Yesterday I mentioned that I was thinking of changing our traditional Thankful Chain up a bit. Typically, I keep strips of cardstock in a basket and every night during the month of November we each write something we're thankful for on a strip then staple them together making a simple chain. The chain usually stays up in the kitchen (over the curtain rod, across the top of the kitchen cabinets, etc) throughout the year as a reminder of all that we have to be grateful for. One year I even used our thankful chain as a
last-minute Thanksgiving centerpiece! I save and hang all of our old chains downstairs in the basement on a coat rack.
It's quite a sight.
The thankful chain is a great idea, but I wasn't feeling the love for it this year.
I started looking for ideas along the same lines and found
this turkey. Instead of writing on strips you write the things you're thankful for on the turkey "feathers".
It's cute...but I didn't have any yarn on hand.
So, I brainstormed a little.
I have a grapevine pumpkin on my kitchen table that I won in a gift swap at a friend's Fall Party last year and I knew I could make it work as the body of a turkey thanks to
our beloved Mr. Turkey.
If you click that link, prepare yourself. I got a little teary-eyed because my kids were sooooo little in that picture.
I pulled out my Silhouette and used the curve shape tool to design and cut some feathers--large and small.
Please don't ask me how exactly I did it because I can't remember. If you want me to email you my Silhouette feather file, I'll happily share.
I taped toothpicks to the back of the feathers so we could stick them down in the grapevine pumpkin.
Next, I downloaded a turkey body from the Silhouette store, cut it out, then used glue dots (
I'm a huge fan of glue dots) to secure it to my grapevine pumpkin.
Voila!--our Thankful Turkey centerpiece. I LOVE it!
I cut 40 "feathers" to use throughout the month, but I decided today that I'm going to cut 40 more and use double-sided tape to adhere them to the back, covering up the tape/toothpick. That way we can write on each side of the feather and the back and sides of the turkey will have some interest as well. I'm so pleased with how it turned out! I need to write on one of the feathers that I'm thankful for my
Silhouette!
11 comments:
Mer,
That turned out so well! Way to be creative with what you had, and thanks for sharing your inspiration!
Super cute! I love the idea. : ) We went with out thankful tree that I've done for the past couple years - brown kraft wrapping paper taped up in the shape of a tree an we tape leaves to it. It's a little rough looking this year because Noelle helped draw and cut out the tree, but that also makes is kinda special. : )
So cute--you've given me a new idea! We usually write on leaf shapes and either tape them to a tree shape on the kitchen wall or put them in a basket. May have to try my hand at a turkey guy though!
Love it! And I love the yarn ones, too. I have quite a bit of yarn hanging around I'm sure Wayne would love for me to get rid of.
I love this idea! So cute. We started our thankful chain yesterday, but it would be nice to do something else ... maybe next year.
Love this idea.....!!
I may have to copy this:)
Thank you for the inspiration!
Love this idea!!! So cute!
We make 2D thankful turkeys with the same idea of feathers...but yours is awesome and fantastic and so much cooler. Love it!
purely precious! totally want to do this with my family!!!
Thanks for the idea...I stole it. :) Check out our version...I love your pumpkin but had to settle for a grapevine ball. :( But thank you so much, we had a great time in church yesterday starting to fill in our turkey.
http://eclecticmomma.blogspot.com/2010/11/season-of-thanksgiving.html
Super cute! Just found your blog b/c it was listed on Tip Junkie. Love it! :-) I'm inspired to create our own Thankful Turkey for our family... even though it's already the 15th of the month! LOL If I do it, I'll credit you on my blog... http://whereisyourhappyplace.blogspot.com.
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