|
Porch or Hallway Display
If you
can get hold of a bale or two of hay this is perfect for the base of
your hallway or porch display. If not, cover some boxes with sacking,
or a throw or a neutral coloured cloth and build up from there.
Start
with some large pumpkins for instant colour, then add some fun to your
harvest display by making vegetable people. Heads can be turnips, pumpkins,
gourds or beetroots, and arms and legs can be suggested by cucumbers,
carrots, parsnips or corn. The bodies can be large parsnips, melons,
anything you have on hand.
You could
make mini ones for a table or almost child sized for a kitchen, garden
room or porch. Terracotta pots make great hats or boots to finish off
the look, and of course flowerpot men made completely from terracotta
pots, wired or stacked together with wheat or corn poking out of the
top one for hair always look fantastic. It's also a good way to store
pots that you won't need again until next Spring!
Floral
Arrangements
Using
the abundance of nature at this time of year can make for some unusual
containers for seasonal floral arrangements too. You can push pieces
of florists foam into holes made in pumpkins or gourds or try hollowing
out crinkly cabbages or gourds. Then stuff them with pre - soaked florists
foam before arranging a selection of berries, grasses, seed heads,
curly willow, wired tiny pumpkins, oranges, pomegranates or whatever
you can get your hands on.
Another
way to make ordinary containers special is to wrap a couple of strips
of double sided tape around a plain vase, or a simple jar, and stick
on overlapping fallen leaves, twigs, or even vegetables. Secure these
with a raffia, string or green gardener's twine bow, before filling
with your chosen arrangement.
Nature's
Table
Use fallen
leaves as a base for a decoration that runs down the middle of your
table. I would recommend that you use paper underneath just in case
any moisture left in the leaves damages a polished table top.
Add twigs,
or small branches, acorns, cones, and an abundance of fruits and vegetables
interspersed with candles for a sumptuous look. A row of apples along
the centre of a table with just enough of the apple carved out to drop
in a tea light candle looks magnificent, and costs hardly anything
but a steady hand. For upright
candles a core remover can help take out enough of the apple to keep
a candle securely in place.
Wreaths
Vine
wreaths or the lighter coloured bamboo variety are available quite
inexpensively at florist's supply shops. Use whatever you have on hand
- wheat, corn, dried or silk flowers, in appropriate colours. Hot glue
these to the base wreath before adding a raffia or paper ribbon bow.
Wreaths
made entirely of wired on pine cones wrapped with gingham ribbon look
very good at this time of year, and with a change of ribbon to something
more glamorous will do duty for Christmas too.
If you
do not have, or cannot afford to buy bases for wreaths make some from
cardboard. First draw around a large plate, then draw around a smaller
plate. Cut out the hole in the middle. Add some batting, wadding or
any padding that you can find, then cover this with a fabric remnant
before hot gluing cones, fruits or any other harvest decorations and
a large bow to the wreath. Children may enjoy just painting the cardboard
wreaths and sticking fallen leaves all the way around.
Leaf
Garland
You can
also make a pretty leaf garland by pressing leaves in a heavy book
or telephone directory for a few days, and then stringing them together
with invisible or gold thread to drape or wind anywhere that you need
a little extra colour.
Kid's
Crafts
Kid's
crafts make the most charming harvest decorations of all. Use the Internet
to find ideas for fun projects,
Kid's
Domain Thanksgiving Crafts at
http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/_Thanks.html
has good
ones, as does Childfun Thanksgiving Crafts at
http://www.childfun.com/themes/thanks_craft.shtml
If you
need more ideas, just put 'Thanksgiving crafts' into a search engine,
and you are sure to find plenty to keep creative fingers busy.
Try to
find the time to make memories by sitting around the table with your
kids, just enjoying cutting and gluing and laughing, and plain giving
thanks for each other!
About the author:
Colleen Moulding
is a freelance writer from England where she has had many features
on parenting, childcare, travel, the Internet and many more subjects
published in national magazines and newspapers. She has also published
a variety of women’s and children’s fiction.
Her work frequently
appears at many sites on the Internet and at her own site for women
and children All That Women Want.com a magazine, web guide and resource
for women everywhere. Why not drop by? It was made for you!
http://www.allthatwomenwant.com
Subscribe to the
free monthly e-zine covering home and decorating, parenting, saving
money, organizing, gardening, women's biz, health, recipes, relationships
and more. Spend your five minutes peace with us. It was made for you!
Subscribe by sending
a blank e-mail to:
allthatwomenwant-subscribe@egroups.com
back to top
home
|
