Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Our "Thankful Tree"
And, Big Thanks to 2 Bloggers


Gratefulness

Of course I always have my eye out for retro-related blogs and stores.
And, I've been...inspired.

I almost jumped out of my skin with happiness when Tim said he thought a "Thankful Tree" would be a nice touch.

So, what's a Thankful tree?

Pardon the panoramic photo-shopping.
(Can you spot the bonus kitty nose?)

I borrowed the idea from Kimba at A Soft Place to Land. Basically, we have a jelly jar of tags and pens and whenever the mood strikes us, we place more leaves on the tree. It's been a such hit we aren't in a rush to take it down. (Yep, we have both a thankful tree and a Christmas tree. Fun, no?)

Kimba's tree has a modern touch in red.
And, her jute-wrapped vase is a DIY project in itself.

We opted for going the realistic route - Tim did spray paint it copper, but it just looks...normal. Maybe we did go a little too realistic though. You see, we headed out with the middle-scholer and found an old dead branch in the woods.

And, of course, trees and branches OUTSIDE are much LARGER when they come inside. It's the magic of the season, I guess. As you can see in the franken-pic above, our branch goes past the door frame all the way to the ceiling.

I love it. 
 Our "leaves" grew fast.
And, it's kinda fun to read them.


Since our tree was - er, a bit...large - I had ended up getting a pot and filling it with large fish gravel. Which of course, the cats started playing with. And, they threatened to eat it. So, handy-man Tim grabbed some clear spray paint and glued those puppies down tight.

Yeah, a little humor never hurts. 
Two cats. 
One litter box...


Take a second look at the pic - past the homemade donuts.
See those sweet placemats?
They are oilcloth - brown gingham on one side with birch on the other.
And, I won them over at Modern June.

I just love them.
Oil cloth is that resilient material that your mom or grandma used to have.
And, these placemats will go perfectly with my Goodwill Christmas plates with the little gold stars on them - and the matching glasses, too! Score!

Thank you to Kelly at Modern June for the adorable placemats.
And, kudos to Kimba at A Soft Place to Land for the Thankful Tree concept.

And, major thanks to Tim.
For being willing to drag a dead 7 foot branch into the house.
I am very thankful for our tree.
Linking up to the twiggy party at Funky Junk Interiors!

It's a Blog Party
vif187


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4 comments:

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest said...

Those oilcloth placemats are great! I was looking for some oilcloth to make pillows out of for my porch and just couldn't find a pattern that I liked. These are cute!

Manuela

Dana @ Cooking At Cafe D said...

Manuela,
Thanks for your comment. I just re-read my post and relized that I never mentioned that Modern June is a blog - and a store. So, in case you haven't been there yet, she has fabulous oilcloth placemats, aprons, baby-under-the-highchair-things...lol.
Enjoy!
Dana

Rachel said...

Just browsing & came across your "thankful tree". What fun -- and would be great with kids. I'd love to have 'em cut leaf shapes out of the paper for it.

Funky Junk Interiors said...

Very cute idea! It's a neat way to remind oneself what's important in a decorative way of course. And we ALL know we love it more when it's decorative! :)

Donna

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I love to hear your thoughts!
--Dana

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