Holidays are simply days, but somehow they make life feel a little more special. I don't have a thing with dates on holidays. I mean yes, is it nice to set aside a particular day on the day but for me it is more about what you do then the day you do it on, if that makes any sense. All this to say that holidays are dear to me even including the holidays that have yet to fully be capitalized on, such as Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is acutally my mother's favorite holiday. I doubt it is the turkey but it could be. I have always assumed it is because it is a holiday with all activities based around food but that's not what the holiday is acutally about. It is a day that you slow down and spend time with family, whether traditional blood family or a family you have built with close friends.
In my love of holidays this one is no exception, and thus I must decorate. Positively from September on you can have fall decorations up and they are perfect for Thanksgiving too. I like to add a few more fully Thanksgiving thing around the house.
I am cheap, I have mentioned this before, so my goal in decorating is to spend no money, or if I have to the least amount possible. Because of my ever demanding "tight" thought process I try to use things around the house. You know there is always some stuff around the house you don't use. That is what today's Thanksgiving craft is all about.
Making a turkey with the items in your house.
I started with this book. To be honest it was a premarital book that we were given that was truly horrible, it said that honesty was not something to base a marriage off of and that individuality and independence were key... in my experience those are the complete opposite of true, at least in Chris and my marriage.
Then I proceeded to bend the cover and pages in almost like I was making a paper airplane. I bent my pages in so that every other would face each other, if that makes any sense. When looking at the open book, the right page I would bend down towards the middle of the book and then the left page I would bend in that same middle of the book, but to each their own.
This took me somewhere around 3 minutes.
This is the turkey feathers, lay it flat somewhere, I put my turkey on my mantel, at least for now (I tend to change my mind).
Next step is take a piece of paper, I took mine from legal document in an add book that I got from a company I no longer work with.
My particular piece of paper was too tall so I folded it down, I might suggest that you double up on the paper... you'll see why in a bit.
After you have folded, if you need to, roll the paper up, making the top slightly bigger than the bottom. Tape the roll, a small amount should do.
Then attach that roll to the book you bent in the beginning. I did this by taping the almost farthest points of the roll to the book cover, the tap making a large V. If you decided to attach the roll that way the bottom of the roll will crease some. This roll becomes the head. I had a small ball of yarn laying around the house so I used that has the turkey head.
Making it up as I went, I decided that the look was not complete. It needed color and a beak. Looking around the house I tried to see if there way anything I could make into a beak. . . and there was.
A bread tie, I folded and creased it back and forth making a V shape with the bread tie. Then I wiggled it in between the threads of yarn.
Though the red of the bread tie added some color it wasn't quite enough for my tastes so I pulled out my water colors set, it is nothing special, probably the same set that you would find in a children art kit, but it works.
Though I added the color on the "neck" of the turkey after attaching it I would advice adding it before attaching it... it would make the whole process a lot easier.
It may not be "Martha Stewart" but it get's the job done for free and in under 10 minutes. I couldn't beat it, can you? What holiday crafts will you be doing this year?
By Rachel Abi
