Thanksgiving/Gratitude Advent Calendar

It's officially November!!!!  Hip Hip Hooray.  I have been trying to decide on what I was going to do to make November special.  That's how I came up with my 25 Ways to Show Gratitude list.  I want to do more than just think about the things I'm grateful for.  When pondering about this list I decided I also wanted to come up with a DIY project to go with it.  *Enter Thanksgiving/Gratitude Advent Calendar.*
 

Thanksgiving Crafts

Does anyone else have a hard time finding Thanksgiving crafts?  I know I sure do which makes me sad because Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday.  I love the colors, the crispness in the air, the gathering of family, and of course all of the pumpkin pie.  A couple of years ago in our craft club we made these wood block letters and it is still one of my favorite Thanksgiving crafts to date.

They are pretty easy to make.

Supplied Needed:

- (Eight) 4" 2 x 4's

- (Two) 6" 2 x 4's

- sandpaper

- acrylic paint and brushes

- paper letters and ModgePodge OR vinyl letters

Step 1:  Go to Home Depot and have the nice boys cut your 2 x 4's into the sizes you need, or you can cut them yourself.

Step 2:  Sand your blocks until they are as smooth as butter or whatever texture you prefer.

Step 3:  Paint your wood blocks.  I used four colors:  gold, orange, grey, and yellow to match the decor already in my home. 

 

*If you look closely you will see that I have a slight champagne glitter finish on top of all of my blocks.  I used a DecoArt Dazzling Metallics Elegant Finish.  You can find it in the acrylic paint section of your craft store.  Brush on one or two coats on top of your color after it has dried.*

Step 4:  After your paint and finish have thoroughly dried apply your paper letters on using ModgePodge or use your vinyl letters.  I made my blocks before Silhoutte's time.  If using ModgePodge it may take a couple of coats.

That's all there is to it.  After your blocks are cut I would say you could do this Thanksgiving craft in an hour, two at the most depending on how quickly you sand and paint. 

What Thanksgiving crafts have you done?  Since I finished this one a couple of years ago I'm looking for new ideas that I can do now to fill my crafting itch. 

Thanksgiving Countdown Printable

Who is ready for a free Thanksgiving Countdown printable?  November is one of my favorite  months.  I get to celebrate my birthday, Thanksgiving, get together with family, and think about all of the things I'm grateful for.  I always have a hard time finding Thanksgiving Decor, so, last year I created this cute little Thanksgiving Countdown printable.

25 Ways to Show Gratitude

As November approaches (I know it snuck up on me too), so does the holiday season.  I love this time of year.  Not only is it pretty with all the falling leaves and yes even snow but there is something in the air.  People tend to be more giving and kind.  Families gather and celebrations commence.  It is a time for reflection on all we did and received throughout the year and a time to set new goals.  

Gratitude Photo Scavenger Hunt (The Results)

1.) Flowers 2.) Running Water 3.) The Court Building(Historical Buildings) 4.) The Baseball Fields 5.) Toilet Paper 6.) Washing Machine 7.) Scarves
8.) Pomegranates/Fruits 9.) Kitchenaid Mixer 10.) Snow

11.) Fingerless Gloves 12.) Mail 13.) The Family Proclomation 14.) Games 15.) Great - Great Grandmother's Fork (The one I'm named after) 16.) Target 17.) Beautiful Scenery 18.) Warm Down Blankets 19.) Bill Cosby (and my husbands impersonations)
20.) Hot Chocolate Mugs

21.) Fall Scents 22.) Vinegar (it works miracles) 23.) Spaghetti 24.) Besties
25.) Route 66 26.) American Flag, waving to all 27.) Pumpkins
28.) Shoes and Boots 29.) Water and Vitamin C

30.) A printable/sign meant for all of my awesome readers!

I know you've been waiting all day for this post. Above are my finds from the Gratitude Photo Scavenger Hunt. I found that it was a little harder than I anticipated. For example I would read a category like, "Something Indicative of Your City." Lots of ideas came to mind like the Lumberjack statue that sits in the middle of town. However, I'm not really grateful for that statue. Thus I really had to think on a few of them. I LOVED doing this though and think I will start a new tradition of doing this scavenger hunt each year.

I'm so excited to see all of yours! Be sure to leave a link or email the details and if you still haven't gotten started I will leave the list for this scavenger hunt on my website. It's never to late to find those things we are grateful for.

Let the fun begin!

Check out what my friend Evelyn over at Hanging By a Silver Lining is grateful for.

Chemistrymamma had her kids complete this scavenger hunt as well as do it herself.

Gratitude Photo Scavenger Hunt (and Blog Hop)

These printables can be found on my website, here.

During November so many people are reminded of the things they are most grateful for. While the is one of the main reasons for Thanksgiving Day I wanted to be able to celebrate this season with more than just my family. Thus some of my online friends and I thought it would be fun to do a Gratitude Photo Scavenger Hunt for one week and then link up the next. It would be a great activity to do with your kids, spouse, friends, etc. and the challenge is to be creative with it.

Thus here are the details.

-The Scavenger Hunt will start now, November 3rd and go through November 20th. The idea is to try and get as many photos from the list as you can. If you don't finish that's ok too, show us what you did find.

-The following week will be our show and tell week where you can then post your photos in a blog post, on Facebook, or wherever and however you would like. Mine will be going up on Monday, November 21st where I will be linking to those interested in a blog hop.

Not interested in the blog hop? No problem, simply leave the link to your blog post in the comments and I will gladly come see how your hunt turned out.

If you are like me you may want to throw some kind of Gratitude Party in the end to celebrate but it's not a requirement, just another reason to get together with those we care about.

On your mark... get set... GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*If you are interested in a blog hop please email me at info@sarahdawndesigns.com *

Thanksgiving Craft - (Wood Blocks)

I am grateful for Craft Club. Once a month I get together will 12 or so other ladies to do one or more crafts. A majority of the time we just talk and catch up. Last year in November we made these wood blocks. Remember how I said I don't necessarily have typical holiday colors throughout my house? This means that when it comes to our craft club I often have to bring my own supplies or some of them to make it work. The ladies made their blocks in orange, yellow, green and brown and they looked great. I had tried so hard to phase green out of everything in my house and while I have copper through the space I don't have a lot of "brown."

I also added a watered down acrylic metallic finish, I think it was called "Champagne," to the blocks which added a little bit of sparkle

This craft was super easy to make. The guy at home depot cut out all of the wood blocks so all we had to do was sand and paint them. The girl hosting used one of the fancy machines (i.e. Silhouette, Cricket) to cut out the letters and then we modge podged them on. Done!

I loved this craft and was so sad that I didn't get to put them up last year, as our house was still under construction from the tornado. What have you made for the Thanksgiving season?

Don't forget to check out my website for November's free downloads including the Chevron Gratitude print seen in the above photo.

P.S. I know the lighting in the photos is terrible. If we owned the house I would definitely put up track lighting in the entry way.

Monday's Moment (October 10th, 2011)

Photo Source: TheCulinaryGeek

This week's "Monday's Moment" is thanks to my love of all things pumpkin. Fall is by far my favorite time of year. Pumpkin pie was a staple in our house growing up. In fact most of us request this delicate dessert for our birthdays instead of cake, regardless of what month it is. We HEART pumpkin pie. This brings me to our Monday's Moment.

To begin I will tell you that I have certain siblings who are a little pickier than others when it comes to foods they like or dislike, or so they think. This of course sets them up to have a prank or two pulled on them. One brother in particular wears the badge of "Pickiest Eater." Today, I wish to share two of those stories.

One night as we sat around the dinner table this particular brother was complaining and whining about having to eat his broccoli. My mother, being the mean mom she was, told him that he couldn't leave the table until he ate all the broccoli on his plate. This sent him into a wailing fit as his broccoli got colder. After many minutes passed he grabbed his first tree all the while crying, "I hate broccoli."

*Cue mean older siblings*

While one of us distracted my distressed younger sibling, one of us would sneak another piece of broccoli onto his plate. My brother would grab his next piece of broccoli, assuring us that he hated broccoli. We repeated the whole process several times. Distract. Reload. Eat. By the time our game was figured out a whole plate of hated broccoli had been eaten.

Story #2. As you may have guessed this younger brother of mine is yet again the star. Years after the broccoli incident he complained to my mom about how much he HATED yams while sitting around eating Thanksgiving dinner. You'd think he'd learn not to complain. A second brother also voiced his dislike of yams. Dislike noted. A year later my mom and dad got busy making all the yummy foods for Thanksgiving only this year they made a pumpkin pie AND a yam pie, placed side by side. The yam pie was prepared exactly like the pumpkin and looked rather similar.

Throughout the house you could hear the cheers as the "pumpkin pie" was brought out to be served. Then... silence as every morsel was being savored. "So are you sure you don't like yams?" Confusion sets in on my brothers faces and then complete shock and disgust as the secret is revealed. To this day they will both tell you that they could tell something was off even though they never said a word as the scarfed down their slice.

Moral of the story... don't let on your dislike for foods, at least in my family. Do you have a picky family member? Have you ever tricked them into eating a food they supposedly "don't like?"

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