Thanksgiving Paper Craft

I got my idea for a Fall Decorated Christmas Tree a few years ago after seeing my sister Kathy's tree while visiting her in New Jersey.  
My fall tree is just 4 foot tall and in my kitchen bay window. 

I decorate this little tree for fall with autumn leaves, acorns, pumpkins, etc., and then add Halloween ornaments towards the end of October.  In November I use a Fall/Thanksgiving theme.

Since my Christmas Vintage Paper Ornaments turned out so well last year, IMO, I decided to make Thanksgiving ornaments too!

 

Vintage Paper Ornaments

Vintage Christmas Ornaments

I have been making homemade Christmas ornaments and decorations for years, going back to my childhood.  My sisters and I would make paper chains to hang on our family Christmas tree and I still have wooden Charlie Brown ornaments I painted when in my early teens, and a beaded boot ornament from my late teens.

Many years I made ornaments for each of my children, and then as they got older, married and had families, I sometimes made an ornament for each of the grand-kids.

Recently a few of my sisters, my daughters and a couple friends and I have been doing ornament exchanges.

Fall Leaf Place Cards

Fall or Thanksgiving Place Cards made with leaves.

I use the few days leading up to Thanksgiving to pre-bake desserts, dry the bread crumbs for stuffing, set the table and multiple other tasks to cut down on the work load on Thanksgiving Day.  

One of the things I made ahead is place cards.  I started using place cards a few years ago more for fun than actual assigned seating.

Along with these leaf place cards another of my favorites for fall is my Scrapbooking Place Cards.

These leaf place cards take only a few supplies are easy-peay to make and look beautiful on the table.

Supplies Needed:

Thanksgiving Place Cards

Place Cards Using Scrapbooking Paper

First, for those of you who have never used them before, you may be wondering what exactly is a place card?  

A place card is a card or something similar bearing a person's name and used to mark their place at a dining or meeting table.

It’s really anything you wish to use with a name tag on it, placed on the table for assigned seating. 

The placing of the place cards are usually never set in stone at my house. As guests arrive they like to rearrange where they and others are sitting.  Some guests wish to sit next to other guests (or far away from them), so they just move their place card. 

My kids like to keep their personalized place cards as a keepsake each year and we have fun making them. 

Some years I purchase place cards and just embellish them, but most years I make them myself.

Johnny Marzetti Recipe and History

I have been making Johnny Marzetti for years and years.  Recently my son asked if I have all my recipes in our family cookbook. 

On further inspection of my cookbook, (a Scrapbook Cookbook I made), I realized that I have not added recipes I use often and know from memory.  For instance my deviled eggs recipe is missing, simply because I just whip them up.   So for the last couple of weeks I have been trying to add recipes that I know the kids love, but I have neglected to write down. 
One of those happens to be the Johnny Marzetti.  I decided to find out a little history on the creation of such an easy, delicious and well known recipe and was surprised to find out it was created right here in Ohio. 

Cookbook Scrapbook

When working full time, I needed to make folders for presentation purposes, to show clients what I could do for them.

One day the thought came to me that I could easily use the same concept for a recipe binder.
I have many recipes, some typed, some recipes hand written on index cards or scraps of paper and even recipes torn out of magazines. Retyping all of them as word documents on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and putting them in a binder will make it much easier to read and find!


The concept is quite basic, easy and fun to do.

What you'll need:

• A three ring binder
• Clear sheet protectors
• Clear sheet protectors with tabs
• Scrapbooking paper, magazine pages or color paper
• Scissors and a glue stick
• Recipes

Gift Tags

Homemade Gift Tags

Ever wish you had something you could do with the greeting cards left over from the Holidays?
Here’s a great way to reuse or recycle them.
Make your own homemade one of a kind gift tags!

Use these templates or make your own shape and style: