thanksgiving projects complete!

In my last post, I wrote about our thanksgiving dinner party that we are hosting this year... this Saturday, actually. I am super excited because I love to entertain, and so I need my house to look the part, as well! 

Today, I tackled 3 different projects... and here they are!!!

The first are these lovely little wine cork napkin rings. We have reserved a couple really good bottles of wine for this occasion, so what better way to add decor than by using your wine corks... and believe me, we have a million to spare. 

I collected six of the same corks, all Charles Shaw, and grabbed the power drill with the appropriate drill bit, and headed outdoors to make some noise :) This was a very easy job, you literally drill through the middle of the cork, then drill out to clean your hole. I then took twine (one of the main features throughout the house) and put it through the hole, then tied it around my napkins. 

Moving on to project number two... name holders. David had brought home a bag of miniature pumpkins for me around Halloween, and before tossing them out, I decided to use these little gems as my name holders!  Aren't they just adorable :-) All I did here was print out names on blank paper, cut them into squares, punch a  hole on the edge and string it onto the pumpkin... easy peasy.

And for the finale... my favorite project of all... my thanksgiving burlap banner to complete my holiday mantel. This was also super easy, just using burlap, twine, fabric paint, stencils and a stencil paint brush. I went with thankful, because it seemed very appropriate. Here are photos showing you how I did this -

 Start by making a template of a triangle, then use that to cut your burlap.

 Using a paper plate, or whatever you have around, lay your stencil on the burlap, and paint away.

 Peel your stencil up, and let your paint dry... warning - the front and BACK will be wet, so seriously, let them dry completely!

 Once all dried, fold the top of your fabric over and using a fabric hole punch, make a hole on both sides.

 It will look like this. The holes are so you can string your twine or ribbon through.

 HANG AND ENJOY! ISN'T IT JUST ADORABLE!!! SOOOOO VERY THANKFUL!

 I have always loved a mantel, especially during the holiday seasons... it is the most fun to decorate!

Also added a little of the twine around this vase holding dried hay... I just can't get enough. I can't wait to set my table Saturday morning and see how everything looks all put together! 

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!