Christmas is in the Air...

This year we are in the middle of moving, thus my lack of posting...and our house is literally filled with boxes. I daydream of decorating in my new house. But in the meantime, it's nice to look back at pictures from last year. 

Time to decorate for Thanksgiving!

We are in the middle of packing up to move to a new house right now. Most of my thanksgiving decorations are out, but there are also a couple boxes in each room :) So I'm re-posting last year's post. Happy decorating!!

Last week I took down all my Halloween decorations and put up all my thanksgiving ones. Thanksgiving is such a fun time for me. It means lots of yummy food, good times spent with friends and family....and it's the precursor for Christmas! But before I can even think about Christmas I need to plan out my turkey day. And part of having a great turkey day is having a house that feels warm and welcoming and in my house that means lot of leaves. I think people can be a bit intimidated by decorating for thanksgiving. Don't be! Add those scarecrows and leaves! Here's how I decorated:

My welcome sign when I step in from the garage:

I always save pumpkins from October and use them to decorate for Thanksgiving. I also lite a lot of candles in the fall/winter, why not combine the two on a counter or side table?

A little pumpkin scarecrow, this one I positioned on some leaves.

My awkward steps above my fireplace..... I decorated them with pumpkins, scarecrows, lots of leaves and...

...a pumpkin turkey. What can I say, I thought he was cute!

See the hidden pumpkin behind the leaves???

I also like to decorate my china hutch. Everyone gathers in this area to eat and to be honest, it's a safe place for my Jim Shore woodcut figures.

I'm a little obsessed with Jim Shore woodcut figures...you'll see what I mean when I show you Christmas pictures...It's slightly "re-dunculous" as my hubby would say.

Cornucopia stuffed with leaves :) Simple and easy.

I even add a touch of leaves inside the hutch. It provides a nice pop of color and ties it all together.

I picked up this guy for $5 at my local craft store and the kids gave him a pilgrim hat :) I think we should name him.

Even our fridge is decorated. Turkey hand prints are the best! And so fun and easy. Just paint your hand with brown paint, then press on white paper. Glue feathers and ta-da! 

I purchased a bird houses at my local craft store and decorated it with fall colors and places it on top of my fridge. I'm not sure where this idea came from, but I like it.

Yes, my guest bathroom has fall towels and soap ;)

And I've replaced the real plants with a fall leaf assortment

My kitchen even gets a few touches

And Duke's treats

We made little American Indian pupets after reading a thanksgiving story. Simple craft and my kids love these guys! ....hmm....who knew.

And we can't forget our thanksgiving toys! :) The kids get really excited when they see these since they only come out of the garage once a year. Quick reminder: when storing seasonal toys remember to remove the batteries! 

I hope that gives you all a few ideas or maybe some Thanksgiving decoration inspiration! Happy decorating!! 

Halloween Recap

I'm so sorry I couldn't post sooner. I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween this year! Mine was a insane. I had a wedding cake due (next post) on the 29th and a carnival to set up for the neighborhood on the 30th... add in buying a house and the family getting sick. It was insane. And of course, now I'm sick :(  But here are some snapshots of our Halloween this year. And some of the new and improved witch shack!

Side view:

My wonderful hubby and myself :)

For the carnival, I made a witch head out of paper and taped it to an easel. I had bright green stickers for kids to "Stick the Wart on the Witch". I used a simple blindfold and voila! A great carnival game that ALL ages enjoyed. For the kidos under 2 I didn't use the blindfold. And all kids got to pick a prize out of my cauldron. 

The second game for the carnival that I made was a "Hole in One". I used cardboard boxes, black construction paper and some inexpensive fake grass that I purchased at my local home improvement store. This would work with golf balls and golf clubs too :)

Side View:

I cut a hole in the back that the ball would fit through if hit properly. I had my son do it so I knew it could be done. I wanted this game to be challenging, but not impossible. The really interesting thing about this game is that the ADULTS loved it too!!! I've never had adults want to do the carnival games, since we set it up for the kids... but apparently the desire to test their skills was too much :) It was lots of fun, inexpensive and fairly simple to make. All it takes is a little imagination!

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween too! Now we're moving onto Turkey Day!!! Yay!!! :)

With Love,

Becca