Pinterest Picks: Dinner Party Time!

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Frame by Frame Style

It’s almost the weekend! Is anyone attending or hosting a dinner party or fun gathering with friends and family this weekend?

Even though the stores are already advertising for Christmas, outside it is still fall, and fall is the season of the ultimate fall dinner party: Thanksgiving. To gather some ideas for a fun dinner party, I searched Pinterest and here are a few of my favorite pins and ideas. I also started a new board called Dinner Party Time! for those interested in following as I continue to find more dinner party ideas.

I love decorating with pumpkins, especially unique looking pumpkins. A pumpkin can also make the perfect chalkboard for your party. You can use your chalkboard pumpkin for your menu or drink list. All you need is some chalkboard paint and chalk.

Leftover small pumpkins from your Halloween displays can also make great centerpieces.

Speaking of chalkboard paint, I love the idea of using chalkboards to label each of your appetizers or desserts. Just be sure the chalkboard paint is food safe! You can also use slate dinner pieces. Slate is a natural chalkboard. In this photo, they painted the table runner with chalkboard paint.

The last few pictures are for a themed-dinner party. With the explosion of craft breweries, you can gather up your friends and invite them over for a craft brew party. Each guest brings a growler or bullet with their favorite local beer and then you can kick back and enjoy good food and good company for the evening.

mint love social club: {party inspiration: craft beer tasting party}

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Colorful Thanksgiving Feast

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Frame by Frame Style

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you are able to spend time with family and friends today. And if you are away from home this holiday, we wish you a wonderful day and hope that you can make it home soon.

As we prepare to enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving feast, here’s a glimpse at our Thanksgiving table before the meal. It is simple, yet colorful. I love bright colors for a Thanksgiving table. Why not bring all the beautiful colors found in our favorite foods to celebrate the meal as welI as our friends and family. I chose green for green beans/green bean casserole, yellow for corn and mac and cheese, and orange for sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.

Our bright and colorful Fiestaware pops against our Vera Bradley Yellow Bird placemats and napkins.

Our Crate and Barrel vases and Target vase filler are also incorporated into our table decor. You might remember them from a previous post.

Our centerpiece is comprised three sunflowers that I picked up at Michaels a few weeks ago and some pussy willows that I used in a previous centerpiece. For the vase filler I used coffee beans because they are a rich neutral color and give off a nice aroma that does not take away from a meal. Sometimes scented potpourri or candles can be too overpowering. I usually go with unscented candles on a dining room table unless they are for looks and not to burn.

Here are a few more photos of our table all dressed up. Our white Ikea lanterns are also on our table this year. We used the lanterns as table centerpieces for our wedding and they keep finding new life in our home. Lanterns makes great reusable centerpieces.

How are you spending your Thanksgiving this year? Any plans to dress up your table?

Have a great holiday and make sure you enjoy all of your favorite foods! My favorite Thanksgiving comfort food is definitely homemade mashed potatoes. Yum! I’m hungry just thinking about them!

Holiday Planning

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Frame by Frame Style

I originally thought I would save this post for closer to Christmas, but if some of you are like me, your inherent need to make lists and plan starts to overwhelm you this time of year. I admit, it’s still too early to put up Christmas decorations, crank the ”NSYNC Christmas album or even drink peppermint mochas but for those that have already done all the things I just listed, I don’t judge. There is no shame in a peppermint mocha-loving, ‘NSYNC fan. I should know. 🙂

To kick off our holiday planning this year, I started by making personalized Christmas gift tags.

These tags are really easy to make and need just a few supplies.

To make these Christmas tags, you will need:

Sticker paper, a ink jet printer and scissors. I bought our sticker paper at Staples. It is the cheapest I could find.

Craft paper that you can find at Michaels, Jo Ann Fabrics or A.C. Moore. You can use two-sided or one-sided craft paper. I chose both to see how they would look.

Ribbon to hang the tags. I found this ribbon at Michaels.

A circle punch, which you can find at Michaels. This is the super size which is 2.5 inches. It works really well for cutting big circles.

To make the tags, I started by designing a template in Adobe InDesign for the smaller personalized circles. You can also use other programs such as Pages or Microsoft Word. Before I printed my template, I lightly outlined the circles so I could see where to cut them. Then I printed the circles on to the sticker paper using an ink jet printer.

After you print the small circles on to the sticker paper, use the paper punch to cut out a larger circle from the craft paper.

Next, neatly cut out your circles from the sticker paper. Remove the sticker backing and place the small circle sticker in the middle of your large craft paper circle.

Use a hole punch to create the hole for the ribbon. I used one punch of a three-hole punch.

Then, cut a piece of ribbon and loop it through the hole and tie it together at the end.

And there you have it! A fun gift tag for your Christmas gifts.

These tags are also great for wine bottles. If you are bringing wine to Thanksgiving dinner, you can make a few of these tags. They would even be fun with sayings like “Happy Harvest” or “Give Thanks.” Last year I made napkin rings with fun Thanksgiving sayings on them that you could use for the wine tags.

You could also give some wine for Christmas with these tags and perhaps use a ribbon or two to wrap the bottle.

The Christmas craft paper I chose is two-sided so it’s even fun when you turn the tag around.

Another project I started early this year was our Christmas cards. I bought a Groupon for Zazzle.com and designed our cards on their Web site. I don’t want to give too much away before the holidays, but the cards already here and I can’t wait to send them!

Have you started your Christmas gift planning and projects already? What fun projects do you have in store this year?

Give Thanks

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Frame by Frame Style

The dining room table is back in the dining room, the food is in the crockpots and we are ready for Thanksgiving! As promised here a few pictures of our Thanksgiving table:

What are you thankful for this year? We are thankful for family, friends and beautiful weather for safe travels. Hope you enjoy your dinner and time with family! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!