Blast From the Past: Turkey Plate

I sat down one day and decided on all the keepsake crafts I was going to do with my grandchildren each year. On their very first Thanksgiving, I'm making these adorable little Footprint Turkey Plates! It wasn't my intention to do turkeys first BUT it is so much easier to do footprints with under 1's!!

As you have probably come to realize - I get my most recent inspiration from Pinterest. Nothing is different in this case either lol I took 3 ideas off of my Grandbabies:: First Thanksgiving board (which needs a new name cause this actually holds ideas for like the first 10 years!!). The ideas are this one, that one, and the other one. These three ideas are a cached image found here, My Rural Mommy which has several cute ideas, and SheKnows Pregnancy & Baby.

So, you see what I did there? I combined them! Feet all the way! I tried to use the hands and quickly realized trying to do baby handprints with paint or ink simply is a FAIL! Do not try it unless you are elast-a-mom with 8 tentacles - just don't do it.

I will tell you what you can do with baby handprints though - that's clay impressions or tracing! I did a little of that as well - tracing that is. But that's another post for another day.

This was a super cheap craft for me to make such a precious memory. I already had the paints so all I had to do was pick up a plate from the dollar store and wah-lah! Later, I had to spend a couple more $$ on a way to hang the plate (notice I had to rig up a display in order to take a picture ... there was simply too much glare when it was laying flat). Still well worth the price! The little man was so cute doing this - it tickled his feet to have them painted but he was such a good sport!! He was a little captivated by the whole process lol His favorite part was getting to sit on the side of the sink and playing in the water - such a ball of cuteness!! This was pretty much an all day activity between having to wait for paint to dry and naps before moving on to the next color. Experience is teaching me how to get better at getting those sweet little impressions. Now watch it be different for each baby!

So what's my plan with these little plates, you ask? I'm so glad you asked! And I really can't wait to show you - this coming November ;-) I bought some little hanging plate holders. They have springs so that it is adjustable to the size plate you have. I knew I wouldn't have enough flat "table" space to display the number of plates I will eventually have.... so I was a wee bit excited to find those little gems so I could hang them on the wall without having to attach some funky equipment that might come loose and risk breaking these precious plates that I can never replace.

God-willing, every grand child will make one of these on their first Thanksgiving! The ones so far away will be more difficult but at the same time will be all the more precious because of the distance.

Blast From the Past: Love Garland

A little history:

I really can't stand Valentine's Day. I couldn't stand it so much that I threatened my husband that I would break up with him if he even recognized the holiday. He complied and has respected my disdain for the money-making scheme of a Hallmark holiday. I've been perfectly content in him getting small somethings for the children and nothing for me. I loved how he respected me so much that he didn't celebrate it with me.

So then, how did I start making these Valentine crafts you see in these last several posts, you ask????

I found a few years ago that my husband really loves the holiday. He enjoys doing things for the ones he loves. I sort of took that away from him. Granted, by not celebrating with me, he was doing something for me - he wanted to do more. BUT he was willing to never do anything for me and "waste his hardearned money on V-day crap" (as I have been known spew in the past) in order for me to be happy.

When I found this out, my heart changed toward him. I decided right then and there that I would surprise the mess out of him! The first year I did this (2 years ago) I laid out everything I wanted to make and do (fancy menu included) and waited for him to go to work. I set out making craft after craft and cooking and baking all day long.

His face lit up like a child on Christmas morning when he walked into our home. He just couldn't understand what made me, Mrs. Bah-humbug of Valentine's, decorate the house in all things Valentine's! AND to come home to a cute and delicious meal with dessert to boot was nearly too much for his little heart to bear.

Now don't get me wrong, I still don't want presents, but I will let him take me out to dinner if he wants to do so. We've had a tradition of celebrating the 13th of every month ever since we met (which just so happened to be a Friday the 13th)... and it was his doing! The romantic that he is :-D  We were also married on the 13th of the month (a different month than when we met). So rather than fight the crowds on the 14th, we've been setting out the night before celebrating our own little version of Valentine's :)

So, that first year, I made this little love banner. I've since lost where I got the idea from ... perhaps I shall run across it one day and then I'll post it. The first year that I strung it up, it was at our bar but I think I like it across the small bannister of our stairs so that you can see it right as you come in the front door.

I had to do a little repair work on it this year so I truly hope that it lasts for several more years to come, as it is my favorite and I didn't realize how much it meant to me to have it until I had to repair it! It is the only surviving original decoration that I made that first year. There is a portion of another decoration that is surviving which is my second favorite. When I redo the whole thing, I will post it under another Blast From the Past post.

The hearts are a gold toned scrapbook paper that has lots of love words written in darker gold tones. The smaller hearts are white tissue paper with a thin smattering of red glitter glue to set it apart. The red letters are of a red scrapbook paper using a stencil I had. They are all connected with a burgundy and gold rope/twine. Hmmm, I think I need close ups ......

So here are some close up shots ....