My Creative Blog:
Thanksgiving

You know what make us thankful? Besides our families, good friends, this blog and each other (of course!), it's Black Friday! So, while Monica is living it up in London and Paris this week, I'll be doing some die-hard shopping with my hubs. Love that man and his passion for finding good deals. (Would you believe he is MORE into Black Friday than I am?!) However, some of the best things you just can't find in brick and mortar stores, and that's what I'm bringing to you today. I've rounded up some red and green favorites from our awesome sponsors. Without them, this blog would not be, so show them some love and snag some good deals this weekend at their shops.

1. Kelly Green Crocheted Scarflette from Twysted Yarn. I am all about scarves this time of year, and this one is too cute! Order by December 6th for Christmas delivery. Use the code ECCFAN to get 10% off your order! 2. Last year, I purchased 12 Christmas books at Liberty Thrift store, and did a 12 days of Christmas countdown. Each day we read a different Christmas story. I LOVE this tradition, and Liberty Thrift makes it possible to do it inexpensively (Photo credit: Katherine Maries.com) 3. This Joy to the Lord Print from Red Letter Words is so beautiful and would make a great gift or a perfect accessory for your own walls. Plus, you just can't beat that message. Get 20% off all Black Friday weekend! (No coupon code necessary.) 4. I adore this Ikat Decorative Pillow Cover from our newest sponsor, Chic Decor Pillows. It's so stylish, but totally ties in with traditional Christmas colors. You HAVE to see the tons of pillow covers in their shop. Gorgeous stuff, folks! Beginning at midnight on 11/23, everything in the store will be 15% off!

5. You better believe that I'll be doing a few Christmas printables this year using this Gem Christmas Digital Scrapbooking Paper from Moo & Puppy. I'm telling you, the possibilities are endless! Use the code EC215 for 15% off your order. 6. I can't get enough of this Red/Orange Paisley Headband from Henle. I'll be buying a few of these for my sister and girlfriends this year (shhhhh…don't tell!) 7. Isn't this Pendant Light with Red Enamel Shade from Lucent Lampworks so much fun? Love the pop of color in this industrial style light fixture. I can't WAIT to show you what Brad designed for my dining room. Ummmm…let's just say, it completes me. Oh wait, I mean, the room. Use the code EC2tenoff for 10% off your order!

8. I know this isn't all that Christmasy, but my goodness, I adore this Herringbone Pattern Wall Stencil from Royal Design Studio. I'm running out of wall space, but I'm determined to incorporate this somewhere-anywhere- in my house. All stencils shown in black and white will be 30% off on Black Friday (go here for the sale!) 9.Buy a few of theseQuilted Jar Candles in Spiced Pear from CJS EcoChic for a quick and easy neighbor, hostess or teacher gift. You can never go wrong with candle, especially soy ones that last forever! 10. I'm thinking another awesome gift for a teacher would be this Medium Utility Tote in Red Parisian Pop from Thirty-One Gifts filled with fun books for the classroom, survival items (chocolate and coffee, anyone?) or extra supplies.
Where's your favorite place to shop on Black Friday? Do you have a plan of attack, or do you go at it all crazy-like?

So, you all remember that little ol' magazine we were in last month? You know…HGTV magazine? Umm, yeah, it was a really big deal for us. You can find us on page 92 of the October 2012 issue sharing a super practical idea that your guests for Thanksgiving are really going to appreciate!

Even though the photo they used was awesome, we didn't get to style the products ourselves for the magazine, so we wanted to show you how WE would put together an awesome Thanksgiving leftovers station. One major advantage to hosting Thanksgiving dinner is that you end up with TONS of leftovers! One major disadvantage to not hosting, is NOT having any leftovers to make a turkey sandwich with! So, we came up with the idea of setting up a little leftovers station for thanksgiving guests – think of it as self-serve take out!

Here's the idea… Before guests arrive have an area designated as the leftover station. You'll need it to be in or near the kitchen, and have enough space for packaging containers and 1-2 food bowls at a time. How to Create a Leftovers Station:
Step 1- Gather fun containers to hold food for your guests. There are so many cute take-out boxes available at craft stores these days. We plan to pop a plastic sandwich bag inside each one so we don't have any messy leaks.

Step 2- Provide labels and markers. Your guest can put both their name and the contents of the container on labels. It drives us crazy when we order Chinese food and then have to open every container to find what we're looking for. Labels are helpful and to be honest, we think they look so cute! We're loving the mix of plain, functional and decorative labels.

Step 3- Have serving utensils available. Guest will be scooping all kinds of yummy leftovers, so just make sure you have utensils handy for them.

Step 4- Provide stuff for quick cleanup. Leftovers can get messy so make sure to have something on hand for easy clean up. We gave our roll of paper towels a fun look by suspending them from a basket using a tree branch. Now our guests can clean up in style!

STEP 5- Provide bags to hold each family's leftovers. Our plan is to let each family pack what they want and then put their containers into a bag, and we'll keep them on a shelf in the garage where they can stay cold until guests leave. Inexpensive brown bags from the craft store work great look awesome when stenciled with fun messages.

I'm really excited to try out the leftover station and we;re hoping it's one of those projects that our guests love AND one that makes the day even easier and stress free!

Will you be trying out a left over station this year? Have you ever done something similar for your guests?

Let's face it, with Halloween on one end and Christmas on the other, Thanksgiving often gets a raw deal. I know that when the holiday season is in full force, being intentional with projects and decor gets really hard. I find it so easy to scoot right by Thanksgiving, without a second thought, and dive right into Christmas stuff, so I decided to tackle a project that would keep my family centered and focused on being grateful throughout November. A Thankful Tree that can be reused every year!

Here's what you'll need to make your own:

• Canvas (mine is 18in x 24in)
• 1/2 yard-3/4 yard of fabric
• Spray Adhesive
• Spraypaint
• Mod podge (not pictured)
• Baby clothespins (not pictured)

Step 2: Locate your tree image (there are tons of free clipart images listed in Google images) and enlarge it to fit your canvas. We love the engineer prints from Staples and use them all the time. Step 3: Use a sharp-edge razor to cut the tree out. Don't worry about all the little limbs, and focus on the larger ones. This seemed super daunting, but surprisingly went quickly and smoothly. I accidentally cut a branch that I wanted to keep on (doh!) but was easily able to use tape to fix it.  

Step 4: Lay your image down on the backside of the fabric and trace it with a pen.

Step 5: Spray the fabric tree with spray starch and iron it to make it stiff. This makes cutting it out with scissors a piece of cake. Step 6: Center the tree on the canvas. Starting at the trunk, lift small sections and lightly spray with adhesive. Smooth out all of the bubbles from the center out to the edges. A little spray adhesive may get on the canvas where you don't need it, but that's ok. We'll be taking care of that later.

Step 7: Place stencils on your canvas and stencil away! I used Martha Stewart's self-adhering stencils which are awesome because you don't have to worry about them moving around while you stencil. (Insider secret: This project was originally posted on U-Create, so there was a deadline involved. I was actually stenciling this bad boy in the car in between a shift at work and tennis practice. Pure craziness, I tell you #cantwasteevenoneminute.) 

Step 8: Mod Podge the entire canvas starting at the center of the tree and working out to the edges. This will seal the tree and make it more resistant to wear and fading. And remember that spray adhesive I mentioned before? The Mod Podge takes care of hiding that, too. Score! 

It's scary at first, but dries clear! 

Step 9: Spraypaint the clothespins and adhere them to the tree with hot glue. 

Step 10: Print out our fun"thankful" labels on card stock (download them here) and cut them out using scissors. Have your family write what they're thankful on each of the tags and then clip them to the canvas.

Voila! You're done and are left with an adorable, re-useable canvas that will help your family focus on what's really important in the next two weeks. Plus, it's super cute, so it's a win-win! 

 So, that's it! I love that I can use this every year. I plan on writing the year on the back of each tag and keeping them to look through each year. I'm hoping my son won't say that he's most thankful for Cinnamon Toast Crunch every year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aannnnnd since we've officially welcomed the holiday season here on the blog, we wanted to share something exciting with you! When we were looking around for cool Christmas vinyl options to share with you, we found very few that were modern and stylish. So, since we had several requests for the vinyl phrase we used on the front door last week, we decided to create a few just for you! A limited number of Be Merry Christmas decals are now for sale in our Etsy shop at a very reasonable price- only $8!! That's a whole lot cheaper than buying a new wreath, people. And we have a couple more coming this week, so be on the lookout. Get yours now!

Let the holiday craziness begin!