We made a Thanksgiving leaf garland today! Maia and I worked on it together, writing things we were thankful for on the leaves as well as designs and pictures.
This is something I've wanted to do ever since Sarah at Quince and Quire posted about her beautiful hand-painted leaves last fall. And then Cassi posted her list of crafts to instill thankfulness in children this past week which further inspired me. For this garland, I put a couple ideas together, namely Sarah's leaves and Playful Learning's grateful tree with something that we could hang on the wall.
I love it! And it was even more fun to make than I expected.
Maia and I started with fall leaves we had pressed, Sharpie metallic pens, and poster board to protect the table. We wrote what we were thankful for -- family, light, friends, love, chocolate, birthdays, etc. -- on some of the leaves, traced veins on some others, and just decorated the rest. Maia and I both loved this and spent over an hour drawing and writing.
The leaf makes a great fall canvas...
Afterward, I used my hot glue gun to glue the stems of the leaves to some black satin ribbon. Have I mentioned that I love my glue gun? I love my glue gun. It seems to make the impossible possible. I briefly thought about sewing the leaves on but pictured leaves and stems crumbling around the sewing machine. Not a pretty site after all this work. So glue gun it was.
And here are the finished garlands. I love how they look against the pale blue walls in the living room.
I think this one may be a keeper. I can imagine looking forward to doing this every year with my family.
Aren't they beautiful?
They look nice in the window, too, with the light shining through.
How about you? Do you have any family thankfulness traditions? I'm looking for more ideas to incorporate into our family life, both for Thanksgiving and in general.
