Time for crafts

My mother passed away 3 years ago.  And, my father has Alzheimer's.  Since my mother's passing, my sister's and I have taken turns hosting the holidays at our homes.  This year it's my turn.  I am providing the turkey, and everyone else will bring a side dish and/or dessert.  Knowing me like I do, I will be making more than just the turkey. :)

And, because everyone will be working on Thanksgiving, we have decided to do our day on the Saturday following Thanksgiving (better sales on food).

The husband and I were talking a few weeks ago and I want to have a "Thanksgiving Tree" as my center piece.  I went online and began searching for ideas.  Not sure I found any one that I liked, but together, with many ideas put together, I do believe I have come up with a wonderful craft idea. It's probably been done before, it's not that unique of an idea, but I like it and it's fun, and you can get the kids involved.  And, isn't that what Thanksgiving is about...family?

Go into the woods. We have woods, I call it a forest, in our back yard. Pick up some small type tree limbs.  Nothing big, more like really long twigs.  Now, you can either spray paint them a Thanksgiving/Fall color like gold, reddish-rust, dark green, or just leave them as is. 


Then, comes the fun part.  Find a Fall leaf pattern online.  There are many to choose from, just do a search for Fall Leaves patterns in your search engine, pick some that you love and print out.  You do not want them huge, as they will hang from the limbs/twigs.

Get some construction sheet paper, scrape book paper, old cards, whatever you have on hand, preferably in a fall color/theme, and trace the pattern onto the paper and cut out.  For some strange reason, I find cutting paper to be relaxing, so this is great for me.  Maybe it's the amount of concentration it takes to cut out the pattern, I'm not sure, but either way, it's fun.  And, you can get the kids involved with this, too.  Just make sure you supervise younger children when using the scissors.  

When all the leaf patterns are cut out, take a hole punch and punch a hole at the top of the leaves, and take yarn, string, or fishing line, whatever you have on hand, and make a hanger.  Stack them, or put in a pretty Thanksgiving bowl or platter and set on the table. 

Take the limbs/twigs and find a pretty vase, it can be whatever kind of vase, holiday themed, or whatever matches your theme/decor.  This is not rocket science, get creative with this.  If you want, and you have a really ugly vase, you can create a collage of Thanksgiving photos you have printed out and glue them to the vase, or put photos of you family INSIDE the vase.  It's up to you, make it personal. 

Place the twigs/limbs inside the vase.  Your limbs should have other limbs that branch off.  This is what you will hang the leaves on.

Get some marbles, small pea gravel, whatever you have on hand and place them around the limb/twigs to keep them in place.

Take the vase and place it on the platter or in the bowl, surround the vase with the leaves.

When you guest arrive, have them write on the leaves what they are thankful for and have them hang it on the tree.  After dinner, have a child or another adult read all the leaves out loud.  You just may be surprised what your guest are thankful for.

It's a little early for me to be doing this craft project, as Halloween hasn't even happened, however, when I do and I will, I will come back and post photos of the steps.

What do you like to do for Thanksgiving Center pieces?  Let me know.