Turkey Day is a big deal in our family. Right after Labor Day, we get a twinge of excitement for the upcoming holidays. We took over all the cooking from our moms years ago so that we can do a traditional American style feast as opposed to an Asian one. I'm not a cook at all but can do a juicy turkey. What I love about Thanksgiving is that the focus is on the food and family. No stress about buying and wrapping presents.
With all the little babies this year, I put together some hand print turkey hats. Gabby loves getting her hand traced so she had fun helping me make this. I gave the turkey some lashes for fun.
Thanksgiving Pilgrim Turkey Headband Hat using Hand Prints:
I prepared a bunch of turkey heads in advance wearing pilgrim and feather headbands. Before dinner, parents helped trace and cut out handprints to glue on a headband. It was a fun little activity while dinner is being setup.
Indian and Pilgrim Turkey Heads:
Completed Turkey Headbands (with some adult handprints too):
Gabby Modeling Her Turkey Hat in Our Family Picture:
As an annual Thanksgiving tradition, my family does a Secret Santa drawing. The rules are simple.
No picking yourself.
No picking an immediate family member or spouse (meaning I can't pick my brother or husband).
Stick to the minimum.
Write a list of 5 items you would like.
Keep who you drew quiet until after all the gifts are opened.
We usually just write our names on a slip of paper or print out so I wanted to try something a little different this year. I searched all around for ideas on how to do the drawing but couldn't find a thing. I wanted something that was credit card-sized so that you could carry the list around with you in your wallet when you are out shopping. I also wanted something where you could hide the name from prying eyes as the names are drawn. This is what my cousin Q and I came up with.
Secret Santa drawing gift tag with a Santa belt belly band:
The Santa Belt can be slipped off to reveal the name you drew underneath:
How the card looks opened:
All 36 tags ready to go:
As you can see by the number of tags, we have a BIG family that is constantly growing. Imagine having to buy for each cousin, niece and nephew. We would all go broke. Now I have to think of five items for my wishlist. I know I'll be tempted to list items for Gabby but she'll have her own tag this year. Hmm... any ideas for around $25?
UPDATE NOV-2014: for the free printable of this tag, please click here.
It was a busy crafting weekend and I'm tired today. On Friday night, my cousin, Q, helped me put together some favor boxes and menu cards for my parents' anniversary party the next day. We made 36 favors and 10 tented menus and the total cost ended up being $10. All we needed to buy was a box of chocolate since we had enough supplies (2 inch white boxes, blue ribbon, glue, pop up dots, brads) already on hand. It was a last minute decision but I'm glad we did it.
Box of 48 Ferrero Rochers for $10 at Costco ($20 from Amazon):
Ferrero Rocher Favor Boxes with Royal Blue Ribbon (for a Sapphire Anniversary):
Inside the Favor Box (Ferrero Rocher on a Bed of White and Blue Tissue):
Dinner Menu Cards with Royal Blue Ribbon (not shown) Secured by a Diamond and Heart Brad:
Favor Box on the Restaurant's Table Setting:
I have a few more fun crafts to share with you over the next few days. Can't wait to take some pictures to show you.
My cousin, Q, wanted a couple of throw pillows for her bedroom chairs so she brought over the supplies and I did the sewing. I was a little nervous to ruin her materials because it was only my second attempt at sewing. What we came to realize is that Q can't cut in a straight line and I can't sew in a straight line. Overall, we were pretty happy that it actually turned out looking like a pillow.
DIY Fleece Throw Pillows:
We had some scrap material leftover so we made a little bed for Gabby's Fisher Price dollhouse. Now they can be snugly and warm for the winter.
My parents are celebrating their sapphire wedding anniversary this Saturday. That's 45 years! I was there for 30-something years of it and I can assure you that time goes by so fast. What I take from it is seeing that marriage is an ongoing process of compromise and communication. You don't cruise just because you've been together for X number of years. Even after this long, you are still constantly learning about each other, working on yourself, and investing in your marriage.
My parents always put their family before even themselves. For their 25th, they took us on vacation with them and even invited my aunts and some cousins along. That's just how they are. Family first. They want to share in the fun and love seeing the joy in others.
On their honeymoon, my parents ran into a couple they knew. The woman was crying because their hotel reservations got mixed up, every other place was booked too and and they didn't have a room. My mom felt bad and let the couple stay with them... on their honeymoon! When my parents got home, my mom told my grandparents what happened. My grandma was so mad and said sometimes you have to be selfish because it is your right. My mom just couldn't turn her back on her friends.
So, this Saturday we are having a dinner party at a restaurant. It was a last minute thing because at first my parents didn't want to do anything to draw attention to themselves. My aunt contacted me and said if they don't want a party, we'll throw them a surprise one because they deserve a celebration.
Anyway, I wanted to share the video montage we put together for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it has been five years already. For that party, we decided to do a slideshow. My parents literally had a cardboard box worth of pictures to sort through and scan. The pictures were all different sizes and shapes too. I looked around online and decided to use Scanapix to have the photos scanned to save me time. There was no way I could have scanned all those photos without pulling my hair out. Scanapix did a great job scanning them for us and quickly too. We received our originals back 100% accounted for and in its original condition.
It's lengthy but check out the first few minutes at least. You can check out the quality of the scanned photos.
Video Montage for My Parents' 40th Wedding Anniversary:
We used Scanapix again for our wedding slideshow as well as for my brother's 40th birthday. I gave Scanapix a stack of pictures and again they did a great job. I was able to make a 30 page 12x12 photo album through Shutterfly as my brother's present. This is for a guy who can literally buy anything himself... and does! So needless to say, he is a very difficult person to shop for. When he opened his present, he was so touched and said this is really priceless to him. Yay for being an awesome sister!
We just did a little spring cleaning at my parents house and found some old pictures from my grandma who passed away. My mom was really sad because the photos had melted and stuck together. These were photos from my grandma's childhood in the 1930's - all gone. I'm glad I'm able to save my parents photos for Gabby to see a little bit about our history. One day I want to sit down with my parents individually and jot down all their stories. It would be nice to have stories to go along with the photos to pass along to Gabby when she's older.
I came across this link on Pinterest and wanted to do something similar with all of Gabby's second birthday cards. Instead of having a pile of loose greeting cards, I was able to bind a neat notebook that's also easy to store.
Materials Needed:
Greeting Cards
PVC Glue (I still had a tub I bought for $8 four years ago from Paper Source, but it's $10 now).
Some of the supplies. Didn't end up needing any of the scrap paper.
Gabby's Birthday Cards: The card on top is from us and will be the front cover of her book.
Sort and Clip the Cards:
I took the advice from theoriginal poster and sorted the cards so short and tall cards are mixed in together. You don't want two short cards next to each other and create a big gap in the spine of your book. Use the biggest two cards to serve as the cover and last page of your book.
This next step is optional since the original poster didn't do this and her book seems just fine. I took it a step further and "bound" all the cards together. I wanted extra security so nothing fell out over time. The glue I used was four years old so might not be that great anymore.
I found the shortest card in the stack and used that as a guide as to where to poke two holes in all the cards. Using a medium sized needle, I poked holes in all the cards in the same spot.
Sewing the Cards Together:
Using about 4-5 strands of thread from the embroidery floss, I started with the bottom of the last page of the book and threaded the needle into the card. I looped the thread through the inside of the card and out the through the top hole. Then I placed the next card on top and threaded it through the top of that card, looped through the inside and out the bottom hole. Do that again for the third card - in through the bottom hole, loop inside and back out the top hole. Now I was able to slip the needle back through the previous card to tie it together.
Cards Sewn Together:
Since the edge of the back cover isn't tied to anything, I took the loose string from the front cover and tied it to one from the back cover. Trim the excess strings. I left about an inch but you can cut it shorter if you want. It doesn't matter too much since it will be covered with the spine anyways.
Gabby received a couple of cards that opened from the top so I cut it and just stacked them in with the rest without sewing. The glue should be strong enough to keep them in place.
Prepping the Cards Before Gluing:
The cards are still a bit floppy so I secured them together with large binder clips before gluing. Make sure you protect your cards from indentation by putting either craft sticks or cardboard underneath the clips. Now that the cards are secure, I applied a generous layer of PVC glue along the spine. Enough to get all the edges of the cards coated without it being a drippy mess.
After the Glue is Dry:
It took a few hours for the glue to dry for me. It may vary for you so make sure the glue is completely dry before you move on.
Adding the Spine:
Next, I measured and cut a piece of book cloth tape to the same length as my longest card. To make a crisp edge on the spine, I used a bone folder to make folding lines on the book cloth tape. You could use the edge of a craft stick to make the crease and that should work too.
The glue that is on the book cloth tape isn't that tacky so I dabbled the PVC glue all over the tape before putting it on the cards.
The Finished Birthday Card Keepsake Book Project:
The Back:
I may go back and make a book for Gabby's first birthday as well. The only problem is she doesn't have a card from us. I never thought we would really be keeping all these cards so I didn't bother giving her one. From now on, I think I'll put together one of these books. It'll be a neat keepsake of all her birthdays, maybe even combine a few years together.
To follow up on yesterday's birthday party recap, I wanted to share the Thank You cards we sent out. I could have made my own cards but found a box of 50 Hallmark ones at Walmart for $8. You really can't beat the price - not to mention how much extra work is saves.
The box came with two designs. For the colorful one, I simply glued on some of the leftover butterflies I had already punched out. For the green card, I punched out some scalloped circles and used dimensional pop-ups to give them some depth.
Three Variations of the Thank You Cards:
Gabby saw me writing the cards so wanted to help. I let her stamp some with her fingerprint. I drew in antennas to make a butterfly.
Gabby's Butterfly Fingerprint Art:
Mommy's Little Helper:
It didn't last very long though. Gabby quickly got bored and took off playing just after a few cards.
