thanksgiving placemat

sorry i didn't make it back yesterday--'tis the season to be busy...  but i'm back today, and while this isn't as quick and easy as the place cards on monday, it's a really cool project.  and there's still time to pull it off!  last year, elena shared a thanksgiving activity placemat for her kids' table using the a muse thanksgiving stamps and i loved it so much, i created a similar one using my retired su! set, turkey talk.  the kids had a lot of fun with it, so i had to create one this year, too--but it had to be different, of course!  so i got to work with my new fall saltbox studio stamps, changed things up a bit, and added a word search (by request!) and this is the result.  i stamped everything in black and left them uncolored so the kids can color it all in as they work.  i did want a little color, so i added it in the words and layered the printed page on orange and kraft card stock to dress it up a bit. maybe i'll use these place cards and favor boxes along with the mat!

i do have a few tips and tricks, if you're thinking of trying these.  first of all, clear stamps made planning go a little easier than last year.  i printed everything but the pictures on the computer, guessing how much space i needed and leaving blank spaces to fill with stamping.  then i printed a draft and placed all of my images to see what i needed to adjust--a little nudging here and there and a few printings later, i had it just right!  i found the word find and maze on kaboose--click here for word puzzles and here for mazes and scroll down a little for choices.  when i decided on the one i wanted, i clicked on the print option and saved the image instead so that i could place it into my mat document.  if you're really feeling ambitious, you could create your own!  finally--and i forgot to do this for the second year in a row--try adding the kids' names somewhere like elena did and it can be a place card, too.  the girls were watching over my shoulder while i was creating and they can't wait to work on it at the kids' table next week!

i saw that a few other team members posted more great last minute ideas, too--elena created an "i am thankful" index card project for this year's kids' table, mary rose created a thankful jar for her family, and jen created a cute card for gavin's first thanksgiving--go check them out!

:) lexi

Comments

[Julie Masse]

Lexi this is so neat!!! I definitely want to give it a try - we'll see if I actually get there . . :) Thanks for sharing the links and directions! :)

[Jen]

Lexi this is awesome!!! I can't wait for Gavin to get older so I can make projects like this for him!

[Jennie M]

This is amazing Lexi!!

[Colleen]

What a COOL idea! You are so super creative. Thanks for the inspiration.

[Danielle P]

I want to use this for the 7 kids i have coming to my house tomorrow but unable to print.. can you email the placemat so i can make for my kiddos

Thanks
pontowd at yahoo dot com

[Denera]

how do I print just the place mat so I can put it on card stock? thanks! wonderful idea!