Pepper Design Blog

Delicious Thanksgiving Table Settings… 2012

Regardless of your style or location this Thanksgiving, I hope that this provides a bit of inspiration for a beautiful event! Or a fun & creative one, whatever it is you’re going for . You can find all Thanksgiving posts sorted on the blog (and lots more table ideas and crafts) here.

Style Me Pretty never ceases to amaze, and this all-white tablescape makes me melt. And speaking of melting, these faux corral candlesticks are genius.

From the corn husk poms to the distressed pumpkins, Kate designs one beautiful table:

Forgive me, can’t find the source for this one, but isn’t it pretty? I’m pretty sure the centerpiece is dotted with lettuce and cabbage amongst those beautiful florals.

Wonderfully adorable Paper & Cake printables make up this party:

For those of you in a more tropical climate, a theme for you.

 Planning on a plethora of children this Thanksgiving? Be inspired by this Giving Thanks dessert table from Crissy’s Crafts.

A play on words as cute as this? Check out these hive-themed ‘Bee Thankful‘ table over at HTWM.

 And one more adorable kid’s theme called ‘Happy Gobble Day‘ since we’re on a roll!

Happy planning this weekend! We’re one week away and I can’t wait for this family-centered holiday.

Pumpkin Place Card Ideas {Going a Little Gold Pen Crazy}

After a recent second trip to the pumpkin patch with my mom and Liv (I’m thinking that you cannot have too much pumpkin patch + homemade pie this time of the year), I found myself with a stash of beautiful mini white pumpkins. For some reason I am especially attracted to white and gold this fall, so finding a gold sharpie to feed my addiction, I put together a few ideas for Halloween dinner party place cards. Or Thanksgiving? These might work perfectly for Thanksgiving as well.

Having a gold sharpie around can be dangerous! Imagine all of the possibilities…

First up, a gold flowered top. I used the natural creases of the pumpkin to form my little petals and then scribbled away. It offers a neat affect from above.

The pumpkin itself makes for a great place card, just write those names nice and slowly, using a pencil first if necessary.

Liv saw all of the fun I was having and plopped herself down on my lap, picked up the sharpie and began to create her own. I like the result! And then I was fishing a waving sharpie out of a toddlers hand (ah!).

This chevron guy was fun. You really can’t go wrong with a variety of patterns and a little time (best while watching a movie. Or maybe the World Series, go Giants.)

My goldifying days may or may not be over, I’m leaning towards the latter. I’m so glad gold is back. (What else can I sharpie while I’m at it??)

Back to that second trip to the patch. We visited nana and papa this weekend and made a trip to Gizdich Ranch to decorate their house for Halloween. A few slices of fresh apple and olallieberry pie later and we wandered the farm to play. Here are a few fun moments caught on film:

 Liv was not so keen on the obligatory shot with momma, but she rocked out on that spring horse with nana. And that last shot? A favorite. Strike a pose. Happy Thursday! Cant believe it’s less than a week until Halloween.

Gold ‘Dipped’ Pumpkins & Our Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

It feels a little funny to leave home in the middle of a hot summer and come back right in the thick of fall, Halloween, cool weather and changing leaves (well, that last one is almost true. We have only two trees on our street here in San Diego that go from green to red but I marvel at them all season long…) This past weekend we made our annual trip to our favorite pumpkin patch (complete with pumpkin spice lattes before hand and a delicious chili potluck after) and the reality of the season has finally hit! More on that below…

While at the pumpkin patch I picked up a handful of pumpkins to decorate the house with too, and thought I’d share my faux ‘dipped’ versions today.

I’m not sure where the idea came from but while brainstorming fall & Halloween decorations I thought it might be fun to bring a few organic, neutral details into our house (that I wouldn’t mind leaving up for a few months) while also filling it with plenty of oranges and reds and traditional colors.

Gold has been a favorite accent color of mine, from shiny knob handles to burnished vintage vases to classic jewelry – and that became a starting point. Creating some sort of dipped decor out of white and green pumpkins seemed like a neat way to try it out.

I’ll have to mix some spooky Halloween decor in there soon, too.

These pumpkins really don’t looked as if they were ‘dipped’ in paint in the traditional sense, but I actually love the contrast of the lines and attempted to give it a slightly crooked, mis-aligned feel on purpose. A little more organic.

My original thought was that maybe I’d actually try to dip the pumpkins and considered buying a quart of gold paint, filling a round bowl large enough for my pumpkins and literally ‘dipping’ them, but then realized that spray paint might be a bit more efficient in application, cheaper and less wasteful.

I love the result!

Just a little bling for the room, and a fun alternative to decorating pumpkins in the usual way. Soon Liv will be old enough to really help!

The process was simple. I first wrapped the pumpkins with painters tape (choosing the wider version since spray paint can get a little crazy and I wanted to avoid paint getting on the top half of my pumpkins. The alternative would be to tape on some type of barrier like cellophane or paper to cover the top completely), pressing down on just the lower half of the tape (since the edges are round to prevent creases in the tape) and aligning it at a bit of an angle.

Then spray away! Be sure to keep your can of spray paint at least 10-12″ from the actual pumpkin to avoid dripping.

And here they are again in the dining room:

Looks great with the turquoise buffet!

Decorating the pumpkins has been a lot of fun, but visiting the pumpkin patch to find them is a great family tradition, too! Years back a friend found the perfect pumpkin patch for our annual trip just about 25 minutes east of us here in San Diego.

Summer’s Past offers huge, crawling gardens to roam, a snap pea ‘maze’, animals for petting, a coffee bar for warm beverages (although the weather in October is always about 75), a cute little shop full of lavender soaps and such, little ‘vignettes’ around the property that are perfect for holiday photos, jump houses for the kids and a great big open pumpkin patch. We’ve even aligned our visit with their little harvest festival in the past for even more goodies.

Liv romantically walking the gardens with her potential future hubby, Gavin.

Why won’t it move!?

Here’s our group shot this year!

And a sneak back on previous years… the quantity of children continues to climb!

2010

2011

2012

Liv picked out a few pumpkins, enjoyed a little cart ride and played in the jump house for most of the morning. We managed a family photo as well.

Sort of. Liv’s not paying attention, but what can you do…

I look forward to this event with amazing anticipation every fall! This one sort of snuck up on me but I already can’t wait to go back. And now it’s time to really get decorating for Halloween! We’re also throwing a little dinner and trick or treating around the neighborhood party again this year. Yay for fall!