2 Special Projects for Thanksgiving

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      Lindsey and I were talking about Thanksgiving plans for this year and it got me to thinking about a special project to show my family and friends how thankful I am for them.  I decided it would be nice to do a little gift on each place setting this year.  I thought about hand lettering something at first, but that would take a lot of time with questionable results.  Then, I remembered the set of stamps that I purchased from the Target One Spot a couple of years ago.  I hadn't used it yet, but now I knew I had the perfect project to use them for. 

If you can't find these stamps at Target this year, there are of course a lot of others that you can find and use. For example...

     I had some little wooden circles left over from our Christmas in July projects.  I chose 3 colors of acrylic paint that I felt would coordinate with my dishes and tablecloths and painted the circles. Then, I used a black stamp pad to stamp the design on the light colored circles and white on the dark colored circles.  I love how they came out.  Even the spots where the ink is a little missing add to the rustic look. 

I decided to use jute as the hanger on these little ornaments.  I cut about a 6" length of jute and glued the ends with a glue gun to the front of the ornament.  Then, I tied a bow with another length of jute and glued that over the ends.  This way, there are no unfinished ends on the front or the back. 

This is an example of a way you can use the ornaments around the house to add a little extra gratitude touch for this Thanksgiving season!

You could also hang them on plants, cupboard door knobs, a little tree for a centerpiece, the possibilities are endless.

      Now, on Thanksgiving, I want to slip them in a napkin on each place setting.  I want to use cream colored napkins, but I didn't have any.  I could only find white! So, I purchased some fabric and made my own.  

Out of a yard and a half of fabric, I was able to get 6 napkins that are 16 inches square.

      A couple of years ago I had to purchase a new sewing machine.  I got a Singer Brilliance (that is a refurb version)  and I have loved using the special decorative stitches that it has programmed into it.  Here is the newest version, called Sew Mate.  These are nice machines at a reasonable price. 
      These napkins were simple to sew.  I just folded over the edges twice and used a decorative stitch to make them special. 

     Once the napkins are sewn and pressed, you are ready to fold them! Here is a gallery of pictures to show you how to do it. 

Here they are, all ready for Thanksgiving!

       If you know me at all, you know that I love dishes!  So, I am using two different dishes to try out a place setting to use these special projects on.  Which one do you like best?  

     If you don't want to wash napkins later, you could always use nicer paper napkins.  But, I am so happy with how these came out.  Here is a close-up of the decorative stitching. 

Ugh! I just love these projects so much! They are simple and sweet! I hope you love them, too!

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​Look what I found!