Thanksgiving 2010

This year I had a little more time to put into the decor of our Thanksgiving day table. First I made the place mats that I have previously posted how to make. Then I decided I was going to do gourds lining the table with candles in them. I used my grandfathers drill with a 1 1/2 drill bit on it. I learned the hard way, literally, that some gourds are harder then others which meant it was not easy to drill holes in all of them. I actually split two of them right in half! In the end the table looked awesome. Here are the pictures...Hope you enjoy!

The first set of pumpkins I drilled

Make sure you do this outside because the guts go flying everywhere!

My grandfathers thumb kept getting in the way lol!

This was the easiest to drill. Its a Cheese Pumpkin! and the inside is the prettiest color!



Add caption

 I am really dissappointed how these pictures won't go the correct way! When I figure out how to fix it I will. Hope you enjoyed the table....upside down, right side up...

First step in creating the perfect Thanksgiving table

I am super excited about this years Thanksgiving table! If you have looked at my previous events that I have done further down the blog you will know that each year I am in charge of decorating. Since I am not in school this year I have had more time to plan it out and create new things. I am going to line the center of the table with pumpkins and gourds that have been drilled to fit a votive. I am going to do candle light, reds, oranges, yellows, and tans. So for the first step of the table I had to make place mats. I purchased suede from Joann Fabric because the material does not fray when it is cut. This means that I did not have to do any sewing! I saw a leaf template on Martha Stewart but it seemed too small so I used there basic design and created a larger paper template that I traced onto the back side of the suede with permanent maker. After I had them all traced I cut them out. They turned out great! I can't to put them on the table with the rest of the decorations.

Paper Template

Trace the template onto the fabric

Taaa Daaa!!!

Green produce bags and Halloween Soup Night

So today I made plans to have some of my family over for dinner. I have been wanting to make soup since I haven't ever made it unless it was in a can. My mom makes wonderful soup so I knew I had the ability in me somewhere! The day started out by going grocery shopping. I am a huge fan of Adams Fairacre Farms. They have numerous locations but the one closest is in Kingston. They have great produce and their employees are knowledable and freindly. The soup was zucchini and bread crumb stoup. It was one of Rachel Ray's recipes. Though I am not a huge fan of hers I found this recipe and thought it looked and sounded delicious! I also loveeee zucchini so I figured I couldn't go wrong. In addition to my soup I had another choice for my guests. My boyfriend made avgolemono soup. It's a Greek lemon soup that he learned how to make from his yaiyai (grandma). It is fabulous! So, at the grocery store I needed to get a lot of ingredients! I recently ordered these new 'green' produce bags that you can wash and reuse instead of using those terrible plastic bags. They worked great! I ordered them from 3B Bags. If you order 4 sets you get the 4th free. So for 12 bags I paid $25 and change which included shipping and handling. Not bad at all! I highly suggest them!

In the bags were apples, parsley, and zucchini. Each packet comes with two 'smaller' bags and one large bag. The small bags are pretty large

It's great because your produce can breath in these bags as opposed to the plastic were they can sweat and get moldy

 So, after I went shopping it was time to come home and start prepping for my guests. On my kitchen table, I had fake glittery candelabras and gourds. So I decided to decorate the table more instead of just leaving it plain. I had purchased cute napkin holders at Pier 1 that are extremely versatile. They will go great with many different occasions. I already had place mats that added a nice detail to the table.

These gourds are going to be reused for Thanksgiving. Wait to see what I am going to create for that table scape!

After I was done decorating it was time to start cooking! Our kitchen is tiny so it was very interesting trying to cook with two people, two different kinds of soup. In addition, I also made grill cheese. In the end everything came out great! Some people like the lemon soup better and some like the vegetable soup more. I will have to say, for my first time making soup I did a pretty good job! Can't wait for my next creation... any suggestions?

My most recent work

These last two events that I planned and helped out with I absolutely love! The first one was my cousins bridal shower. It was held at Arielle in Rhinebeck. The shower was small and intimate. We had one long table that everyone sat at and the bride sat at the head of the table. I decided to do red as the color scheme because I wanted a dark, rich color. The invitation was red and had an embossed image of a wedding dress. I also added a lacy punch out to the edge of the invitation. For flowers I used white hydrangea that I ordered off of Sam's Club. At first I was extremely hesitant to order them but I decided to go ahead and do it which  I am very happy I did. I also had many candles lining the table. Each person had there own menu that had a lace accent on the top. Finally, I made chocolate covered strawberries that were placed on the dessert spoon of each guest.

Room View. The long table in the middle was for lunch and the table behind it was the cake, gift, and favor table

I placed individual heads of hydrangea in alternating size vases

The table

I made the favors. Each guest got a jar of cookies and a cone of M&Ms. The jars were recycled jars that I frosted designs onto. I made the cones by using large pieces of paper and folding them into rectangular cones

We played several games, one being a crossword puzzle all about the bride

This was actually her idea! She wanted to do the toilet paper bridal gown game!



Table Detail

 This next event was my bosses wedding from when I did my internship. My last semester at school I interned at Full Moon Resort located in Big Indian, N.Y. I learned many things while doing this internship, met a lot of people, and gain a lot of helpful information about the industry. At the same time as I was doing my internship, my boss at Full Moon was also planning her own wedding which she was having at The Moon! That's right, she got married where she works because she is that passionate and loves Full Moon so much. She asked me to come back over the summer to help out the day of her event. In addition to day of assistance I designed and created her reception menus and ceremony programs. They came out great! I am so glad I was given the chance to make them.

Me with the new couple!

The Menu

View of the tent and tables

This was the ceremony program. They were fans which worked out great because it was literally the hottest day of the summer! Each fern was hand stamped onto each program (200 total!) I picked ferns, painted the fern, then pressed them onto the paper.

Each guest had a program waiting for them at their seat

Full Moon puts on quit the spread! Yummy!