Thanksgiving by Candlelight

November 9, 2023November 8, 2023 - Julie 13 Comments

If you have been following my blog for awhile, you know that I enjoy creating tablescapes — especially for the holidays.

I have to confess that I haven’t gone the simple route every Thanksgiving, but with each passing year, simplicity seems to be my mantra — go simple or go home!

This year, my “Thanksgiving by Candlelight” table reflects my desire for keeping things easy, yet pleasing to the eye. And, of course, it’s in keeping with my casually elegant style.

I just love the warm and cozy glow of candles burning in the center of the table as dinner time arrives and the sun sinks deeper under the horizon.

Normally, I love the layer plates upon plates, but this time I kept the layering to a minimum, using only a beaded gold charger and my beloved Spode Delamere dinner plates.

I topped it off with a small picture frame used as a place card for each seat and called it done.

I love this idea because you can also give the frame as a little gift to your guests as they leave! How fun is that?!

Although this table is simple, it subtly marries texture and color and gives a feeling of the fall harvest and the warmth of the season.

I always, always try to incorporate candles in to my tables, but have never photographed them lit before.

I guess I was afraid the warm glow wouldn’t come through. But today’s rainy weather provided the perfect opportunity to show you what my table actually looks like when I’m ready for my guests to arrive and dinner is about to be served.

There’s something about candle light that makes you want to linger at the table for conversation and camaraderie, doesn’t it?

You might notice that I didn’t place any napkins at this table. That’s because this year — in keeping with my simpicity mantra — I’m using paper napkins. And, no, I haven’t even bought them yet. When I do, I will place them under the picture frames, or maybe just keep them in the kitchen in the buffet line.

Today’s Thanksgiving table is part of the monthly tablescape series, “It’s All Set.”

I hope you’ll visit the links below to see more beautiful ideas from my friends!

StoneGable

Lilacs & Longhorns

Designthusiasm

The Enchanted Home

Shabbyfufu

Simplifying Thanksgiving and a Giveaway! {Thankful to bHome}

November 3, 2023November 3, 2023 - Julie 33 Comments

Now that Halloween has come and gone, it’s time to get serious about the upcoming holidays.

One of my favorite things about this time of year is getting together with my blogging friends to bring you inspiring ideas for holiday entertaining, decorating and more.

This week, I’m joining a very talented group of bloggers from bHome to bring you ideas, inspiration and thoughts about being thankful during the Thanksgiving season.

A complete list of the participating bloggers and links to their sites is at the end of this post. Read more

Valentine’s Day Inspiration

February 5, 2015February 9, 2015 - Julie 4 Comments

Love is in the air!

Yesterday, I shared some beautiful Valentine’s projects with the Sweetest Valentine Round- Up and today I have even more inspiration for you!

I am co-hosting a Valentine Inspiration Party with several of my blogging friends. Even better, we invited a few more friends to to join in to make it extra inspirational.

We have over 35 Valentine’s Day projects, crafts, recipes and more.

Let’s get started!

The Sweetest Valentine’s Day Round Up

February 4, 2015February 9, 2015 - Julie 5 Comments

Don’t tell anyone, but my feelings about Valentine’s Day have gone back and forth between loving it and not loving it so much over the years.

When I was a kid, I loved Valentine’s Day. It meant decorating a shoe box with doily hearts and wrapping paper to collect Valentine’s at our party at school. And, it meant my parents giving me a special heart-shaped box of chocolates with a sweet card.

When I was in high school, I didn’t like the holiday so much because I was never dating anyone special on February 14. It became a day where my girlfriends and I commiserated over no boyfriend and no flowers. Boo hoo! lol

Now, I am back to loving the sweet holiday because I get to share my loving sentiments with the most special people closest to me…my husband and my kids.

It’s also fun because my daughter gets so excited and wants to decorate the whole house as if it were Christmas!

Today, I’m hoping to get you excited about Valentine’s Day with beautiful projects and crafts from some terrific blog friends of mine.

I’m happy to be a part of ‘The Sweetest Valentine Round Up” hosted by Kelly at My Soulful Home with you all!

Valentine’s Day Button Heart Art

January 19, 2015January 14, 2023 - Julie 15 Comments

Is it just me, or does everyone in the world have a jar full of old buttons?

When you buy a new blouse or a pair of pants, it comes with an extra button or two. When I make something that requires buttons I always seem to end up with at least one or two leftover. Where do they land? In the button jar, of course!

Over the years, I’ve accumulated at least a few hundred. Give or take.

Why can’t I just throw them out? Do I really think I’m actually going to use them?

Seriously, who needs that many buttons hanging around?

You do, friends! Because one day you’ll be surfing around on Pinterest or here, on my blog, and you’ll see a project like this or like this, or like this.

And you’ll be inspired to do something with all those buttons!

In fact, if you’re like me, you’ll be wishing you had even more buttons, more colors and more sizes so you can make bigger and better button art!

This Valentine’s Day button heart art was so, so easy.

In fact, I whipped this little jewel up in between three doorbell rings, dogs going berserk, my daughter getting hurt on her skateboard, a quick call to the doctor’s office, and a dose of antibiotic ointment. Seriously.

It would have been a lot more enjoyable without all the mishaps and chaos, but it really was a very simple and quick project.

I used some leftover faux grain sack fabric I created for my no-sew grainsack ornaments this past Christmas. I cut it to size and I adhered it to a piece of 8 x 10 inch cardboard with Elmer’s Repositionable Mounting Spray Adhesive.

Then I used hot glue to affix the buttons on to the fabric in the shape of a heart, popped it all in to a frame and that was it! Easy!

My button heart art is part of a special blog tour featuring several of my blogging friends.

We all found projects that inspired us on Pinterest and did our best to knock them off.

My button art is not an exact copy of one specific Pinterest project, but it was definitely inspired by the ones listed above and many more I’ve seen on the site.

I hope you’ll visit my friends through the links below today to see what’s inspiring them and maybe get inspired yourself! And, you might enjoy visiting and following my Pinterest boards.

Wishing you an inspiring day!