jungle, and general landscaping — but for now, I’m ignoring that list and thanking my husband over and over for the last patch of bushes he ripped up last night (which we might have just thrown in the ivy laying down so we I could take this picture and share with all of you).

So… I guess now go find your best before and after and use that feeling of accomplishment to get some project done this weekend — or take a weekend off and bask in the awesomeness of what you were able to do!

Happy Friday

Woo-hoo! The floors are FINALLY finished and they look great! The grout is still drying so that will lighten a tad but I absolutely love how the dark grey slate color compliments all the white in the kitchen.

I’m still searching for some new, dark, affordable hardware for the cabinets and a new oven – but its coming along really well! I’ll take full shots once everything is back in place… but I couldn’t resist sharing the few iPhone shots I grabbed this AM on my way out the door to work.

How can you NOT love it?!

Up Close & ... Gorgeous!

PS This also means our dog, Toby, will be coming back home! Another woo-hoo!

Jeff’s little  twin brothers turn 18 today! Here are some fun pics of the boys from Charleston. I think the individual shots show off their personality…

Happy Birthday!

Jackson

Richard

Happy Birthday Guys. Have a great day!