Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Thanksgiving Name Cards & Tutorial

I love Thanksgiving ... and I love how both my side of the family and my husband's are getting together this year! My family from Portland will be joining us here on the coast this year, so to add to the special-ness of this event, I thought I'd make some name cards for our Thanksgiving dinner.



These little name cards are really easy to make. And no matter where you are, you have plenty of time to run to your local scrap store for supplies, or rummage through your own scrap drawer! I got all my paper and embellishments from Paper Mermaids last week, so if you happen to live in town and need some guidance, drop me a line and I'd be happy to help you pick out Thanksgiving colors and embellishments at Paper Mermaids!


To make 12 name cards, here's what you'll need:

*3 pieces of cardstock - preferably 1 dark brown, 1 deep orange, and 1 ivory
*1 piece of orange pattern paper
*12 mini flowers - Prima ones such as these are perfect
*Dark brown, orange, and red inks
*Dark brown pen
*1 foot of twine
*A script stamp, such as the one in this Tim Holtz set
*A corner punch of your choice, such as this Fiskars 3-in-1 punch
*Sizzix "Autumn Gatherings" die, or, use silk leaves no larger than 1"
*Spellbinders - Labels 4 die
*Glossy accents
*Stickles
*Crackle accents
*Liquid pearls

The leaves
1. Cut two 3" x 12" strips of your ivory cardstock using a paper trimmer or scissors.
2. Run each strip of paper through your die cutting machine, using the Autumn Gatherings die.
3. Ink your leaves in different colors, such as red, orange, and brown.
4. Take one half of your red and orange leaves and set aside.
5. With your other half of red and orange leaves, grab your script stamp, apply some brown ink to it, and stamp over your leaves. When these have dried, apply Crackle Accents on top.
6. For the other half of leaves, apply glossy accents to the top. After these have completely dried, apply Stickles on top.

The base
1. Take your brown cardstock and cut (12) 4" x 2 3/4" pieces of paper.
2. Use your corner punch and punch each corner of the 12 brown strips you just cut.
3. Fold each brown strip in half; set aside.

The sentiment piece
1.Take your patterned cardstock and cut 6 pieces using the 2¼" x 3⅝" size Spellbinders Labels 4 die. Once cut, use a paper trimmer or scissors to cut your labels in half - you will now have 12 pieces. Ink each one and set aside.
2. Take your orange cardstock and cut 6 pieces using the 1¾" x 3⅛″ size Spellbinders Labels 4 die. Once cut, use a paper trimmer or scissors to cut your labels in half - you will now have 12 pieces. Ink each one and set aside.
3. Glue a piece of your orange cardstock that you cut onto a piece of patterned cardstock, making sure the cut side of the orange paper is flush with the cut side of the pattern paper. Do this for the remaining 11 pieces of orange and pattern paper.
4. In the center of your orange cardstock, handwrite "Blessed by ... (name)" using your brown pen. I like to change things up, so I also used "Grateful for" and "Thankful for". If you have a custom stamp set that is tiny enough to fit, you can stamp your sentiment instead!

Assembling your name cards
1. Begin with your brown cardstock pieces and your Prima flowers. If your flowers come in a little bundle, remove the flowers by cutting their metal stems about 3/4" long from the flower. Glue the flower and its stem onto 8 of your 12 pieces of brown cardstock. Leave the other 4 pieces of brown card stock without the Prima flower for now.
2. Glue your orange cardstock and patterned paper onto the brown cardstock, so that the metal stem of the Prima flower is covered.
3. Create one of three patterns: Sparkly leaves, Crackled leaves, and Pearls.
3a. Sparkly leaves: Take a brown leaf and one of your leaves that you applied Glossy Accents and Stickles to. Glue these next to the Prima flower on your name card. Tie a small piece of twine around the flower.


3b. Crackled leaves: Take a brown leaf and one of your leaves that you applied Crackled Accents to. Glue these next to the Prima flower on your name card.


3c. Pearls: Glue a prima flower at the bottom tip of your orange cardstock & patterned paper. Tie a piece of twine around it and make a bow. Grab some liquid pearls and outline the inside of the orange cardstock. Let name card dry completely before handling!


If you don't have all these supplies, no worries! You can always substitute them for something you have on hand. Or, just drop by your local craft store and hand them my list of supplies! For the sentiment piece of the name card, you can switch out the Spellbinders Labels 4 die for any other label die you have. Or, you can cut a rectangle shape ... or, this is pretty, you could use a doily and distress it with some orange ink!



Thanks for stopping by!

2 comments:

Janna said...

Maria, those are just darling. You are going to have a beautiful Thanksgiving!

Maria said...

Thank you, Janna!! I am sure you'll have a beautiful Thanksgiving as well! I was just telling Carol today how amazing your new room is -- you could give tours!! ;)