Here we are at the week of Thanksgiving…

Thanksgiving in Our Temporary Home

We’ve decided to host a small gathering for Thanksgiving in our temporary home, the apartment in the basement of our new house. 95% of our stuff is in storage while our house is being renovated, including all our lovely fall decorations and all my craft supplies. At this point I have no time, energy or money to invest in a fall centerpiece.

So Many Things are Packed Away

I already own at least 2 glue-guns, of course they’re packed away… When we were packing I had to decide what I would need for the renovation and what I could live without… I didn’t think craft supplies would be needed for a renovation. (I forgot about any holiday things though… and hoping we’d be unpacked by then) Oh well, it just gives me more ways to be really creative and not buy more things I don’t currently have storage space for.

Instead of choosing to leave the dinner void of any decorations… I decided I still wanted to come up with something pretty… simple, but pretty, and something that could be made without any craft supplies.

Making Use of What’s on Hand

Then a creative thought hit me when I unpacked one of the boxes of plumbing supplies that came this week.

The box had a bunch of brown wrapping paper in it for packing. I was just going to toss it after I unpacked the hose for the foot shower in the mudroom. (Yup! We’re installing a foot shower, that can double as a dog washing station and drip dry area! I’m excited for that addition!)

But then I thought it was such a nice piece of paper with a beautiful natural color brown… Seriously! I think I’m losing my mind… or turning into a crazy ‘artsy lunatic type lady’ or something. Well, regardless… it worked out okay this time.

Sewing Paper?

So today I created a simple fall centerpiece using only that brown paper and a needle and thread, (which I did purchase a few weeks back because, like I said, all my craft supplies are packed away and I needed a needle and thread to sew the tie-backs on the door curtains)

First I Cut the Leaves

For the simple fall centerpiece, first I started out cutting the leaves. (well, actually first I drew some leaf shapes out with a pencil on the paper… after 2 leaves I realized that was silly and I could easily cut these simple shapes out free-hand)

This simple fall centerpiece was not only free, it was so easy and quick. Writing about it is taking way more time than the process of actually doing it.

It was relaxing cutting out leaf after leaf. I cut out something like 38 leaves that each are about 3-4″ long for this project.

Purposely Crumpled for Dimension

To create some dimension in the paper, I crumpled the leaves.

Then un-crumpled them:

A Little Sewing

After my leaves were all cut out, crumpled then un-crumpled, I started ‘sewing’…

Ha… not really ‘sewing’… just using the threaded needle to make a single poke into the end of the leaf.

I then looped it around to create a single knot…

and loosely tightened the knot. Initially on the first row of leaves, I didn’t knot them and then they all slipped down to the bottom leaf… not quite the look I wanted… a pile of leaves at the bottom of a thread… I envisioned more of a scattered look.

Simply Tied to Chandelier

Finally, a single knot on the vintage rooster chandelier is all it needed to hold the string of leaves in place.

I made 9 strings of leaves for this small chandelier. The threads each have between 3-5 leaves.

Fall Leaves

I varied a few long ones with shorter ones, trying to create a scattered leaf look.

In this tiny apartment it’s just the perfect subtle simple fall centerpiece for Thanksgiving that doesn’t take up any precious table space.

I think this treatment would be beautiful on a large chandelier too… with several strings of leaves. I love how they gently flutter in the breeze. Wouldn’t it be pretty to add a little metallic paint on some? Or write on each blessings to be thankful for? (In this post 5 Tips for Thanksgiving Decorating we wrote blessings on leaves we pressed)

Vintage Cross Stitch Tablecloth

Oh, and did you notice that charming tablecloth?

I just bought it from a cute vintage shop in a little town close to here. The tablecloth has 4 different fowl cross stitched on it… rooster, duck, hen and this charming turkey:

It just seemed perfect for our simple Thanksgiving dinner under that vintage rooster chandelier.

So be encouraged if you too are feeling a crunch of time, money or space like I am right now… yes, it is the week of Thanksgiving, but this is a quick, inexpensive, simple fall centerpiece that can be whipped up in just a couple minutes. And tossed after, no worries to store it too.

Interested in seeing our new house we’re renovating? You can click on this link if you’d like to read more about it! Mid-Century-to-Colonial-Revival house

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This post is also linked at these other sites: HomeTalk, Between Naps on the Porch, Coastal Charm, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, The Scoop, A Stroll Thru Life, Yesterday on Tuesday, DIY Dreamer, Savvy Southern Style, My Repurposed Life, Chic on a Shoestring