Journaling Prompts Tuesday

• How do you celebrate Thanksgiving?  What are the traditions involved?  Also think of things like football, watching the parade, games, etc, not just food.
• Create a list of what you are thankful for.  
• Have each member of the family write down what they are most thankful for.  
• If you have participated in "Attitude of Gratitude" or "30 Days of Thankfulness" posts on Facebook, make a layout using your posts (see my examples here).  
• Who's house do you hold the festivities at?  If it rotates, make a list of the past several years and where it was held.
• Take a picture of each food dish on the table.  If they were made by different people, make a tag with the name of who made it to go with the picture.  
• Take a picture of the guests.  Is it different every year or the same?
• Take a picture of the decorations. 
• Tasks: who does what?
• Take before and after pictures of the cooking process (thinking of the mess involved).  
• Take pictures of the guests after the big meal?  Are they napping, lounging, cleaning, etc?  Tell us what happens afterwards.  
• Do you have memories of Thanksgivings past?  Share or compare.
• Document times.  What time did you start the cooking?  What time did you eat?  Finish?
• Where did you get ideas for dishes, decor, etc?  If from a magazine or website, print and include in a page about your Thanksgiving inspiration. 
• Do you dress up for Thanksgiving or keep it casual?
• What's the conversation like around the dinner table?  Do you have to stay away from certain topics (like politics) or does anything go?  Or perhaps it's pretty quiet because everyone is chowing down?
• Do you just have one big meal for the day or do you still have 3 meals? 
• How many days of leftovers?  :)
• Scrap those recipes.  Is there any history behind them?
• Did you travel?  Tell of your journey.
• Do you break the wishbone?  Who always wins?  Who "won" this year?  
• Do a "signs of Thanksgiving Day" page.
• What about your own festivities and traditions is different than most people you know?
• If you always go to someone else's house, would you want to host the festivities?  What would it be like at your house?  Or are you grateful you don't have to host?
• If you play games together, what do you play?  Document who wins?  Who is the most competitive?  Who is the silliest?
• Create Thanksgiving trivia with blanks missing and have your kids/family try to fill them out.  It can be a fun (and funny) activity for Thanksgiving, but it also can be great to scrapbook!  :)
• If you have a lot of guests, bring small pieces of paper (think shapes) or fabric (for a fun twist) and have them all sign a piece as they come.  Arrange them on a page.  You could have them expand this and write what they are thankful for and then sign it.
• If you were rating this Thanksgiving what would it get?  Best ever or room for improvement?
• Sometimes the "mistakes" and mishaps of the day are the best memories.  Don't be afraid to include those in your pages.  You can look back later and laugh.  

Shout it out if you have more suggestions and I will add them to the list!!!

Thanks for stopping by!  

And have a fabulous day!

Attitude of Gratitude

For several years now, every November, I have been posting "Attitude of Gratitude" posts every day on Facebook.  Basically I just post something I am thankful for each day.  There are lots of people playing along.  If you haven't started, it's not too late!  ;)

Well for the past three years I have also used my Attitude of Gratitude posts and made a layout with them.  It's fun, and I love looking back at them.  You can see my past Attitude of Gratitude layouts here.  This time I decided to make a 2 page layout to fit it all in better.  The Facebook posts are from last year.

I used the wonderful Hopscotch collection from Fancy Pants.  It is hands down one of my favorites.

Here's my layout:

I really love how it turned out.

Here's how I made it:

1.  I printed off my Facebook posts.  I actually did a screen print and essentially saved a photo of my computer screen for each of my posts and then opened them in Photoshop.  But you could just copy and paste your posts into a document.  Or you could even just print your full Facebook screen and cut the parts out you want.  

2.  I created a base for my layout.

I didn't have enough full sheets, so as you can see from one the picture, I had one sheet that already had a leaf cut out of it and also had to piece together one side of the blue polka dot papers.  No big deal.  :)

3.  I took a craft knife and cut out each of my posts, leaving a tail to make it look like a word bubble.  You can always use scissors or a trimmer and just cut it out normally.  I've said this before, but don'w worry about being perfect!  You can see that mine are not cut out perfectly at all.

4.  I already had an idea in my head oh how I wanted my layout to turn out, so I arranged my Facebook posts and adhered them down.

5.  I cut strips of patterned paper and laid adhered them to my layout.  I made sure to extend them across each page of my layout because I love the way that looks.

6.  Then I added my photo, my title, some leaves and some buttons.  For my title I cut down slightly the negative parts of the numbers and adhered them first.  Then I took the numbers and put them on top, but popped them up.  I really like the cool look it gives the title.

And here are some close up's of my layout:

Well there you have it.  :)

Thanks so much for stopping in today!!!

Have a fantastic day!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Hi everyone! Thanks for popping in on this special day! I hope you are all able to spend it with friends and family! I'll make my post quick so you can get back to it.

This is my third year posting daily "Attitude of Gratitude" posts on facebook. These are last year's facebook posts on this layout:

The papers, letters, stickers and leaves are all from American Crafts, from their Amy Tangerine collection.

Here are some close up's:

I hope to do a layout soon with my Attitude of Gratitude posts from this year. :)

Have a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving day!

Hip Hop: Thanksgiving Table Decor

Happy Hip Hop everyone! :) Today we are all sharing Thanksgiving table decor projects with you. You'll want to start the hop at the Unity Blog. If you came from Jennifer then you are in the right place. :)

I got admit...I didn't know what to do with this one. I just came up blank. I wasn't feeling inspired at all. Happens to us all I guess. So I am not sure how much I love my final project....but it's done, and the kids say it's awesome. :) But they may be a bit biased. Do you think, at this age at least, that kids are like their parents...where they just think everything they do is great? Probably.

So here it is, my project:

I'll start with a pic of it all...

Please excuse the dusty table. I thought it would be better to take my pictures on the outside table then inside. Actually, this table is where I usually take all my pictures of my projects. I just should have wiped it off first. :) My bad.

Let's take a closer look at my centerpiece:

I used the Build a Turkey stamp set and did just that...built a turkey. :) I also stamped a couple leaves from the Simple Blessings stamp set. Then I added some lace, pearls, flowers and the chipboard letters spelling "thankful." Put all that fun stuff inside and there you have it.

Here are some close up's:

And then I also made several place cards to go with it...here are some close up's of a couple of them:

And there you have it. My Thanksgiving table decor. I'm no Martha Stewart. :)

I did use Helmar's adhesive to put it all together, used their Premium Craft Glue...love that stuff, it has replaced my hot glue gun. :)

And now it's time to hop on to the lovely Natalie.

Hope you have a wonderful day!!!!

Supplies for it all:

Papers--My Mind's Eye, My Little Shoebox, Cosmo Cricket, Crate Paper, and Fancy Pants Designs, Cardstock--Bazzill, Stamps--Unity Stamp Company, Ink and Embossing Powder--Stampin' Up!, Chipboard Letters--American Crafts (brown) and My Little Shoebox (yellow), Pearls and Flower--Prima Marketing, Lace--Webster's Pages and Prima Marketing, Adhesive--Helmar, bucket, fall fillers.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I hope you all are getting some quality time in with the family today...and of course enjoying loads of fabulous food. :) The same can be said for my friends outside of the US. :)

I wanted to take time to post this awesome project that my son did! He is doing Cub Scouts this year and they gave each boy a bowling pin and asked them to decorate it. My son did this all on his own! I swear, that boy is SO creative. Here's the finished project:

He was a little disappointed because he didn't win anything. Kelby said that all the boys' projects looked professional...and come on...a 6 year olds' art project should not look professional. Oh well. I put it on display in our house and said I would use it to decorate every fall. I think that made him feel better. :)

Well, again, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Tomorrow I will post more of my DT work with My Little Shoebox for November.

SSCC #14

This is going to be a quick post today. With the unexpected visit of my grandparents who are not well at all, and so much else going on, I feel like I have hardly had time to breathe...just way too busy. I am writing this Saturday night, and I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to church in the morning. It is an escape. Plus we have a new pastor! So I am hoping for a great morning...then back to the Grandparents.

The challenge over at SSCC this week is to make a Thanksgiving card. Such a great challenge, and I do believe that I have never made one before! :) So here is what I did:

The stamps are from Unity Stamp Company. :)

Ok...I wish you all the best of Sundays!

An Attitude of Gratitude

This is something I have wanted to start for a little while.  I am starting a new tradition in our household.  For Thanksgiving, we will have a gratitude jar.  We will all write down what we are thankful for and put it in the jar.  

Then I will take all of our notes and make a page for our "Book of Gratitude" where we keep track of everything we are thankful for over the years.  :)

I made the above projects (and more to come) with my November kit from The Coconut ScrapShop.  Even the book itself is in the kit.  It came looking like this though.  I altered it.  The stuff on top popped off very easily and then I added paper and embellishments to make it my one-of-a-kind book.