Thanksgiving Placemats for Kids

Have your kids (or class!) complete the sentence "I am thankful for..." Then have them illustrate their sentence.

Laminate the papers and use them as placemats for Thanksgiving!

Make sure to include the date!

Kayleigh tries to embroider....

For some reason I decided that it was a good idea to make a hand emboidered card. In theory it's a great idea, especially since I have so much thread...
BUT it's harder than it looks, people!

I bought some premade cards at Michael's for $4, and used some thread and needle I already had:

Then, I wrote out the word "Thanks" a bunch of times, chose my best one, and lined it up on top of my card:

Then I used a thumb tack to poke holes tracing the letters. ** DO THIS ON A MAGAZINE! And, be patient, it takes forever.

(I also did a border)

Then I threaded my needle, making a tangled mess of my thread and certainly not doing proper "emboidery technique":

BUT, I do know how to sew a backstitch-- essential for making this look like handwriting. So I began:

And somehow made my "n" look like an "r"... Tharks, everyody....geez.


I kept on going and finished the word, even though I ran out of thread TWICE and had to re thread some more.

Then I thought it was a good idea to do the border, since I had already poked the holes. That itself took about 45 min. AND if you get even one stitch out of place, the whole line looks crooked!

But whatever, it's done and now I know to take my time and get more thread. Oy.

ThaRks for reading....

Thanksgiving Doilie Canvas

I was having a hard time thinking of Thanksgiving crafts. I love Halloween and Christmas so much that I often look over Thanksgiving-except the food! So I changed some "snowflake" art into fall colors and added a little "thanks". Super easy, and very pretty.

Cost: $15-- I got the paint on sale for 77 cents, and used my Michael's coupons
Difficulty level: easy, but messy


You Need:
Canvas (mine is 12x12)
Fall colored paints
Paper doilies--find them in the baking area of the craft store
Mod Podge and foam paint brush

Step One:
Paint your doilies and let them dry completely

Step Two:
Decide how you want to arrange them on your canvas, and then start Mod Podging. Apply a little to the canvas or the back of the doilie, THEN paint over the whole doilie.
Here's where it's messy-- use your fingers to make sure the edges stick down to the canvas.

Do this with all of your doilies.

Then, paint over your whole canvas with the Mod Podge to make the whole thing shiny.

I decided to add "Give Thanks" as an after thought. Do it in pencil first, then trace it with gold paint pen.                                                   

Now, decide where to put it!