Dear Reader,
I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving because relatives I haven't seen for two years, are flying in to celebrate with us this year. So I'm cooking my traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings and everything's made from scratch. I love cooking and I make sure my table looks festive, too. But I cheat--big time.
Over the years I've learned some little tricks to "fancy things up." Guests think I've slaved over the dinner and table accents, when in fact it's simply a well-rehearsed twist of the paring knife to jazz up garnishes, and using a glue gun to add an artist's look to my water glasses and pie pedestals. I can't even draw stick men, so if I can make glasses look fancy enough so that people "ooh" and "ah," then anyone can.
Here's my secret: You'll need stemmed water or wine glasses--they don't have to match and they can be inexpensive. (Go to the local resale shop and buy some mismatched ones.) I prefer the eclectic look. Buy some ribbon (in colors that reflect the holiday, or any color theme you're using), a few silk flowers and a glue gun.
First, tie a piece of ribbon around the stem of the glass. Then snip a piece of silk flower, add some strands of a different colored ribbon and tie them into the piece of ribbon that you put around the stem of the glass. Now put a dab of hot glue on the backside of the ribbon--so it attaches to the back of the stem of the glass. And then glue the flower into place in the front. When you're done with the glasses you can just snip the ribbon and the glue peels right off. I keep some of mine decorated year-round and use them for a couple of years. When I need to wash them, I just hold them upside down and wash them by hand.
I don't decorate the glasses all in one day. Instead I leave the materials out and do one or two every day leading up to Thanksgiving.
I have step-by-step photos using glasses from last Thanksgiving and a picture of the glasses I decorated for this year.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
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