Thanksgiving Crafts

We've been busy preparing to host our first big Thanksgiving in a real house this year. Most of our family will be here which means we will have a crowd of about 25. Here are some of the things we have been making:

Place Card Teepees

I bought this kit at Paper Source and Ford and I made them. Everything is included. All you need are glue and scissors. We loved making every one different. Aren't they the cutest!

 

Hand Turkey Napkins

 I have always loved hand print turkeys and I was trying to think of a way to preserve the little hands that I have making them at my house these days. I found packs of sparkly linen napkins at Homegoods. I got the kids a set of fabric markers and traced their hands for them. Then they were free to decorate their turkeys. I love how these turned out and someday when they are too old to make hand turkeys I will still have these napkins at my table. 

 Hand Turkey Banner

Delaney got inspired by the napkins and made this banner. It was all her idea and she made it all by herself. I love how it turned out, spelling mistakes and all!

Thanksgiving Napkin Rings

I have had these decorative brads for a couple years that I bought on clearance at Michaels one time. I've always wondered what to do with them. This year I finally had the idea to make them into napkin rings. I used brown stiff felt and cut it into strips. Then hot glued the strips, using an existing napkin ring for a mold. I added felt leaves with the brads stuck through them and Voila!.... 12 napkin rings for under $10. The cloth napkins are again from Homegoods.

Here's wishing you all a very thankful Thanksgiving.

Moving on Out.

Well, after 8 years the time has come to give up this loft I love so much. We are putting our place on the market today. Instead of blogging lately, I have been cleaning, and purging, and organizing. I have very mixed emotions. My family is ready to move for space and schools and other things so I will go along with them knowing that I have gotten to live in my dream building and that hopefully someday I will get to live in an industrial space in the city again. Several readers have asked to see photos so here they are:


Almost everything in our house is from Ikea, Homegoods, or Lakewood Antiques Market which I dearly miss! I love these Flor squares covering our concrete floors. They are great because they are tiles that can be replaced one at a time if your kids are too messy!


The building we live in was built in 1913 and was a Seed Factory. When we moved in, our space was raw and my dad, who is a builder, built it out for us. One of my favorite things we did was build this table into this strange hump that is the headroom to the common area building basement. It is great for serving and working puzzles. You can see this hump, minus the table of course, in the opening scenes for Sweet Home Alabama which was filmed in our space before we converted it. Our space was used for the NYC fashion design studio shots.



The red seats are some that my grandfather got from the old Fulton County stadium. And the Texaco sign is from Lakewood and special because Brandon's dad worked for Texaco for much of his career.


Here is Delaney and Ford's room. Delaney hopes to get her own room soon so she can have more of her "ownself time". Their bunkbeds are from Ikea as well as their storage area. The diner is from a friend who got it at a garage sale.



This is my studio. The cabinets are Ikea and can be customized with photos as doors like I did to the middle row.


This is a view from my studio looking back over the main room. You can see our little catwalk library to the left designed by metal artist, Andrew Crawford. We added that on more recently than we converted the rest of our place.



Our bedroom photos give you a good look at the awesome columns in the building. They are giant poured concrete.


The doors to our closet are from Lakewood and are out of an old Chicago hotel. My dad gave them to me for Christmas one year when my favorite song was Martina McBride's "You Must Think My Heart Has Swinging Doors".

If you are looking for a place, here is the listing.

A Cinco De Mayo Birthday

I'm a big fan of Cinco de Mayo. It has a lot to do with the fact that Mexican Food is my very favorite and I could eat it every night of my life and not get tired of it. It has even more to do with the fact that I love Margaritas. And believe it or not, both of my kids were due on Cinco de Mayo one year apart. Neither of them decided to show up on their due date so I missed two Cinco de Mayos in a row without a Margarita. This resulted in the best push present any body could ever receive which was a mack daddy Jimmy Buffet Margarita Machine from my husband and several amazing bottles of Tequila from my brother.


My dad's birthday also falls on Cinco de Mayo, so with the machine in hand we headed to the burbs for a Mexican fiesta. My mom can set a table like no other. She mixes patterns, and styles, and colors effortlessly and I am always amazed at the beauty she creates.


I gave her these plates a few years ago from CB2 and have coveted them every since. I followed them up the next year with a gift of these delightful bird napkin rings from Z Gallery.


The tablecloth and salt and pepper shakers are flea market finds and the glass cups are from Homegoods. My mom served a delicious Mexican corn bread casserole topped with fresh salsa and crabmeat. We enjoyed it with chips and cheese dip and of course, a perfect key lime margarita cupcake from Jilly's in Alpharetta for dessert.