A Thanksgiving Table

My sister is hosting the clan for Thanksgiving dinner this year, so I thought I'd put together some ideas that she might find useful. Maybe you will, too, as you're thinking about how to freshen up your holiday look.

You've seen the "tab punch punkins" in an October post - I love projects that carry over more than one season or occasion! The place card will look familiar as well. Atop the plate is a lovely swap that I received from Lisa Cool, concealing a packet of gourmet cocoa mix for some time late Thanksgiving day when all you have room for is a liquid... Another great swap is on display just above the forks. Karen Herrmann made little woven baskets from SU! wood sheets and tucked a candle inside. What a great favor or hostess giftie! Want to see more work from this great demo? Karen will be our featured stamper on November 23rd.

Did you realize that you can stamp on paper napkins? It's so quick and easy. Just grab a package of napkins in a plain coordinating color, then get out a stamp set and a classic ink pad. Ink up as usual and stamp right on your napkin!

Finally, you'll notice a little favor box that features autumn leaves. I treated myself to a new Big Shot die (Bag w/ Scallops) to help me prepare favors for a banquet seating 30. Wow, am I glad I did! All I can say is, thank heavens for sticky strip. These will be filled with my long time favorite "Dutch Mints" tied up in a little cello bag. Want to know how to get that same shimmery look on the leaves? Here's my mass production technique:

1. Stamp Autumn Splendor leaves in Versamark on Naturals Vanilla card stock. Heat emboss in gold.
2. Wet a cotton ball with alcohol (does not dilute the color like water). Using your reinkers, make "patches" of color appropriate to the leaves (e.g. for the Maple I used Ruby Red, Almost Apricot, and Bravo Burgundy; for the Oaks it was Soft Suede, Dusty Durango, and Crushed Curry). Pat the cotton ball once in the center of each leaf (each "loaded" cotton ball will do about 15 leaves), then continue adding color until the area inside the embossing is filled. Don't worry about "coloring outside the lines".
3. Although I liked the vividness, I wanted to tone down the "busyness" of the color a bit, so I filled an Aqua Painter with Future floor wax and picked up a drop of ink (burgundy for the maples, Durango or Chocolate Chip for the Oaks) on the tip. I quickly drew down the spines of the leaves and "scribbled" a little on either side of this, leaving the brighter mottling to show at the edges.
4. Using paper snips (yes, it does make a difference to your frustration levels), trim each leaf, leaving a scant 1/8" margin around the outside edge. This makes for less cutting and looks nice, too! Remember to rotate your paper while holding the scissors stationery.
5. Lay a set of leaves and/or acorns together and punch two 1/16" holes through all layers. You will thread gold elastic cord through the flap of the bag and then through the holes in the leaf stack, tying them to the tab. Note: I am not going to detail construction of the bags themselves in this post.

Have fun pulling together your table setting - I'm convinced that proper attention to this detail makes the food taste that much better! Kathy