SUO Thanksgiving Table Setting

I think of myself as having a casual/informal personality and my decorating/entertaining style tends toward the cute and clever.  The Thanksgiving table setting I created for today's SUO Challenge reflects these tendencies.

Let's look at each of the components.  The first piece is the napkin.  Did you know that you can run napkins through the Big Shot for a big WOW factor?  I showed this technique to my customers at my last event and they were "impressed" (pun intended!).  I made the napkin ring by running a piece of Autumn Spice Designer Paper through the Big Shot with the Perfect Setting die, using the straight piece.  I then measured around my napkin (after folding it the desired way) and trimmed to fit.  I cut a piece of Early Espresso card stock the same length and a little wider than the die cut card stock, and mounted the designer paper onto the Early Espresso card stock, then folded it around the napkin.  I attached the two ends using Sticky Strip for a good hold.  The leaf is stamped using Cajun Craze ink and the single leaf stamp from the Day of Gratitude stamp set.  I stamped on Very Vanilla and then cut out the leaf.  I punched a circle from Early Espresso card stock using the 1 1/4" circle punch and mounted the leaf on this circle.  A small bow made of Early Espresso 1/8" taffeta ribbon was added as a finishing touch.

This cute little turkey was an idea I saw on another demonstrator's blog.  How adorable is this little fellow??  Wouldn't he be so cute sitting by a place setting ready to welcome each person to the table?  I won't go into detail about how he is made, you can click on the link above for directions.  I did make two changes however...I used the Heart to Heart punch for the legs, cutting the tallest heart in half (and didn't use toothpicks) and also added the hat (done by free hand cutting).

This corn stalk idea was my own creation.  I have always liked the look of the corn stalks when they were placed in fields this way, and wanted to see if I could make one with paper.  These would be a great idea for holding name/place cards.  I will post a tutorial on how to make these in the very near future.  The pumpkin is punched with the 3/4" x 5/16" oval punch in the Holiday Mini catalog.  The stem and ribbon around the stalks is the 1/8" taffeta Early Espresso ribbon.

Well, that wraps things up for this challenge.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope that you gained some inspiration from your visit today.  Please make sure to stop by and visit the other design members at the SUO Challenge blog and see what they've been up to.  Also, please take some time to play along and upload your Thanksgiving Table Setting creations to the SUO Challenge Blog.