Thanksgiving Table Settings (NAPSA)—You can make your holiday table even more inviting this year by bringing the outdoors in. “These works of art will not only bring fresh flowers and natural elements into your home, they will help you set a beautiful table,” says lifestyle expert Julie Mulligan. From vegetable placecard holders to floral place mats to unique containers for center- pieces, here’s how shedoesit: Artichoke Place Card: Push apart top leaves of artichoke and removecenter and heart. Insert glass votive in cavity and fill it with water. Snip flowers to height of holder and arrange. Preferably, the flowers will lean over rim. Insert the place card behind a leaf of the artichoke. “If you don’t have a glass votive, simply fill the cavity with wet floral foam and insert your flowers in it,” says Mulligan, who advises 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. Floral Place Mat: Cut a circular mat slightly larger than your plate from corrugated cardboard. With floral adhesive or hot glue, attach leaves of different fall colors to the edge of the cardboard so that they will appear aroundthe plate. Cut stems of flowers short and glue a smaller ring of flowers to the edge of the cardboard making sure you leave the tips of the leaves exposed. Attach another row of leaves, spacing overtop of flowers. Keep adding leaves until the matis filled. Vegetable Vase Arrangement: Create a harvest-style centerpiece by combining flowers and vegetables. “The shape and tex- You can use a hollowed-out gourd for a naturally beautiful vase. ture of a butternut squash makes it hardto tell at first that it’s not a ceramic container but rather a real vegetable,” says Mulligan. Select a butternut squash that stands up nice and straight and cut off the top. Scrape out at least 2% inches of the inside being careful not to get too close to the outer skin. Fill the hole with water or use a small piece of soaked floral foam cut to fit the opening. Place an assortmentoffall flowers in the hole. “Foam works best with flowers that have a firm stem such as roses, carnations and poms.” For beautiful Thanksgiving arrangements, such as Country Harvest by Julie Mulligan, a breathtaking combination of fresh flowers that captures the essence of an autumn day in the country, you can visit 1800flowers.com or call 1-800-FLOWERS.
