These mini apple pies are super high on the cuteness scale but thankfully low on effort with the help of a few little tools.  For the purposes of my photo shoot, I totally cheated and used store bought pie crust and filling but I LOVE the idea of enlisting the help of a handy relative or friend to share their coveted apple pie recipe.  Use these adorable 4″ pie pans as the base and then give the crust a very custom look with the help of some Linzer cookie cutters.  I nestled mine in a bed of wood excelsior and then packaged the whole thing up with some baker’s twine and a coordinating label.  Am I the only one who loves when mini versions of normal sized things are created?  I can’t get enough of it!

{NOTE} Download the free font Artistamp Medium to get the same look as images above.

Of course no apple inspired table could be complete without my personal favorite little treats – caramel apples!  They’re re-emergence is reason alone to love fall.  I think smaller apples always work better.  As much as the gluttonously enormous apples look appealing, I promise you 1/4 of the way into it you’ll never want to see a caramel apple again.  And that’s from someone who has tried A LOT of those big apples.  The smaller, more delicate versions are far easier to maneuver (try pink lady apples for a more diminutive variety).  Plus you’ll leave your guests room for all those other tasty treats!

I chose to mix it up a bit and did hazelnut covered apples in addition to the traditional caramel variety.  Um…yum…that’s all I’m going to say.  You can totally get creative with this.  Once you dip them into the caramel, you’ve got a good minute before they start to set up and you can pretty much dip them in anything in that minute and get a good coating.  How about Heath Bar?  M&M’s?  Yogurt chips?  Can anything + caramel possibly taste bad?

{NOTE} Download the free font Artistamp Medium to get the same look as images above.

Continuing on with the cutely packaged store bought items, I was able to meld together two of my fall inspirations (apples and cranberries) for one adorable presentation.  Presented in tiny little baskets, chocolate covered cranberries take on a decidedly apple-like appearance.  I love that they add a playful and unexpected element to the table.  Again, a lined galvanized steel tray was all the backdrop I needed to arrange my little army of baskets symmetrically and simply.

By no means should you feel like you need to create everything for your table.  Half the fun of a project like this I think is coming up with creative ways to display already beautiful items.

Case in point – how amazing are these cookies?  I have already documented my obsession with SweetAmbs Cookies.  Simply put, the girl has some serious skills with a pastry tip.  This project proved to be the perfect excuse reason to work with Amber on my very own custom cookies.  I sent her a few inspiring images and my list of brainstormed “themes”.  A few weeks later a, flurry of cookie pictures, each one more gorgeous than the last, arrived in my inbox.

Quite frankly any of the designs would have been perfect, that’s how good she is.  You can see the others that didn’t make the cut here. (I hope they went to a nice home in someone’s belly!)  A clear glass cake pedestal lined with decorative paper is all these beauties needed.

In the Carolinas, Fall marks the beginning of the peanut harvest.  In keeping with my “Fall’s Bounty” idea, I decided to incorporate some peanut brittle into my table design.  This was seriously SO easy and really fun.  If you’ve never made peanut brittle before, it can be a little intimidating at first.  But with a little help from You Tube I was well on my way.  I totally messed up the first batch but then I found Cindy who walked me through all the steps.  Isn’t You Tube awesome?

Some cute boxes, labels and ribbon are all you need to complete the look (don’t worry, big post on where to get all this stuff coming up tomorrow morning).

{NOTE} Download the free font Artistamp Medium to get the same look as images above.