Hello again! It has been waaaaaayyyy too long! ;)

Okay, so I have been up to lots of stuff since my last post. We have as a family gone through a crazy, hectic, insane, fill-in-the-blank year. Life is just now starting to settle down nicely, and I feel that I can start up my blog again. Yay! I know that you are all just *so* dang excited! ;)

With that being said, this past year has taught me to be even more frugal with my gifts/crafts. I have a ton of crafting supplies that I have gathered up and pulled out of storage, so I am going to be sharing projects that I have designed and those that are in catalogs that I refuse to pay their hefty price tag on.

So... here's my first project in for-ev-er! I promise to bring up more and post them as regularly as I can.

I didn't photo these before I finished the project, nor did I photo in between steps. It is very easy to do, and if you have ever made a paper hand turkey, this should be a breeze!

Supplies:
1 canvas- mine is 8" x 10" (I bought 2 at Hobby Lobby for $2)
Acrylic paints: Brown, cranberry, orange, yellow, gold, ivory, white and black
Acrylic spray sealer
Sponge paintbrush (the ones that are 25 cents at Michaels or Home Depot)
Detailing paintbrush (narrow bristles)

Step 1: Paint entire canvas ivory. Let dry fully.

Step 2: Paint your husband's entire hand brown. Place you husband's hand on the canvas. Remove hand carefully, to avoid smearing. Let dry fully.

Note: If you don't want to wait for it to dry naturally, a hair dryer on low will work. The entire hand print needs to be dry before proceeding to the next step, or it will pull off of the canvas. :)

Step 3: Paint your fingers cranberry and your palm brown. Place your hand on top of your husband's print and place your fingers according to your own design. Remove hand carefully, to avoid smearing. Let dry fully.

Step 4: Paint your oldest child's fingers orange and their palm brown. Place their hand on top of your print and place their fingers according to your own design. Remove hand carefully, to avoid smearing. Let dry fully.

Step 5: Paint your next child's fingers yellow and their palm brown. Place their hand on top of your oldest child's print and place their fingers according to your own design. Remove hand carefully, to avoid smearing. Let dry fully.

Step 6-??: If you have more than 2 children; continue the pattern of brown palm, colored fingers until all children are printed. Removing hands carefully, to avoid smearing. Letting dry fully.

Step 7: Paint "We are Thankful" across the top of your painting in gold. (I free handed this part.)

Step 8: Paint the outline of your turkey in black to define the head and neck. Let dry.

Step 9: Paint two white dots for eyes. Let dry.

Step 10: Paint beak orange.

Step 11: Paint wattle cranberry.

Step 12: Paint pupils black. Outline beak and wattle with black also.

Step 13: Paint year in corner with gold.

Admire your new Thanksgiving keepsake. :)

That's it!

Thanksgiving Creativity

It's that time of the year again... school has finally settled to routine, the leaves have begun to change, the mornings welcome a warm mug even more and the holiday rush begins! Families begin to gather, catch up with one another and create new memories that will last a lifetime. With that being said, here is a quick and simple way to not only create a memory, but a keepsake of your little ones this Thanksgiving season.

You will need the following items per child:
1 sheet of brown construction paper
1 sheet of red construction paper (tissue paper can be substituted)
1 sheet of yellow construction paper (tissue paper can be substituted)
1 sheet of orange construction paper (tissue paper can be substituted)
1 drawing marker (black works best to show up on paper)
1 pair of googley eyes

Glue, paste, glue stick or tape (this can be adapted for the age of the child)

Step 1. Trace the child's hand outline on the brown construction paper.

Step 2. Draw "feathers" on the red, yellow, and orange paper. You can draw the feathers by making an elongated, rounded diamond or you can simply trace the child's hand outline again on each color of paper.

Step 3. Cut out the traced hand on the brown paper.

Step 4. Cut out the feathers on the remaining colors.
Note: If you are making the feathers by tracing the child's hand outline, cut out only the child's finger outline (leaving the palm) from the paper.

Step 5. Snip along the edges of the "feathers" to make them fringed.

Step 6. Snip along the finger outlines on the brown hand to make those "feathers" fringed as well.

Step 7. Place the brown turkey down with the palm down and fingers aimed away from the child.

Step 8. Layer and glue the colored "feathers" with the other "feathers" until you feel it is complete.

Step 9. Glue the googley eyes on the middle of the palm portion of the turkey hand.

Step 10. Cut a wattle (small heart) from the leftover red paper. Glue heart upside down beneath eyes.

Step 11. Cut a beak (small triangle) from the leftover orange paper. Glue beak on top of wattle, to turkey's face.

Let it dry, and now you have a keepsake of your child's hand from this Thanksgiving season. Date the back, and if your child can, have them autograph their work. Bring it out next year after they create a new turkey hand and compare them to see how much your child has grown in the year.