Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

Remember that Thanksgiving centerpiece I made a little while back? Well, here it is with actual stuff inside of it this time:


And a blurry picture, just for kicks:


Off topic, but if you're looking for a new stuffing recipe to try out next year, I highly recommend this one from Allrecipes.com. If you love things like apples, cranberries, and fresh herbs (we're talking thyme and sage), you will love this recipe!! I made it a couple years ago for a huge group and there were no leftovers! I decided to make it this year and given all the positive reviews from this year's group (my father-in-law who normally doesn't like stuffing loved this one), I think I have a new Thanksgiving tradition! That, and maybe a new name card creation each year.


I had a great time with family today, although it seems like they were here and gone in just minutes! After they left, it felt like I had a hole in my heart ... but I know that feeling will go away when I see them again next month hopefully! We had a great time sharing stories, laughing about silly things, drinking lots and lots of sparkling cider, and playing with the puppy. 

I hope that you, dear reader, are having a blessed Thanksgiving! And if it's not feeling very blessed, I pray you find some hope, encouragement, and inspiration through all the wonderful papercrafting ideas you're finding online. I'll be honest. The past couple of years have been the most trying times in my life ... but God sent me the biggest rainbow in March of this year. I walked into Paper Mermaids on a whim one day (that whim was that I was trying to earn a Foursquare badge - I know, super geeky) and was immediately struck by all the beauty around me. Shelf after shelf of gorgeous scrapbooks, cards, and papercrafting creations that Carol and Lisa created mesmerized me and instilled in me a new reason for keeping my hope alive. I started googling scrapbook designs and discovered What A Beautiful Mess. I have never seen such beautiful scrapbook pages in my life! Lisa's designs captivated me and have been a huge source of inspiration for me. Suddenly, I found something that I wanted to pour all of me into ... and I did, and I haven't looked back. 

Now, papercrafting is one of my main loves in life. It brings me joy and I love how it can bring my loved ones joy. And that is why I do it! 

So thank you ... thank you for checking out my blog and for all your sweet comments! And thank you for inspiring me. God bless you!

-Maria

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!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Thanksgiving centerpiece

Before you recycle that empty tea box, hold onto it - you never know what you can make with it! For example, here's a centerpiece I made a couple weeks ago for Thanksgiving:


Just the night before, the centerpiece looked like this:


Here's how to make your own: 

1) Cut the top flaps off your box. 
2) Measure the front, back, and sides of your tea box, then cut cardstock to fit each side. 
3) Emboss a pattern onto some cardstock and use die cuts, pins, flowers, and any other embellishment you like to frame the embossed pattern. 
4) Decorate the other sides of your box.

I just bought a little thingy of styrofoam today, which I plan on putting inside my box. I'll stick sticks and leaves into the styrofoam to make my centerpiece truly stand out! Pictures to come later. Till then, here are some other shots of my recycled Thanksgiving centerpiece: 




A little sidenote (and a recent blessing to be thankful for): my husband finally found a full time job! He gets to work for a great company with plenty of room to grow in his career. We are both so excited and so grateful. One of the hardest lessons we've had to learn has been to thank God (not to mention, to completely rely on him) for everything in our lives, even the hardest moments when our circumstances seem so hopeless that we can't see anything to be thankful for. So we've been in a different kind of thanksgiving for a while ... and now, we have something new to be thankful for!

Supplies:

Jenni Bowlin paper
Bo Bunny paper
Sizzix Texture Fadez - Thankful
Sizzix Decorative strip - Harvest Gatherings
Mulberry Street flower
Maya Road pin
Tim Holtz Distress Ink & Distress Stain

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Autumn-theme card & tag

Ever since I saw these Autumn and Thanksgiving-inspired embossing folders, I just knew I had to have them! Paper Mermaids was so kind to save me their last set. :)

For the card below, I decided on using some brown and tan paper, along with some orange polka dot paper from Jenni Bowlin's Halloween line. I think these colors have fall all over them! I embossed my tan paper with the Leaf Garland folder, then tore the edges and inked the paper.



For my tag, I grabbed one of my Sizzix Scallop Tag die cuts, then ran it through my Big Shot using the Pumpkin Vine folder. I then inked the edges with Walnut Stain, Rusty Hinge, and Scattered Straw Distress Inks. For the sentiment, I used my trusty Martha Stewart custom stamp kit. :)



Supplies:

Sizzix Texture Fades "Thankful" embossing folders
Sizzix Scallop Tag die
Tim Holtz distress inks