THANKSGIVING TABLESCAPE & MANTEL AND MEETING A BLOGGER/AUTHOR!

Would you believe it's 18 degrees here in Chicago?  And we are supposed to get down into the single digits as the week goes on. Brrrr...and in my area, there has been very little snow so it's like we just went into a deep freeze with none of the beautiful white stuff to make it worthwhile.  At least it's happening now, maybe we will have the milder temps around Thanksgiving so all the guys can have that annual football game before they eat 3000 calories of carb laden food!

I did this tablescape last week before we took the Arctic plunge (you can see my door is open).  I'm just fiddling with ideas for Thanksgiving.  We will be having eight for dinner and then I'm not sure how many in the evening for wine and dessert.  So you see, a lot will be edited from this picture if we want our forks to go from plate to mouth!  

Daughter Emily was working on a client's home (redoing the decor in the living room/dining room) so I tagged along when she had to do a little shopping.  While at Pier 1, I strolled through the dish section and they had the most stunning tables set for Christmas.  Oh my gosh, the sparkle!  I think I mentioned before that I read that sparkle gives off the essence of luxury...really, at least psychologically.  No matter, I think it's beautiful!  What really got my attention was how they were clearing out Thanksgiving items already!  I picked up these salad plates at 10% off and there were many sale items everywhere.  

I am using my everyday dishes from Ballard Design, that are really showing the chips.  And old mismatched silver that has to get a good polishing before the big day.  The brushed antiqued chargers were a sale score from Sur la Table and may still be on their website.  I used a scarf for a table runner and a few candles here and there.  

Can you see the little green pumpkin on the right?  My sweet friend Jody from Rooted In Thyme makes the cutest pumpkins and I recently acquired a few.  In the pictures above see if you can spot the green velvet one and another in orange knit.  As a really nice gesture, she threw in a little sock snowman!  Please visit her blog and Etsy shop.  Her stuff is so cute and creative! :)

Before I even played with the table, I changed up my mantel mainly by paring it down as much as possible.  This will help me when I change over to Christmas.  I think I just added that vintage plate that I've had forever.

I still have the banner from Carol up.  I went looking for the "Thankful" banner I made last year and somewhere, somehow, the "l" fell off! lol! I have to locate the stencils and get to work!  Carol's banner is timeless. :)

I was able to drag The Husband out Saturday to a big craft event put on by Three French Hens.  It takes place about an hour southwest several times a year.  I went once many years ago.  It's much bigger now, set up in four different buildings and outdoors, much like a French market.  There were a lot of vendors with vintage items.  And there is nothing better than Christmas vintage!

I felt like I was walking around in a trance trying to take it all in.  It really was a magical sort of North Pole from 60 years back!  And I was a very good girl, I think all I bought was an evergreen swag for my front door.  The Husband was like a maniac running around buying up all the homemade jams and pies and cakes!!  He was like a kid in a candy store weighed down with his bags.  Ha!

I had the pleasure of finally meeting this girl who I have "known" about since I started blogging.  Jennifer Rizzo is one creative and successful blogger and she just had a book published.  She was there signing them and meeting and greeting people.  Is this not a dream come true for Jen?!   She has an Illinois blogger get~together every spring and for one reason or another, I've never made it.  This was so cool!

Her book is chock full of DIY Christmas crafts and ideas, and the photos are unbelievably inspiring.  You just want to curl up in front of a fire and make plans for the best holiday ever.  

Several blogs I've come across  have been raving about this book and I heard it flew off the shelves at Amazon.  Better grab one while you can and you might want to get an extra as a gift for someone you love!  Thanks, Jennifer, I know we will meet up again!

Again, thank for all of your well wishes.  My cast comes off tomorrow and I'm feeling pretty good.  Still using up those veggies I chopped...tonight it's vegetarian chili!  I'm going to fiddle a bit more with the tablescape and I actually did start two different Christmas crafts and I'm tweaking and working on a third. I'll share next time.  I just polished off two big mugs of green tea while I wrote this and now I may just snuggle under a throw with the dogs before I start dinner.  Have a great week! :)

Jane xxx

Joining parties at Cozy Little House, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, From My Front Porch To Yours, and Rooted In Thyme.