Flowers In Pumpkins

Thanksgiving is on the way and I am way behind getting my decorations completed.  I decorate for fall, then Halloween and finally Thanksgiving which is usually last on my list for making new decorations.  This year after looking at so many beautiful fall decorations on Pinterest I decided to give a few of the ideas a try using the inspiration not the exact craft.  I wanted some fresh fall flowers to decorate my porch giving it a pop of color, but as I found out the hard way, the sun beats down on the porch from sun up to late into the afternoon killing any kind of plant or flower I put there.  I really wanted fresh flowers and real pumpkins for that space but I was going to have to settle for faux pumpkins and silk flowers if I wanted the look and color I saw in those photos.

I gathered up some of my fall craft supplies and went to work. The first thing I did was to ask my husband to carve up the pumpkins by using a hot knife to cut the top open so I could insert the flowers and greens. He went through a couple of blades and some muscle to carve out the tops, once that was done the rest was a breeze.  I think they came out just great and will add just the right amount of color; drawing all eyes to that small but useful space.

Look how bright and cheerful the oranges, reds, yellows and greens look against the tan walls and black rod iron.  They also look really lovely with the red front door, very eye catching, just the look I was going for even if I could not use the real thing.

Thanks for letting me share my pretty fall flower decorations with you, I hope they inspire you to make some new decorations for your porch, front door or yard to give your curb appeal a boost.  I still have a decoration or two to finish up for Thanksgiving, I am not sure if I will have enough time to finish them with everything else I am working on, only time will tell. Coming soon are more aprons from the series and the toy room reveal, keep watching for those.

See you soon.

Laurette

You might also like:

Falling In Love With Fall

Fall Windowpane Quilt

Thanksgiving In A Bag

That’s right; our Thanksgiving came out of a big box with lots of food packaged in bags, kind of like the food from the space shuttle.  You are probably wondering how that happened to someone who entertains so much? It was one of those things which happen when everyone wants to get together, but no one can figure out how to fit in all the cooking with everything else that is going on.  Our local grocery/deli was having a big promotion on pre-prepared meals, we thought it would be fantastic not to have to cook a big meal, just warm it up and eat.  You know, you really have to ask questions, lots of questions and we did not ask enough of them.  When my husband came through the door with just one big box I got my first clue that something was not right.  Oh boy, was I ever right, when we started to unload the box all we saw were sealed plastic bags, even the turkey was sealed in plastic.  Out came the large instruction sheet, oh no, we were in trouble, it looked like we would be assembling and cooking the entire dinner, not what we signed up for, that is what we get for trying to short cut Thanksgiving.

We spent the next 3 hours in the kitchen in a marathon cooking frenzy opening bags, mixing ingredients, putting it in the oven, pulling it out and mixing more or adding more ingredients, all in fifteen minute intervals, we never stopped once until the dinner was ready to be put on the table.  Our guests had to let themselves into the house and stayed in the kitchen watching us in total fascination as we squeezed their dinner out of plastic bags into the appropriate trays and bowls and cook it right in front of them.  We all agreed this was the dinner we wanted but no one had any idea what we had gotten ourselves into. It was ten times the work of the dinner I usually cook for everyone.  The food was very fresh and actually very good, but so much work.  The moral of this story and the lessons for today are; ask lots of questions when trying something new, when in doubt, don’t do it and there are no short cuts.  Next time I will hire a caterer or cook it myself, lessons learned.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, no matter how your meal was prepared and you had a wonderful time sharing it with your family and friends.  Watch for lots of holiday decorating tips, projects and fun family events, all starting this week.  Thanks for letting me share my Thanksgiving dinner with you.  See you soon.