Thanksgiving and Autumn Decor: Easy Fall Crafts for Your Home

I want to sop up the sounds and taste of fall and swim in it. I want to gather autumn color and smell in my arms. How could I blend autumn and Thanksgiving color into my home decor? How can I savor harvest delight in my home and hearth? Here's a guide to fill your senses with Thanksgiving and fall.

A luminous harvest moon bathes the autumn orchard in cool yellow light. Green grass turns tinsel-bright on a frosty fall morning. Canadian geese croon to each other on the way south. The first woodsmoke exhales from chimneys. Spicey apples so fresh they crack when you bite them waiting to be made into Thanksgiving treats. Sassafras leaves in lemon yellow, maple so red it glows, oak the color of good red wine. Holiday pies made from pumpkins in jack-o-lantern orange.

Fall sights: Splash fall colors all around the house.

-Fill baskets with fall leaves. Use them as you would plants or cut flowers.Mist with water to keep leaves fresh.

-Juxtapose several contrasting leaves in a clear bowl of water.

-Attach leaves to a plain glass candle holder with a dab of glue.

-Create a fall leaf wreath.

-Arrange pumpkins and gourds in corners. If you're very brave (and you don't mind cleaning up the mess) place several dried corn stalks behind the pumpkins.

-Make leaf print table linens. Select a good quality piece of linen to fit your dining room table. Collect fresh leaves with the children. Sponge fabric paint in fall colors on back of leaf. Carefully press leaf onto fabric. Make table runners, place mats and napkins.

-Make a simple fall candle holder wreath. Gather pine cones, nuts, acorns and leaves. Arrange these in a wreath on a 6" diameter butter dish lid. Leave a small open space. Glue in place. Place a tall taper candle in the center. Spray paint your autumn candle wreath collage gold. Add dried berries for color. I made this wreath when I was four in 1968. Grandma used it on her dining room table for holiday decor.

Autumn sounds-

-Play one the many serenity CDs quietly in the back ground for mood music. Rustling leaves, wind, rain, crickets are soothing fall sounds.

-Play 'Autumn' from Antonin Vivaldi's Four Seasons concerto.

Smell of autumn-

-Fresh Apple pomanders: Slice apples across the middle Hang slices from red ribbon.

-Apple wreaths: Arrange sliced apples on a tagboard circle. Allow to dry. Glue in place. Apple Spice potpourri: Collect apple parings; allow to dry. Simmer in water stove with whole cloves and cinnamon sticks.

-Evergreen potpourri: Collect fresh evergreen needles and cones from Eastern hemlock, spruce, pine, fir and cedar. Simmer in water on stove or in potpourri burner.

Taste of Thanksgiving-

Place apples peels, black tea, cinnamon bark and cloves in a piece of cheesecloth. Draw edges together. Tie with ribbon. Pour boiling water over sachet. Enjoy delicious fall tea.

-Bake pumpkin custard. Make your pumpkin pie filling recipe. Bake in a buttered baking dish. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

-Fill acorn squash halves with fresh sausage. Bake until cooked.

-Make donuts. Serve with cider.

Let autumn wonder and Thanksgiving joy fill your home!