GMA: North Woods Place Setting

— -- Most people think of feasting on their favorite dishes during the holidays, but a unique table setting can also add a special signature to the meal.

In addition to her famous green thumb, Rebecca Kolls also possesses a knack for entertaining, especially around the holidays. And when Kolls hosts a big dinner for her reunited family, she always decorates her table with items from where else? The garden.

For this year’s table setting she chose the North Woods as her theme, gathering everything from the place cards to the centerpiece from her own backyard. On Good Morning America, she’ll set up her holiday table setting at Phipps Inn, a Victorian style bed and breakfast in Hudson, Wisc. But you can create a beautiful and festive holiday table in your own home.

Here’s how:

Before Starting

Before you get started, buy the material that you will need, noting that the quantity you should purchase of some of the materials depends on how many items you plan to make. Also, when you do get started, take safety precautions, including wearing safety glasses and/or a surgical mask, and working in a well-ventilated area, Koll says.

Step One: Materials

Basic Materials:Small pine cones and pieces of greenery (like cedar or juniper); white glue; glue gun.

Invitations:plain invitation cards; raffia (African palm); metallic pen.

Placemats:round cardboard pieces; gold spray paint.

Napkins:French wired ribbon (approximately half-inch wide, about 30 inches in length per napkin);

Place cards: terra-cotta pots; satin varnish; acrylic paints: lime green, dark green, chocolate brown; small sponges; gold wax paint; black permanent marker; potting soil; a plant of your choice (Kolls used rosemary).

Centerpiece:sheets of beeswax (buy at a craft store); wicks.

Step Two: Invitations Invitations are a must with any party, and they should be elegant and easy. Kolls simply took a plain invitation card and attached a piece of greenery (try cedar or juniper) with white glue onto the front.

She then scrawled a message with metallic pen both on the inside and outside of the card, and tied a little piece of raffia (an African palm tree plant) right along the fold of the card. Send invitations a month before the party, Kolls suggests.

Step Three: Placemats To make the woods-inspired placemats, gather up some round pieces of cardboard, often available at pizza shops.Spray the entire piece with gold paint, then head out to the backyard and gather up some greenery. Any type will work, but cedar and juniper are effective because they tend to lay flat.

Use your glue gun, to glue the greenery right onto the outside of the cardboard piece. Continue adding the greenery, overlapping the greenery until the entire cardboard piece is completely covered. When you add the greens work from the bottom up snipping and pruning as necessary. Make sure you weave the stems of the greenery through the grapevine so it remains very secure. And don’t worry about any empty spaces. You will fill them up with your decorative materials such as fruit, leaves, and twigs.

Step Four: Napkins Next, use the greenery to dress the napkins up. Roll up the napkins as you would to insert them into an ordinary napkin ring, then get some ribbon. Kolls used about 30 inches of wired ribbon, about an inch and a half thick.

Tie the ribbon into a simple knot right around the center of the napkin. Then just tuck small pieces of greenery, and perhaps a few pinecones, into the back of the knot. If the pinecones won't stay in place, you may wish to glue them directly to the greenery. Finally, for a nice decorative finish, fork the ends of the ribbon. Your napkins are ready to go.

Step Five: Place Cards For place cards, Kolls made potted plants that not only told the person where to sit, but also provided them with a gift to take home. To make the place cards, begin by glazing a terra cotta pot with a 50-50 mixture of olive green acrylic paint and satin varnish.

Once it’s dry, dip a sponge into a chocolate-colored brown acrylic paint, and blot off the excess. Next, lightly sponge around the bottom and the rim of the pot; allow to dry. This will almost immediately give the pot an aged look. Next, squeeze out some bright lime green paint and use the same sponge technique to blot over the brown areas.

On top of that, apply a dark green acrylic, using the same blotting technique. Continue adding and mixing the colors until you get a natural patina finish, then dip a bristle brush into gold wax paint and rub it along the edges of the pot. As a final step, write the person’s name on the pot with a permanent marker. Next pot a plant in it (Kolls used rosemary), and add a decorative bow.

Step Six: Centerpiece

To make the centerpiece, cluster some candles on a large gold platter to which you’ve added greenery and pine cones. You can either use candles from the store, or make your own.

To make the candles, buy sheets of beeswax at a craft store. Place a wick onto one end of the sheet — leaving about a quarter of an inch of wax between the wick and the outside edge of the sheet.

Make sure there is extra wick extending over the top of the sheet, as this will be what will burn once the candle is rolled. Once you have the wick correctly placed, press it into the wax until it is secure. Next, begin folding the extra quarter inch of wax carefully over the wick — inwards towards the remaining sheet. Now, carefully roll the sheet up until it becomes a beautiful candle.

If you want a bigger candle, simply add more wax. Next step: put everything together and revel in the beauty of your festive holiday table.