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Harvest Home Decorating
by Colleen Moulding
Porch or Hallway Display
If you can get hold of a bale or two of hay this is perfect for the base
of your hallway or porch display. If not, cover some boxes with sacking,
or a throw or a neutral colored cloth and build up from there.
Start with some large pumpkins for instant color, then add some fun to
your harvest display by making vegetable people. Heads can be turnips,
pumpkins, gourds or beetroots, and arms and legs can be suggested by
cucumbers, carrots, parsnips or corn. The bodies can be large parsnips,
melons, anything you have on hand. You could make mini ones for a table
or almost child sized for a kitchen, garden room or porch. Terracotta
pots make great hats or boots to finish off the look and of course
flowerpot men made completely from terracotta pots wired or stacked
together with wheat or corn poking out of the top one for hair always
look fantastic and it's a good way to store pots that you won't need
again until next Spring.
Floral Arrangements
Using the abundance of nature at this time of year can make for some
unusual containers for seasonal floral arrangements too. You can push
pieces of florists foam into holes made in pumpkins or gourds or try
hollowing out crinkly cabbages, or gourds and stuffing them with pre
soaked florists foam before arranging a selection of berries, grasses,
seed heads, curly willow, wired tiny pumpkins, oranges, pomegranates or
whatever you can get your hands on.
Another way to make ordinary containers special is to wrap a couple of
strips of double sided tape around a plain vase or simple jar and stick
on overlapping fallen leaves, twigs, or even vegetables. Secure these
with a raffia, string or green gardener's twine bow, before filling with
your chosen arrangement.
Nature's Table
Use fallen leaves as a base for a decoration that runs down the middle
of your table. I would recommend that you use paper underneath just in
case any moisture left in the leaves damages a polished table top. Then
add twigs, or small branches, acorns, cones and an abundance of fruits
and vegetables interspersed with candles for a sumptuous look.
A row of apples along the centre of a table with just enough of the
apple carved out to drop in a tea light candle looks magnificent and
costs hardly anything but a steady hand. For upright candles a core
remover can help take out enough of the apple to keep a candle securely
in place.
Wreaths
Vine wreaths or the lighter colored bamboo variety are available quite
inexpensively at florist's supply shops. Use whatever you have to hand,
wheat, corn, dried or silk flowers in appropriate colors and hot glue to
the base wreath before adding a raffia or paper ribbon bow.
Wreaths made entirely of wired on pine cones wrapped with gingham ribbon
look very good at this time of year and with a change of ribbon to
something more glamorous will do duty for Christmas too.
If you do not have, or cannot afford to buy bases for wreaths make some
from cardboard. First draw around a large plate, then draw around a
smaller plate. Cut out the hole in the middle. Add some batting, wadding
or any padding that you can find then cover this with a fabric remnant
before hot gluing cones, fruits or any other harvest decorations and a
large bow to the wreath. Children may enjoy just painting the cardboard
wreaths and sticking fallen leaves all the way around.
Leaf Garland
You can also make a pretty leaf garland by pressing leaves in a heavy
book or telephone directory for a few days and then stringing them
together with invisible thread or gold thread to drape or wind anywhere
that you need a little extra color.
Kid's Crafts
Kid's crafts make the most charming harvest decorations of all. Use the
Internet to find ideas for fun projects,
Kid's Domain Thanksgiving
Crafts has good ones, as does
Child Fun Thanksgiving Crafts
If you need more ideas just put Thanksgiving crafts into a search engine
and you are sure to find plenty to keep creative fingers busy. Then try
to find the time to make memories by sitting around the table with your
kids enjoying cutting and gluing and laughing and just giving thanks for
each other!
About the author
Colleen Moulding is a freelance writer from England. Visit her site for
women and children:
All That Women Want.com, a magazine, web guide and
resource for women everywhere.
Subscribe to her free monthly e-zine by sending a blank e-mail to
allthatwomenwant-subscribe@egroups.com
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