Tokens of the Harvest

As of the past several weeks, I've officially become a working girl! Susan Taylor, a long time, dear friend, has been trying to get me to come work at her shop, Black Eyed Susan as one of her floral designers for quite some time now...

I was hesitant to commit because Ellie is still in kindergarten and only goes half days, and I want to be home when the kids get off the bus. Between house and yard projects, church assignments, kids' after school activities, being a Daisy leader, managing my "mini farm", and occasionally finding time to blog, I rarely have a spare moment...

This opportunity to work for Susan was just too good to pass up, plus it gives me an opportunity to get the hang of things gradually so when I can commit to more hours, I'll be an old pro...(It also gives me an excuse to change out of my daily uniform (yoga pants))...

Susan has been really flexible with my hours, so as of now, I only work 3 afternoons a week and 2 Saturdays per month.

Occasionally, there has been an opportunity to work in the evenings as Susan hosts a few design classes each month.


Her Tokens of the Harvest class was originally scheduled for Thursday, Nov 11th. Due to a scheduling conflict, she split the class up into two nights. She hosted the class this past Monday evening and had me in charge of last night's class...

Many ideas were given for unique and fresh ways to decorate a beautiful harvest table...

We had a much larger turn out last night which had me a bit nervous, but overall, things went pretty well...

Who would have guessed that lima beans would add such a whimsical touch to an ordinary vase? Imagine how cute it would be to have different sized glass containers down the middle of the table each filled with lima beans and a few gourds tucked into each vessel. A small tuft of reindeer moss adds the perfect touch...(using dried peas, or dried pinto beans would also be something that would look cute in the containers with the gourds or squashes)

And look at that sweet little orange squash sitting on top of a bed of moss...

Several of these down the middle of a table with different heights of cake plates would be glorious!

Just a simple glass serving bowl filled with tiny white gourds and lima beans makes a perfect every day autumn table centerpiece...

as does this white platter with tiny pumpkins, an acorn squash and kumquats...

A gourd nestled into a wreath set atop a mirror base is such an elegant look. (That huge green gourd was quite the find! When Susan and I went gourd shopping the other day at None Such Farm, we were both very smitten with it's glory). At 75 cents per pound, though, it would have made quite a hefty purchase since it wieghed 37 pounds. I just happend to ask if we could borrow it for a few days, and much to our dismay, they agreed!!!

Fresh maple leaf cuttings add just the right touch to these little glass bottles...

And look what she did with those fresh pears! Spray painted and lightly glittered nestled onto a silver tray with chestnuts sprinkled around...Pure joy! These were a great conversation piece last night!

Picture this...fresh fall branches lining the middle of the table, with guilded pears tucked around, and painted pumpkin in the center of it all! A true showstopper it would make!!

***Which is your favorite???