I have hardly started to think about holidays myself, but now that it is the Week Of (for some of us, anyway), I’m about to steel myself for a trip to Trader Joe’s for the Thanksgiving grocery list. I tried to go last night and well, everyone else in Southeast Portland was already there, so I was forced to procrastinate.

If you are also thinking about holidays and more specifically about setting your table with little fancy touches, I have a couple of projects to share! I can safely say that at age 34, I have lived a pretty casual life so far and haven’t used napkin rings very often… but why, I don’t know. We use cloth napkins every day and they might as well be adorned with a pretty little something. So now I have successfully made a collection of handmade napkin rings, and even if I have not gotten to the grocery store to get the actual food yet, I have adornments for the table. And if you have a few minutes, some beads or buttons you’re fond of, and some 24-gauge craft wire, you can too!

I posted this tutorial, the Button Holiday Napkin Rings, at CraftStylish this week. I really like how these turned out. The secret, which you can read more about over there, is wrapping the wire around an empty toilet paper roll.

And these Table Trinkets (I love the name they gave this project!) I made are in the current issue of CraftStylish Holiday Decorating Ideas magazine. There are four coordinating sisters, the Delicate Charmers, and one exuberant cousin, Brassy and Bold. You can make matching or assorted rings, in any combination you like — I chose goldstone, green, and amber beads to go with gold charms and really liked the mix.

Don’t miss this magazine — it is filled with lovely, inspiring holiday projects from some of my favorite crafters. Kayte and Diane both wrote more thorough reviews with lots of fun pictures, but I’ll just add a quick and enthusiastic endorsement: thanks to CraftStylish, I have now made napkin rings, and our table is going to be trinket-ed this year! Hooray!