Beautiful Handmade
Thanksgiving Cards

To start, I had just bought a bag of left over ribbon from Joann Fabric Store for a buck and I really wanted to use this really pretty orange ribbon, but it ended up being too thick, but it was so pretty I still had to put up a photo here:

So I rummaged through the bag o' ribbon and found this olive green ribbon that looked great with the cream and green colored cardstock that I chose.

And amazingly I managed to make a little bow out of the ribbon to spruce it up a bit. Ideas for Thanksgiving cards abound when you have a lot of different random things to work with!

I think the olive colored ribbon looks way better than the super bright orange ribbon, don't you think?

Also, I don't know if the brads mesh that well with the message (a little too crowded maybe?), perhaps I should have just let it be. Making Thanksgiving cards one at a time will help you to decide what works and what doesn't.

The maple stamp I had on hand, I used a dark green brush marker against the green cardstock and it ended up looking really pretty.

With the scrap pieces I decided to make a little "Be Thankful" message - although initially I wasn't going to have a message on this homemade card.

So this Thanksgiving card idea went through many transformations before getting to where it is today!

Hope this inspires you to let your imagination run wild as well!

Happy Crafting!

• Cardstock for the actual card, I chose a cream with some brown specks on it - makes it look "natural."

• Cardstock for your stamping - I chose green.

• Maple Leaf rubber stamp - or any flower or plant-like stamp should do.

• Ink pad or Brush Marker - I chose a dark green.

• Ribbon - not to thick, unless you are planning on making a big card, this card is 6" x 6" (I actually measured it this time!).

• Pen for writing your message.

• Craft Knife or Paper trimmer

• Scissors

• Steel Ruler

• Bone folder

• Glue runner, I used a glue runner because I don't have any fabric glue for attaching the ribbon and it worked out really well.

• Two brads, optional.

1. Cut and fold your cream colored cardstock to the desired size; I made this card 6" x 6."

2. Rubber stamp your image all over your green colored cardstock.

3. Trim your green colored cardstock to fit to about half of the front of your card.

   
   

4. Glue the green colored cardstock onto the front of the card.

5. Trim your ribbon to fit along the card a little longer on each end to secure it on the other side.

6. Using the glue runner, glue the ribbon covering the edge where the cream cardstock and green colored cardstock meet.

7. Glue the extra edges of the ribbon on the other side of the card.

8. Make a bow! Trim about three inches of ribbon, fold the edges of the ribbon inward and secure with glue. Take another small piece of ribbon, about one inch, and wrap it around the middle, gluing it to the back of the bow. Glue the bow onto the front of the card along the ribbon.

   Looking at the card now, it might also be cute to make a couple more bows to attach along the ribbon of the card, too.

9. Use your scrap pieces of cardstock to cut two strips, the green colored cardstock a little thicker than the cream colored cardstock.

10. Write your message "Be Thankful" "Give Thanks" or whatever you like on your cream colored strip.

    
    

11. Trim your strips of cardstock so that your message fits inside of the thicker piece of cardstock.

12. Glue your smaller strip of cardstock onto your thicker piece of cardstock.

13. Glue your message onto the front of your card.

14. Optional: Use your craft knife to cut two tiny slits where your brads will go on either side of your message.

15. Optional: Put your brads through the slits that you cut and secure them on the other side of the card.

Check out More Handmade Thanksgiving Cards


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