Studio 5: Crafty ways to show gratitude

Always a pleasure to visit Studio 5; great people, great vibe! In anticipation of Thanksgiving, I'm happy to share with you a few crafty ways to share things you and your guests are grateful for.

Thanksgiving is a perfect time to gather the family and get crafty!

No presents and few decorations =  more time to craft!

I also love the opportunity to teach and participate in being grateful and am always looking for new ways to do this.

This simple and cute project is a great way to think about what we're grateful long before the big day.  It's also nice to avoid those sometimes awkward "what are we thankful for" Thanksgiving table traditions by anonymously (if you wish) reading what family & friends have submitted all month long.

The idea is to use this Turkey centerpiece as home decor the entire month of November, leaving a little pad of paper and pencil next to it.  Have a little family meeting and let everyone know the challenge: Whenever you think of something you're grateful for, write it down and put it in the Turkey bag!  I love how spontaneous these comments can be and how many more 'grateful' thoughts you have when you're challenged.

Supplies:

5 1/4" x 8 1/2" gift bag

Patterned Paper (greens and oranges work well)

Cardstock (orange & Green or whatever coordinates with your patterned paper)

Instructions:

1.      Cut top off of gift bag so bottom part measures 5 1/2".

2.      Download templates here: Click on PDF link at top of page.

3.      Print them out on cardstock, cut out.

4.      Place templates on paper and cut out.

a.     Green cardstock:  Background large Feathers and waddle

b.     Orange cardstock: Head

c.     Green patterned paper :  Half circle feathers

d.     Orange patterned paper:  Half circle feathers and photo corners

e.     Brown cardstock: Beak 

5.      Print out "Blessings Brighten" sentiment on cardstock.  Trim to measure

6.      Adhere & assemble all the pieces (I used pop-up foam squares for some of the layers)

7.      Make two of these and adhere one to each side of the bag.

You could coordinate your table setting a little more by making these miniature place settings.

Customize each place settings by typing and printing out your guests names.  You can match the sentiment on the centerpiece by downloading this free font, Landsdowne.

Thanksgiving Mini Album Favor

Another idea that can be very easy (depending on how crafty you feel) is making a 6" x 6" mini album for a table setting/favor.

This doesn't have to be a one-time album/gift...use it every year!  just add pages the longer you use it.  You could add pictures, memories, gratitude thoughts or everything.  What a great keepsake that everyone will treasure!

Simply cut 6" x 6" squares pages from cardstock as your base.  Use a clip ring to keep pages together.  Decorate as you wish, add photos, tags, ribbon or anything you like.

Photo Place Settings

Photos of guests with things they are grateful for as place settings may require a little forethought but could be a fun and meaningful addition to your Thanksgiving table. 

You could do this a few different ways

a.     Arrange to take pictures of guests with things they are grateful for.

b.     Find photos of guests (may take a bit of detective work) for a nice surprise.

c.    Only take pictures of objects (that are literal or symbolic) of things you know your guests are grateful for.  Use them as place settings and have them guess where they are supposed to sit.

Valentine's at the Neals

One of my favorite 'creative' things to do is set the table.  Yup.  Sounds strange, but it's a bit of an obsession for me.  Napkins, glasses, baskets, runners, but especially plates.  I have to STOP, but Kohls keeps having these amazing deals, like 80% off with a 30% off coupon.  Seriously, how can I resist that?

So, Valentine's weekend (because, really didn't we all celebrate it on the weekend?  Monday is SO boring.) was a great opportunity to fuss-it-up.  I had an small dinner party on Saturday night and then my annual 'I love my kids' dinner on Sunday.  I forgot to take a picture of the kids tablescape.  In fact, I also forgot to take pictures of the food, because I just get carried away with the great company...as it should be.

So, my dear husband was kind of enough to re-create the dessert he made on Saturday so I could take a picture of it for you.  Beignets.  French for donuts.  Why is it that the french word always sounds so much better??   He used a Paula Dean recipe.

I've been a little tired lately, so he offered to be in charge of dessert (and actually the bread too).  He wanted to make Beignets and I suggested we have some dipping sauces to go with it.  We had something similar to this at a restaurant several years ago.  I had these cute little Miso Spoons which turned out to be the perfect amount of dipping sauce.

I did a dark chocolate cinnamon ganache (really, just cream, good chocolate and cinnamon), a berry coulis and my favorite butterscotch syrup.)  Make the dough a few hours ahead of time and when you're ready for dessert, pop them in the fryer for a minute for a light, fluffy, warm treat.

Studio 5: Paper Crafted "Give Thanks" Turkey Centerpiece

Create this unique paper crafted Thanksgiving table ensemble with simple supplies, step-by-step instructions and in just a few hours.

This “Give Thanks” centerpiece is three dimensional so it can be seen from all sides, yet not so bulky that you can’t fit the gravy on the table!

Adorable mini turkeys pull the look together and do double duty as place cards and/or napkin holders.

You can download the free templates here.  You can either download the jpegs or go to the PDF Files page and download printable pages.

What you’ll need to complete this project:
Scrapbook Paper! I used the beautiful new Moonrise paper from SEI, but find any coordinating paper that you’d like OR go through your scraps and see what you come up with.

You’ll need 3 sheets of two and 2 sheets of two different colored papers for the centerpiece. Double sided is nice.

Foamcore (or Foam Board), is available at most craft and office supply stores. 1/4” for the place cards and ½” for the centerpiece, but you can always stack two pieces of ¼” if you can’t find ½”.


Circle Punches (or you can cut them by hand or use your favorite die-cutter).
Ink pads to distress with (I used black for the dark brown paper and Tim Holtz Distress Frayed Burlap ink for the others).

Chipboard, which you can buy at craft stores, or you can sometimes get it for free if you ask. You can also recycle your cereal (and other food packaging) boxes, as this is the same material. Just make sure to cover it all.
Exacto or utility knife to cut foam board and Scissors to cut chipboard and paper.
Adhesive; I used Scotch ATG tape, but anything that is strong will work.

Step 1: Punch out circles for double-sided Centerpiece Turkey. You’ll need
• 26 - 3”dark brown circles
• 26 – 2 ½” orange/yellow scalloped circles
• 30 – 3” polka dot circles
• 30 – 2 ½” green patterned scalloped circles


Step 2: Distress each side. I used black ink for the Dk brown and Frayed Burlap (Distress) ink for the rest. To speed up this process, lay circle flat on table and rub ink pad directly over edges. This only works with the distress ink, I used a sponge for the black ink on the brown paper.

Step 3: Fold circles into cones. I folded them all first and then laid a strip of adhesive along the bottom of the cone and folded them closed. Creating an assembly line will save you quite a bit of time.
Step 4: Create Feathers. Lay a strip of adhesive on the back of the smaller folded circles and tuck them into the larger circle cones.

Step 5: Create Tail Feather bases. Print out Tail Feather Templates (large & medium). Assemble and then trace out on chipboard and matching paper. Adhere paper to chipboard. Lay a strip of adhesive on back of double feather cones and adhere all along the circumference of the base. You may want to lay them all out first to make sure your spacing is correct.


For larger Tail Feather base, cover the front and back of chipboard with paper and feathers. Create two separate chipboard pieces for the medium tail feather bases.
Step 6: Create Turkey bodies. Print out Large Turkey body, cut out template and trace on Dark brown cardstock. Cut out (optional: sponge the edges with black ink). Print and cut out Turkey Wattle and beak. Trace on patterned paper and adhere to front of turkey. Attach two brads above the beak for eyes.

Print out “Give Thanks” heart on Orange patterned paper and cut out. Distress edges and adhere to front of turkey with ½” foam squares.


Lay turkey body in center of Medium Tail feather base and adhere the 3 extra polka-dot cone feathers around his head to fill in the spaces. Refer to image.


Step 7: Assemble Turkey:
Print out Foam board divider template and trace onto foam board. Cut out with knife.


Adhere tail feather bases and dividers together. This will stabalize the entire project so it can stand on it’s own. You could use ½” plywood as well.
Finish by adhering turkey bodies to the front and back of project.

For Place Card Turkeys, repeat the process except punch out the following

• 7 – 2” orange/yellow circles

• 7 – 1 3/8” dark brown circles

There is only one layer of feathers for the place card.
Use template for Placecard turkey body, Tail Feathers, Wattle and beak.
Use smaller brads for eyes.
Cut a 2” x 3 ½” piece of chipboard mounted on the back of place card so it will stand on it’s own. Bend strip at 2” mark.



Alternatively you could attach the entire place card to a knapkin holder.
To customize your names for the place cards, purchase the font (SNF GOODY) for $3 at scrapnfonts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Two new class kits on Etsy & Give-away

I finally got my last class on etsy for all of you who could not attend classes this month. And, it's not too late to order my Give Thanks Album kit.



This is the table setting I was planning on for Thanksgiving dinner, until my darling Mother-in-law invited us to join them in Idaho. What a treat! All I have to make is pies! So, instead I'm going to take pictures on T-day, add them to the albums and give them as Christmas gifts.

I'm re-stocked on my Nifty Thrifty Christmas Card Class kits as well. We had so much fun making them the last few weeks. There is something about seeing so many cards made that just makes me smile. This picture is just a sample (only 21 of the 75 I made) of cards I made last month...in a hotel room, late at night. Now, the challenge it to make even more for my personal Christmas card list.

Had to share this picture of one of my Clinton classes. Love, love these ladies and all of my students. I feel so blessed to have them in my life. They are all so thoughtful, kind and creative and I look forward to seeing them every month.

I didn't do prizes for last month's class (mainly because I was using the albums I created, after all, it had our picture on it!), however, there are the 2 cards on each poster, so I have seven sets of cards to give away. Please leave a comment and I'll pick a winner at the end of this weekend.