As with the way I do everything, I don’t take action until it’s crunch time. We’re hosting Thanksgiving, and for two weeks I’ve been thinking of ways I’d like to decorate. I’ve been laz-ing through Pinterest getting ideas, and even made a collage of ideas so I could print it and look it over when I was done working for the day and kicked back relaxing. Therein lies the problem. I work from home, and the past two weeks we’ve been slammed. There IS no “done working” nor was there any “kick-back” time or relaxing.

So here it is, two days before Thanksgiving and I just finished making my decorations…which means my decorations are done, but my house is trashed. When I’m crafting, I apparently like to involve every room in my house. Downstairs for supplies, office floor for assembly, haul it all to the living room to see how it looks, lay my project on the kitchen table to rummage through the house looking for more supplies, stack unused supplies at the top of the stairs to go down, well…you get the picture.

Here I sit with my grocery list still to be made, the house to clean, hours of work still to do, and this blog to finish that I wanted to share with those of you who have just realized you’re running out of time and need to make your house somewhat Thanksgiving-y before your guests show up. Use this quick tutorial for ideas. What I’ve done doesn’t have to be what you do. I used what I had in my craft room. All these projects should cost you is the time you decide you want to put into them. Improvise with what you have. Substitute, burlap for fabric, duct tape for a Sharpie, and come up with your own version of this last-minute DIY Thanksgiving decor.

Table Runner

Supplies:

• Burlap
• Black duct tape
• Black Sharpie
• Ruler
• Foamboard (2 pieces)
• Pins

Mantle Banner

Supplies:

• Burlap (cut in rectangles)
• Patterned scrapbook paper
• Solid color scrapbook paper
• Glue gun
• Pins
• Ruler
• Black extra wide bias tape
• Twine
• Buttons
• Stick-on letters
• Black acrylic craft paint
• Stiff bristled paintbrush

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Decide what size you want your banner and how many letters you’ll require for the words you’ll use. Cut enough burlap pieces for your letters, allowing another inch to the square heights to allowing for turning over. Decide the size of your patterned square and cut that amount. Finally, measure and cut your solid paper squares that you’ll stick your letters on. My measurements were: Burlap squares: 5’x6-1/2″ Patterned: 3-1/2″x4-1/2″ Solid: 2-3/4″x3″.I ended up cutting down the width of my squares after I eyeballed them on my mantle and realized the banner would be way too wide. Our mantle is fairly small, and I would have had to attach one end in the dining room! Okay, I’m embellishing a bit, but be sure to pin everything and give it a dry run before you start wielding your glue gun.[spacer]

To get the edges of your solid paper to have a vintage look, lay your square on some scratch paper. Dip the end of your brush in a very little amount of paint. Brush your brush back and forth over the scratch paper until most of the paint is off your brush. Holding your brush at an angle, press down as you brush against the edge of your square. (You’ll get a feel for how hard to brush and how much paint to use as you go to get the amount of shading you want). You might want to do a practice square until you get the look you’re after. [spacer]

Stick your letters onto your solid colored squares. Glue your solid squares onto your patterned squares. Glue your patterned square onto your burlap rectangle, leaving room at the top to fold the top edge down. Glue underneath the top edge of your burlap and fold it down, pressing and creasing the flap until it dries.[spacer]

To Finish: Center your squares on the black bias tape. When you have them where you want them, open the tape and glue the back of the squares onto the bottom half of the tape. Glue the top of the squares and fold the tape over them. Embellish with buttons, twine, etc.

Candle Jar Wraps

Supplies:

• Rubberized shelf liner
• Buttons
• Twine
• Glue gun
• Burlap pieces
• Coffee beans
• Scrapbook paper
• Black paper
• Epsom salt
• Glass containers + two glass votives
• Tealights
• Branches

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Wrap shelf liner around candle jar to get the measurement for cutting. Allow for the liner to have an overlap on the front. Cut the liner, then cut a small piece of burlap the same width as your liner (this will be glued to the end of the overlap). [spacer]

Glue burlap piece to underside of liner end. Glue buttons to top of liner. Scotch tape one end of the liner to your container (to keep it from slipping), then wrap the liner around the glass. Glue the underside of the overhang and push it against the liner. Fill container with coffee beans, push the glass votive into beans, and add a tealight. [spacer]

For Center Container:

Cut thin piece of shelf liner long enough to wrap around your glass container and glue it on itself. Wrap twine twice around the liner then tie in a knot leaving ends long. Cut a piece of scrapbook paper the side you want. Cut a piece of the black paper slightly larger. Cut a small strip of burlap that will extend past both edges. Glue the burlap onto the black paper. Glue the scrapbook paper over the burlap onto the black paper. Punch a hole through the corner of the paper and thread one of the strings from one side and one from the other side through the hole. Now  thread one of the strings through one of the button holes, and one string from the other side through the other button-hole. Pull the strings to snug them up against the paper, then tie a bow. Trim the string where you want them. Fill the container with Epsom salts, then push branches into the salt.

Another couple quick ideas…

Glue strips of lace around a candle. I love the patterns it makes on the walls. Easy peasy![spacer]

Open a Word document. Type a few words that say what Thanksgiving means to you. Randomly change the font color. Copy and paste the words to the end of the page, then choose full justify. Print on colored cardstock, then frame. There you go. I hope these ideas will help get your creative juices flowing.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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