To get your house ready for Thanksgiving guests, you could spend $219 for a tabletop topiary from Frontgate or $59 for four leaf-print jacquard napkins or nine holiday cupcakes from Williams-Sonoma.
A.C. Moore Craft Education Robin Beam explains, "There's so many things that can do, easily, inexpensively, and everybody will be wowed by it at the Thanksgiving dinner."
Beam showed me how to create a fall topiary using a wicker trellis, and wrapping it first with a sting of lights, and then with a colorful leaf garland. Total cost -- under $20.
As for those fancy napkins, you can make your own using either colored bandannas or white ones you color yourself with Simply Spray fabric paint. Then, use rubber stamps with a fabric-friendly inkpad to give them a seasonal look.
Use the same rubber stamps to make matching place cards.
And you can give store-bought cupcakes or pies a seasonal look by topping them with homemade candies. You can make them by melting candy drops and then freezing them in molds. The candies and molds -- just $2 each.
For project instructions, click here.
To check out more of Robin Beam's holiday craft projects, click here.
