One way to add an interesting touch to your holiday decor is to use gourds as part of your wreaths.
Our small Angel gourd, Emily, is pictured above attached to the wreath on our Retail Store door. Give the wreath some interest with pinecones and other ornaments.
Any of these gourd ornaments pictured above would make a lovely addition to your wreath!
Picture these little guys on a rustic, snowflake wreath like pictured below.
image courtesy ochristmastress.com
Or get really creative and craft a wreath in the actual shape of a snowflake:
image by Little Things Brings Smiles (click for original post)
The gourd snowman ornament would look adorable in the center of this unique, rustic display!
Click here for the tutorial on how to craft this snowflake wreath. The instructions are for a much smaller decoration, but you can always make it larger to fit any door or space.
Visit our Retail Store to pick up your Christmas pickle! Not sure what we’re talking about? The legend of the Christmas pickle goes like this…
In Old World Germany, the last decoration placed on the Christmas tree was a pickle – carefully hidden in the branches. Legend says the one who found the pickle on December 25th would be blessed with a year of good fortune (and a special gift)!
Relive the tradition with your family and friends year after year with our gourd pickle ornament!
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which means Christmas decorating season will be in full swing in just a few days!
Add gourds to your Christmas tree this year for a beautiful display. Here are just a few of the ornaments we offer…
Brambles Boy Ornament
Brambles is also our November product of the month! He is 2 inches in diameter. Buy him here!
These ornaments are hand-painted by Jessie Geesey. There are five different ornaments to choose from.
Jessie's Penguin Ornament
The penguin ornament is 4 inches tall. Click here to purchase.
Jessie's Tall Santa Ornament
The tall Santa is approximately 6.5 inches tall. Click here to purchase.
Black Friday is the perfect time to get your gourd ornaments and other Christmas gourds! Here are the details of our Black Friday sales. Also, on Saturday, November 26th, children ages 5-12 will have the opportunity to paint a gourd ornament for only $5. We will provide the tissue paper and bag ready for gift giving. We hope to see you there!
In yesterday’s post we talked about ways to use our Gourdicopia collection to create a stunning Thanksgiving table. We have even more ideas for you today!
Instead of using a bowl or container, create a Thanksgiving centerpiece spread. We absolutely love this table design by Kim Krejca. (view her original post here.)
image by Kim Krejca
Using Williams-Sonoma Great American Turkey dish towels as inspiration and a starting point, Kim used items she had around the house to create this lovely spread. She incorporated artichokes, pears, dried gourds, pomegranates, artificial white pumpkins and autumn leaves, but the possibilities are really endless!!
Photo by Kim Krejca
Another way to enjoy the rustic simplicity of a raw, cleaned gourd is to craft it into a gourd luminary centerpiece. Just be sure to use an LED tealight in your dried gourds and not a real candle.
image courtesy of marthastewart.com
These examples by Martha Stewart are a great starting point for inspiration! The best thing is, once you create your luminaries they will last for years to come.
November 1st means it’s time to start planning your Thanksgiving dinner and family get togethers. Let Meadowbrooke Gourds take care of beautifying your table with gourds!
Here are just a few of the options we love from our Gourdicopia Collection:
Create a grouping of petite and small splendors in a decorative bowl, container, or even another gourd as shown!
Group medium and large sized gourds on the table for a modern, simple display.
There are so many options with these small gourds and gourd bowls. Have fun designing your perfect Thanksgiving centerpiece! Click here to purchase.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy fall decorating project, here is an idea that we just love.
Simply take your small, fresh ornamental gourds and pumpkins and spray paint them different metallic colors of your choosing. We love the look of gold and a taupe-silver together.
You can display these sophisticated beauties in so many ways! Group them together as shown on a cake stand for a gorgeous, simple centerpiece, or display them in a large bowl mixed with pinecones, twigs, and other fall elements.
metallic gourd centerpiece
You can also take this technique and apply it to dried gourds for an arrangement that will last from year to year.
Click to purchase this raw, cleaned gourd
2 inch bottle gourds (shown above) would make for a lovely arrangement. Mix the dried gourds in with the fresh gourds and pumpkins for an interesting, fall display.
This year, along with your typical Jack O’Lantern pumpkin carving, try these creative decorating ideas! Don’t forget to stop by Meadowbrooke Gourds’ pumpkin patch to pick your own pumpkins on Tuesday – Saturday from 10am -4pm. We have many shapes and sizes to choose from!
Make Pumpkin Porcupines:
photo courtesy marthastewart.com
This project from marthastewart.com is simple and adorable! Use big pumpkins for the porcupines’ bodies, and attach the heads with toothpicks. To create quills, push white holiday lights through drilled holes that are slightly smaller than the lights.
Entertain with a Pumpkin Party Cooler:
photo courtesy marthastewart.com
Also, courtesy of Martha Stewart, this pumpkin cooler is sure to wow your guests this fall! Click here for the entire project instructions.
A No-Carving Decorating Technique:
photo courtesy of familycircle.com
We just love this creative *No Carving Necessary* pumpkin decorating idea from FamilyCircle.com . Simple dry fall leaves and glue them to your pumpkin! Finish with Mod Podge if you desire.
Please feel free to share your pumpkin decorating ideas!
We always love reading others ideas for crafting their dried gourds! There are literally endless possibilities. We especially loved this luminary project for fall from Better Homes and Gardens. It is simple, beautiful and sure to give your home a cozy touch. To get started, the article details some tips for drying gourds for those that are growing and drying your own. If you would like to skip that step, Meadowbrooke Gourds offers raw gourds that are already cleaned and dried for you. We have many, many shapes and sizes to choose from and they are available online here.
This project involves wood burning your gourd. We go into more detail about wood burning in a previous blog post.
From Better Homes and Gardens (bhg.com):
1. Starting with a dried, cleaned gourd you must first cut the gourd. To make cutting the gourds easier and help prevent cracking and breaking, draw the cutting line with a pencil. Using a crafts knife, puncture small slits along the pencil line so it resembles a dotted line. Use the knife to cut between the lines. Smooth out any uneven spots.
2. Using the crafts knife, cut a 3-inch round hole in the bottom of each gourd. Make sure the gourds sit flat. If necessary, slightly shave the bottoms of the gourds so they sit flat.
3. Clean out the inside material.
6. Working in a well-ventilated room or outdoors, use the woodburning tool to burn a circle through the gourd. Burn two more holes to create the three-dot triangular motif.
7. Repeat the burning process around the entire gourd, placing the motifs about 2 inches apart.
8. Paint the gourd with a light coat of raw umber watercolor. Use the brown marker to make stripes on the stems. After the paint dries, spray the gourds with varnish.
9. Place a tea light in a votive cup and slip the gourd over the cup. Make sure the candle’s wick is trimmed short so the flame does not touch the gourd. Never leave burning candles unattended or use a candle without the cup.
These beautiful, fall luminaries are easy to craft! (image by Better Homes and Gardens)
As we gear up for fall, we all know how quickly time flies and Halloween will be here before we know it. We would like to introduce you to our newest gourd to add to your Halloween collection – Zelda our friendly witch! She is approximately 6 inches in diameter and comes with an amber light. She has a green head, black raffia hair and a black gourdkin as her nose. Zelda is also our September Product of the Month.
Click photo to purchase!
Send an unexpected gift to a friend this Halloween – Zelda The Witch plus these adorable witch hat cookies from squidoo.com 0r serve them up at your Halloween parties. They are so very easy to make and the kids will love them! The best part, no baking required!
image courtesy of squidoo.com
Here is all you will need:
1 (4.25-ounce) tube orange or red decorating frosting
1 (11 1/2-ounce) package fudge-striped shortbread cookies (32 cookies)
1/2 (13-ounce) package milk chocolate kisses, unwrapped (32)
Directions:
Pipe a small mound of frosting in center of each chocolate-covered cookie bottom; press a chocolate kiss on frosting. Pipe a frosting band and bow around base of each kiss. Taa-daa!
Read original recipe here.
We may be jumping the gun a little bit with this fall-decor themed post, but we just can’t contain ourselves! Fall is our favorite time of the year here at Meadowbrooke Gourds and decorating with fall gourds offers endless inspiration and creativity. Get started now planning your fall parties and decorations. You will be ready when fall is finally here!
These beautiful ideas are from Better Homes and Gardens. They are using fresh, ornamental gourds for their displays, however, we suggest using dried gourds for a display that can be used and changed year after year!
Gourd Place Setting:
Charm your guests with an adorable petite gourd welcoming them to their seat! Wrap a winding twig around each gourd. Then, attach a ribbon with each guest’s name.
image courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens. (click for original)
We suggest using one of our petite splendor gourds instead. They come packaged in a bag of five and you will receive one each of the following colors: Honey, Nutmeg, Paprika, Pumpkin Spice and Parsley.
Handcrafted Petite Splendor Gourds. (click to purchase online)
Multi-Layered Centerpiece
This centerpiece idea really caught our attention. Pairing gourds with books offers an unexpected table-scape. We love the look of the black with the natural colors of the gourds.
Image courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens. (click for original)
Layer striking black books with colorful dried gourds. With all the different shapes and sizes available, your centerpiece display will be vibrant and interesting!
Click to Purchase