Category Archives: Thanksgiving Crafts

Stamping on Vellum

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Fall is a favorite time of year to pull out my warm and cozy paper-crafting products in a beautiful array of colors.

It’s Jill Cornell here today to share a Thanksgiving card idea with you, and this time I even incorporated stamps! I adore the “Harvest Lane” collection from Simple Stories and featured the line on this card. I cut the “thankful” bingo card in approximately half and then tied twine around it before tying it in a bow around a heart sticker.  A couple of sentiment stickers adhered to stamped leaves – “blessed” and “grateful” – keep with the Thanksgiving theme.

Here’s a look at the dimension of the card…

And I’m going to share a simple tutorial with you on how I stamped the leaves. The set is “Mod Leaves” by Cocoa Daisy. I used pigment inks from American Crafts with clear embossing power. And yes, I stamped on vellum! I love the softness that vellum brings to my projects. (Note: Do not hold heat gun too close to the vellum when embossing and keep the gun moving so the vellum does not melt.)

Stamp the image with a coordinating ink color. (Note: I have found that I am able to get a crisp image by using a foam mat underneath my paper.)

  Sprinkle with embossing powder and apply heat gun.

Cut out the image and adhere to project.

Stamping is a great way to add pops of color to projects and the heat embossing helps preserve the images.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jill Cornell from Blessed Scrapper (www.jillcornell.blogspot.com)

Turkey Treat Holder

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Crafts ’n things Craft of the Day

 

Making this fun-and-easy Turkey Treat Holder not only gets the kids involved with Thanksgiving preparations, but it can keep them busy while dinner is cooking.

Materials

  • Recycled toilet paper roll
  • Cardstock: brown, gold, orange, red, tan
  • Wiggle eyes, two
  • Ribbon, 6” length
  • Gold paper fastener

Tools

  • Red chalk
  • Hole punch
  • Pinking shears or decorative-edge scissors
  • Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue

Basic Supplies

scissors, ruler

Directions

STEP 1

Print and cut out pattern. Use pinking shears to trim feathers.

STEP 2

Cut and adhere tan paper to cover toilet paper roll. Let dry. Adhere feet on circle and circle on bottom of toilet paper roll.

STEP 3

Adhere eyes, beak, and wattle on turkey. Use red chalk to lightly blush cheeks.

STEP 4

Measure and cut 6” ribbon length. Tie ribbon around body below face.

STEP 5

Use hole punch to punch hole on end of each feather. Insert paper fastener through holes on feathers. Adhere feathers on back of body.

by Linda Valentino

Cork Turkeys

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Crafts ’n things Craft of the Day

 

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, these place cards are a fun and simple way for kids to help with the Thanksgiving Day celebration!

Materials

  • Recycled corks
  • Craft foam: orange, red
  • White paper, scrap
  • Chenille stems, three for each turkey: orange, tan, brown, yellow, or red
  • Wiggle eyes, two for each turkey
  • Toothpick

Tools

  • Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue

Basic Supplies

pencil, black marker, scissors, ruler, tape

Directions

Size

Size is approximately 3″ tall.

Note

Instructions are for one cork turkey. Repeat to create as many as needed.

Turkey

1. Print and cut out patterns. Adhere beak, wattle, and eyes on top of cork.

2. For feathers, cut three chenille stems in half. Coil each chenille stem around pencil. Use toothpick to poke six holes in back of cork. Push ends of chenille stems in holes.

3. For tag, measure and cut 1-1/2”x2” white paper rectangle. Use black marker to write name and draw outline on tag. Tape tag on end of toothpick. Insert toothpick in cork.

by Linda Valentino

Give Thanks Place Setting

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Crafts ’n things Craft of the Day

 

Need a quick and simple way to add flair to your holiday meal decorations? Set your table with this beautiful “Give Thanks” place setting for each of your Thanksgiving Day guests.

Materials

  • Tan fabric, 15” square
  • Off-white fabric, 3/8 yard
  • Cotton batting, 12”x16” rectangle
  • Orange polka dot ribbon, 1 yard
  • Black craft thread

Tools

  • DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paint: Expresso
  • Crayons
  • Plaid Foam Alphabet Stamps: Simply (#54131)
  • Large-eye sewing needle
  • Hole punch, 1/8”
  • API Crafter’s Pick The Ultimate! Glue

Basic Supplies

scissors, ruler, wax paper, iron and pressing surface, plastic knife, sponge scrap, newspaper (to cover work surface)

Directions

Note

Adults, help kids when using iron.

Place Setting

1. For placemat, measure and cut two 12”x16” off white fabric rectangles. Layer rectangle, batting, and other rectangle. Use needle and thread to sew running stitch around edges of placemat. For napkin, fold 1/4″ edge over (on wrong side) on tan square. Sew running stitch around edges.

2. On covered work surface, use sponge scrap to dab brown paint on alphabet stamps. Stamp “give thanks” on corner of napkin and on side of placemat. Let dry.

3. Print and cut out patterns. Cut leaves from off-white fabric.

4. Position leaves on wax paper. Use knife to shave crayons over leaves. Put wax paper on top of leaves. Iron on wax paper. (Note: Crayon will melt and spread over fabric.)

5. Use hole punch to punch hole in stem of leaves.

6. Use needle and thread to attach leaves on napkin and placemat. Fold napkin in half; tie ribbon around napkin. To wash, remove leaves from napkin and placemat.

by Mary Ayres

Turkey Pilgrim Favors

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Crafts ’n things Craft of the Day

 

Tom Turkey and mate Mary are so clever to disguise themselves as pilgrims during Thanksgiving! Both little turkeys are easy to make and the perfect decorations for your Thanksgiving table.

Materials

  • Wooden stars (feet), 1-1/4” wide, four
  • Dow STYROFOAM Brand Foam Ball (head), 1-1/2”, two
  • Brown print fabric, 1/4 yard
  • Felt scraps: gold, cranberry
  • Silk autumn leaves, six
  • Wiggle eyes, 8mm, four
  • Black satin ribbon, 1⁄4” wide, 1/2 yard
  • For Tom Turkey only: Black felt, 6” square; Wimpole Street white heart-shaped doily, 2” wide; Gold ribbon, 1⁄4” wide, 4-3⁄4” length; Ivory buttons, 7⁄16”, two
  • For Mary Turkey only: White felt, 1-1⁄4”x3-3⁄4”; Wimpole Street white Battenburg doily, 3” across

Tools

  • DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paints: Dark Chocolate, Primary Yellow
  • Fiberfill stuffing
  • Black fine-tip permanent marker
  • Needle and thread
  • Beacon Adhesives Kids Choice Glue, Gem-Tac Permanent Adhesive

Basic Supplies

scissors, ruler, circle template, paintbrush

Directions

Tom Turkey

1. Print and cut out patterns. Cut felt as indicated.

2. For body, cut 7” circle from brown print fabric. Sew gathering stitch around circle, leaving 1⁄4” border. Stuff circle; pull up gathers tightly and stitch opening closed.

3. Slightly flatten bottom of 1-1/2” ball (head). Basecoat head Dark Chocolate and feet Primary Yellow; let dry. Using marker, draw dashed line near edge of feet.

4. Adhere wattle, beak, and eyes to face. Adhere heart doily, head, and feet to body. Cut 8” length of ribbon; tie black bow. Adhere bow to neck. Adhere leaves together, then to back of body.

5. Cut slits in hat as indicated. Adhere gold ribbon to long brim edge, then brim ends together, slightly overlapping edges. Adhere hat top to brim, brim to hat, hat to head, and buttons to body.

Mary Turkey

1. For Mary Turkey, repeat Steps 1-4, using Battenburg doily for Step 4.

2. Adhere white felt hat to head as shown.

by Helen Rafson

Patterns

Quilled Pumpkin Thanksgiving Card

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Crafts ’n things Craft of the Day

 

’Tis the season to give thanks, gather with family, and eat lots of pumpkin pie! Roll, coil, and create this unique quilled pumpkin card to make your Thanksgiving wishes extra special.

 Materials

  • Textured cardstock: brown; burnt orange; green
  • Quilling paper strips, 1/8” wide: orange, brown, green
  • Thanksgiving sentiment rub-on
  • Green brads, four

Tools

  • Stampin’ Up! Chocolate Chip ink pad
  • Hole punch, 1/16”
  • Sponge dauber
  • Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue

Basic Supplies

scissors, plastic drinking straw

Directions

Note

Refer to photo for assembly.

Card

1. Cut 8-1/2”x5-1/2” piece from burnt orange cardstock; score and fold in half to create side-fold card. Ink edges.

2. Cut 2”x2”, 3/4”x4”, and four 1” wide triangles from green cardstock. Cut 3”x3” piece from brown. Cut 2-1/2”x2-1/2” (diamond) and 1/2”x3-7/8” pieces from burnt orange.

3. Rub sentiment onto burnt orange rectangle; mat to green rectangle. Adhere across bottom of card front.

4. To quill pumpkin, cut plastic drinking straw to 3” length to create tool. Snip end creating slit. Cut three 22”-long orange paper strips. Position one strip into slit. Hold tool in place with one hand and twirl paper around tool with other hand. Remove paper from straw, forming coil shape. Form coil into teardrop shape. Adhere ends. Let dry. Repeat step to create two more teardrop shapes. Using photo as guide, adhere teardrops into pumpkin shape. Coil one brown 10” strip and one green 8” strip. Form brown coil into triangle shape; adhere to top of pumpkin. Form green coil into leaf shape; adhere to stem.

5. Adhere quilled pumpkin to center of green square; adhere green square to burnt orange diamond. Attach brads to diamond corners. Cut corners off brown square; adhere to card front with 1/8” space between square and its corners. Adhere green triangles centered on four sides of brown square. Adhere burnt orange diamond with quilled pumpkin to center of brown square.

by Loretta Mateik

Vintage Button Wire Napkin Rings

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The cool, crisp touches of autumn have begun creeping into the air over the last few weeks and I realize it’s that time of year where I need to start making plans for my annual Thanksgiving crafts and ideas. It’s time to start thinking about which fall crafts I will do for my home, which I will do with my children, which I will do with a group of friends. Is this the year I will finally plan some actual Thanksgiving Day crafts…and if so, which easy Thanksgiving craft can I come up with to keep the kids busy while I baste the turkey, brown the bread, and bake the pies?

Well, this year I thought I was well ahead of schedule because I had decided to make some beautiful wire napkin rings as part of my holiday table décor. Sometimes just taking the time to make ONE new item to grace the holiday table is more important that cramming too much into this already busy holiday time. Today, I would like to share with you my idea that could easily be included in your handmade holiday Thanksgiving ideas list. With just the basic jewelry tools and a few great supplies, you too can add a touch of the unique to your holiday décor with this quick and easy Thanksgiving craft!

Vintage Button Wire Napkin Ring

size: approx. 1-1/2” diameter

Whether using true vintage buttons with family memories attached or fabulous replicas like those shown here, these gorgeous napkin rings will lend a touch of nostalgia and charm to any tablescape.

Materials

  • Pure copper wire, 14-gauge,  12” length (for each ring)
  • Beadalon Gunmetal Artistic Wire, 20-gauge
  • Buttons Galore & More Gold Vintage Button with Shank Back
  • Connie Crystal Round Bead, 6mm, two (for each ring)

Tools

  • Heavy-duty wire cutters
  • Beadalon: Wire Snips, Round-Nose Pliers, Chain-Nose Pliers
  • Midas Black/Brown Patina
  • Wooden dowel, 1-1/2” diameter (or mandrel)
  • Hot glue gun and sticks

Basic Supplies

ruler

Directions

1. Cut 12” length of copper wire. Wrap around around wooden dowel three times. Remove from dowel and dip wire into diluted Black/Brown Patina following manufacturer’s instructions. Let dry.

2. Once wire ring is fully dried, thread gold vintage button onto center of middle wrap. Use hot glue to attach button to ring.

3. Use round-nose pliers to turn ends of wire into small curls at each end.

4. Use wire snips to cut  two 3” lengths of Gunmetal wire. Thread one round crystal onto center of wire. Wrap one end of wire just below top curl at end of wire ring. Wrap three times above and three times below crystal; use wire snips to trim ends. Use chain-nose pliers to press ends of wire against wire ring. Repeat with second length of wire on opposite end of napkin ring.

5. Repeat Steps 1-4 for each additional napkin ring needed.

Keri Lee Sereika (www.pinklemonade.typepad.com)

 

Thanksgiving Gratitude Journal

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Can you believe that Thanksgiving is a little over a week away? Alice Golden with you today to share a holiday tradition that we have been doing with our family and friends for several years now. We started with a simple tradition of passing around a small notebook where each person could write a few lines about something for which they were grateful. As the number of guests expanded, it didn’t take long to run out of room in the original journal and I started looking for a new solution.

Three years ago, I came across a digital kit that seemed like it would work well for what I had in mind. I didn’t have much time to spend creating a journal from scratch and needed something that I could pull together easily. (Did I mention that it was the day before Thanksgiving and we were expecting 30 people for dinner… or that sometimes I have a tendency to procrastinate?)

These turned out better than I had hoped and have already become a new tradition for our family and friends. Here are the journals from Thanksgiving 2010 and 2011.

Let me show you what I did. First, blank journaling cards were printed onto an assortment of cardstock. I used digital software to slightly change some of the colors, but the kit also comes with pdf versions of the journaling cards that don’t require any special software, just a computer and printer.

I found an empty box and covered the outside and inside with Thanksgiving-themed papers. I added ribbon around the middle to dress it up a bit. Blank journaling cards and several archival pens were placed inside the box, all ready for our guests to arrive.

To create the label, I die cut one of the journaling elements that came with the kit and added it to an embossed paper frame from my stash.

The first year, I put my eight- and nine-year-old nieces in charge of asking each guest to fill out a journaling card. The cards were placed back in the box as they were completed. In the whirlwind of activity surrounding getting dinner on the table, I forgot all about taking each person’s photo until dessert was over and folks were starting to leave. Being in such a rush resulted in most of the photos looking like police mug shots.

Some lessons I’ve learned after doing this for a few years:

- If you are hosting Thanksgiving, put someone else in charge of asking guests to create a journaling card (this can be a perfect job for older kids).

- Not everyone will want to participate – and that’s okay. Some people like to write their own card and others prefer to create one per family or couple. Just keep note of how the cards are filled out so you can get corresponding photos.

- Ask someone to be in charge of making sure each person, couple, or group has their picture taken to correspond with how the journaling cards were completed.

- Make previous years’ journals easily accessible to guests so that they will be able to look through them. Not only do they love reminiscing about holiday memories, but I have found they also become more willing to participate in the project going forward.

When you are ready to assemble your journal, all you need to do is to print your photos, trim to size, and adhere them to the completed cards.

Punch a hole in the corner of each card and use a metal binder ring to hold them together. I added a seasonal charm, as well as a cover page with a title and the year.

I love having all these wonderful memories together in one book. This is my dad in 2010.

And here is the book from last year.

Supplies:

Cathy Zielske’s Thankful Album Project No. 02 from DesignerDigitals.com
Assorted cardstock
Thanksgiving-themed papers from Karen Foster Design
Autumn Charms from Karen Foster Design
Ribbon from May Arts
Nestabilities Labels One Die from Spellbinders

So glad you stopped by the Crafts ‘n things blog today. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Alice Golden from Golden Moments (www.alicegolden.com)

Thanksgiving Scarecrow Card

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Crafts ’n things Craft of the Day

 

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on all your blessings. Send wishes of a Happy Thanksgiving to your loved ones with this bright and colorful scarecrow card.

Materials

  • Cardstock: Lasting Impressions Cherry Pie, Weathered Beet Red, Weathered White; gold plaid
  • Small sinamay straw hat
  • Red raffia

Tools

  • Crimping tool
  • Flower punch, 5/8”
  • Hole punch, 1/8”
  • Computer and printer
  • Dimensional adhesive dots

Basic Supplies

scissors

Closeup of scarecrow

Directions

STEP 1

Trim Weathered Beet Red to 8-1/2”x11” to fit in printer. Use size 72 font of choice (designer used Chankarmy Garamor font) and computer to print “Happy hanksgiving” as shown. Trim to 7-1/8”x8”, with words ending in bottom right corner; score and fold in half.

STEP 2

Cut 2”x6” piece from Cherry Pie; crimp. Adhere along left side of card front; trim to fit. Punch two flowers from Cherry Pie; adhere over dots in i’s. Use hole punch to punch four dots from Weathered Beet Red. Adhere two to flower centers; set remaining two aside.

STEP 3

Print and cut out pattern. Cut body from gold plaid cardstock and face from Weathered White. Use black marker to draw details on face and overalls. Adhere remaining two red dots to overalls for buttons.

STEP 4

Cut small pieces of raffia; adhere behind body so 1/2” shows for hands and feet. Adhere raffia around face for hair. Cut small portion from sinamay hat and adhere over hair. Use dimensional dots to adhere head and body to card over crimped paper as shown, making sure to line up “T” body with “hanksgiving”.

by Loretta Mateik

Pilgrim Salt & Pepper Shakers

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Crafts ’n things Craft of the Day

 

Create these quick-and-simple pilgrim salt & pepper shakers as the perfect finishing touch to your Thanksgiving table!

Materials

  • Salt & pepper shaker set with straight sides (available at Linens ‘n Things #398216-130814)
  • Canvas fabric
  • DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paints: Antique Gold, Burnt Orange, Slate Grey, Warm White, Honey Brown, Toffee, Lamp Black Mississippi Mud
  • Antique metal eyelets, 1/8”, 16
  • Black mini brads, four
  • Ribbon scraps: orange/white, black/ivory stripe
  • Hemp cord, 24” length, two

Tools

  • Brown ink pad
  • Hole punches: 1/16”, 1/8”
  • Paintbrush
  • Sewing Machine and black thread
  • Eyelet setting tool
  • Sandpaper

Basic Supplies

scissors, pencil, transfer paper, sponge scrap

Directions

Note

Adjust size of canvas rectangles and pattern if needed. Canvas rectangle should cover most of straight sides of shaker, leaving 1/2” opening at side for lacing.

Shakers

1. Cut two 2”x5-1/2” canvas rectangles. Paint both sides of rectangles Warm White; let dry.

2. Print and cut out pattern; transfer designs to rectangles, continuing lines across entire rectangle.

3. For girl, paint: top hair Honey Brown; face Toffee. For boy, paint: back of rectangles Mississippi Mud; hat band Lamp Black; buckle Antique Gold; remaining hat Mississippi Mud; hair Burnt Orange; face Toffee. Let dry.

4. Machine sew straight stitch around details and fabric rectangle edges.

5. Antique rectangle edges with brown ink, using dry sponge scrap.

6. Punch 1/16” holes at both ends of fabric rectangles as indicated by pattern; attach eyelets. Tie ribbons and sew to bottom of faces.

7. Wrap fabric rectangles around shakers. Lace hemp cord through eyelets, beginning at bottom and tie bow at top.

by Mary Ayres