Sunday, November 17, 2013

A Cornucopia of Thanks

This is a craft that I did last year, and I had this post typed up and ready to publish, but then something happened. I felt sick to my stomach and figured that no one would want to read about my silly cornucopia given the circumstances....

But I honestly don't remember what happened! The only thing coming to mind was Hurricane Sandy's destruction, but I feel like I would have posted this later... Either way, I'm stumped and this craft was never published!

It gets to come out of the vault because I'm holding Thanksgiving dinner at my home again this year (I'm actually pretty excited - last year I was too stressed to enjoy it), and you have to have something festive, right?

So here goes!

I made a cornucopia. Out of thumbtacks. And I think it's pretty rockin'.


This was a super quick, cheap, and easy craft (and that's how we like 'em!) to get something Thanksgiving-y (technical term!) up before having a bunch of people eat my cooking on one of the most intimidating beloved cooking days of the year.

I remember my mom asking everyone at the table, in turn, to say what we were thankful for. I remember not wanting anyone to think what I said was silly, and hated being in the "spotlight". So, instead of having everyone say what they're thankful for, I made cards for it to be written on (I imagine this being very cute to look back on when the kids are much older - there is no doubt "Minecraft" will be on one of those cards!).

To make the cornucopia, I found a 2' x 2' piece of white styrofoam, two packs of gold thumb tacks and a roll of golden duct tape from Target.


The thumb tacks were the packs of 300 from Dollar Tree.


Next, I painted the styrofoam with acrylic paint (you could also use a cork board, fabric covered styrofoam, or even fabric covered cardboard. Anything the thumb tacks will stick into!) and started making a cornucopia.


I realized at this point that... well, I'm not very artistic... and this could easily turn into a sea shell, or heck.. the Cheshire Cat! Who knows! So I found some cornucopia clipart and used it for reference while I lightly drew it onto the styrofoam.

Not that I'm not thankful for sea shells, or anything... that just wasn't the look I was goin' for!


I just tacked the thumb tacks over the pencil lines, keeping them close (even overlapping them in a few spots) to avoid gaps until there was a finished cornucopia.


Then I "freehanded" (can that be used when talking about thumb tacks?) the word "Thankful" with thumb tacks.


And then stopped taking pictures!

Because that's how the awesome people roll.

To finish, I wrote "I am" on top of the "Thankful" with a metallic sharpie (can be painted, or even left out!) and "for" underneath "Thankful" and wrapped the corners with gold duct tape. That was best done one side at a time, instead of trying to wrap the whole thing at once. Just trust me on that.

Since I had the thumb tacks, I just twisted a string around two of them and tacked them onto the back, creating a "hook" to hang it with. It's so light weight that I've had no problems with it hanging with the thumb tacks, but if you make one with a different material, use your best judgement on how best to hang it.


The finished piece has definitely gotten a lot of compliments, and I've made sure to keep a stack of card stock nearby so that anyone can write what they're thankful for (make sure to have them write their name and the year!) and tack it up there.

Can I be cheesy and mention that I'm thankful for all of my supportive readers? Because I am. You all rock my world!

Do you have any last minute Thanksgiving decorations / crafts / preparations to make before the big day?

4 comments:

  1. I really love this Gina! What a great idea, I love the thumb tacks! It would be so fun to collect what people are thankful for over the years! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Pinned it!

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    1. Thanks, girly! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, too! xo

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  2. Cute idea. Hey, you don't post as much anymore. Just wanted to let you know, you are missed!

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    1. Lisa, you're so awesome <3 Thank you for stopping by and letting me know that someone cares. Haha. xo

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