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
