It's a wonderful way to record your family's many blessings.
I used two 12 x 12 pieces of brown paper: one for the trunk and the other for the branches. Both rough drawn and cut.
Taped to the kitchen wall.
In the past I have traced cookie cutters for the leaves.
This year I was lazy and found these already cut out ones in the Target scrapbook section. :0)
Every day we write down a couple of things we are thankful for.
And add them to the branches. By Thanksgiving our tree will be full!
66 comments:
I've thought about making a Thanksgiving tree every year. I'll have to try it, now that I know Target sells premade leaves. ;-D
Looks good, Kelli.
Hi:)
Wow, this is amazing. Here in Norway we do not celebrate Thanksgiving, but my daughter who is in Dallas, Texas does. She will go to the family of her friend and celebrate:) You are making the most beautiful things, it is so nice to visit you blog, and to be honest I am popping by every morning:) Take care.
Lill
What a wonderful idea, Kelli!
Hi Kelli,
I just love this idea. I wish I had done something like this when my children were small. Oh well, guess I'll have to save this idea for when I become a grandma (someday?).
Love & Prayers,
Ronda
Beautiful! I have just posted about it!
What a great idea! And so simple I might even be able to try it! Thanks for sharing!
What a cute idea!
Manuela
Very cute....great idea!
Oh, that is a great Thanksgiving tree. We have done those in the past and it was so much fun.
I love this idea! How pretty that must look on your wall. We just do the simple paper chain at our house, but I sure would like to try this! :-)
That is a pretty tree! We like to collect leaves and press them. Then label them later on.
Great idea! I'm going to start one today!
Oh my gosh, I am going to Target today to look for those leaves, I did a horrible job of drawing some last year when I made this tree! Yours looks so nice, last year was the first year we did one , I think it is such a great idea, for families, adults, children, singles, EVERYONE has something to be thankful for! Oh hey it was in the 70's yesterday here in Chicago, can ya believe it!
((hugs))
Kelly
We love our Jesse Tree each Christmas. I think I'll try a Thanksgiving Tree this year. With ways the Lord has blessed us. I'm sure it will fill up before I know it.
My 8yo dd loves the Target leaves. Too bad they weren't in the dollar section. Lol.
Great idea! I will have to give this one a go. Thanks for sharing.
What a cute idea. I'm going to pass this on to my daughter.
I love this. What a great way for the whole family to show their thanks
Hi Kelli, What a nice idea. It makes me wish my kids were small and living at home again. I still suffer from empty nest syndrome. :-)
Have a good Tuesday. Debbi
Hi Kelli, It's me again. I just wanted to tell you that I thought this would be a wondeful idea to do in my Sunday School Class. Thanks for sharing. Debbi
What a wonderful idea, Kelli! I tend to do this with my family this November.
What a super cute idea Kelli!!! I may have to try this as well! Thank you so much for sharing it with us! :)
What a wonderful idea Kelli! I love this.
Hi Kelli!
I have a tip for your tree.
For those who are artistically challenged, you can go to Mardel or some other teacher supply store and purchase a bulletin board tree that is already done for you. You should also be able to purchase just the leaves.
Whether you purchase a ready made tree or create your own, you can laminate the leaves and write your blessings with the 'vis a vis' pens that are used for overhead projectors. They are wet erase. You can wipe them clean with a damp paper towel and store the whole thing with your fall decorations. Then you only have to invest your time and/or money once and it will last many years. Especially if you use poster putty to hang them up.
You can laminate your leaves at Mardel for a small fee. Or if you don't have a Mardel close to you, you can cover them with clear contact paper to get the same effect.
Hope this tip is helpful for someone.
Hugs, Theresa in TX
I used to do a "Compliment Tree" in my classroom. (I made the kids cut out the leaves---good motor skill practice--and I didn't want to do it myself after the first year!!!) Each leaf was a kind thought from another. Even people outside our classroom would add leaves to compliment my kids. It was wonderful. At the end, I'd sort out all the leaves and put them in ziploc bags for each kid. And yes, I must confess now, I often added leaves -with disguised handwriting-to help fill up not-so-full bags. I think somewhere in my old classroom treasures I probably still have a bag or two of my own leaves.
At Christmas I would put up a paper Christmas Tree and we'd do it over again with colored circles for ornaments.
I'd love to do this now, but I think DUmpling would just pull the leaves down and eat them. :)
What a blessing you are to your family and to all of us, Kelli!!
I love that! I think we'll copy you and make one too.
Hi Kelli...what a great way to remind children and grown-ups alike to be thankful for all the blessings we have in life...I like your little one's Webkind leaf...too cute!
You are a never ending source of inspiration my dear!
Warm Wishes,
Susie
What I great idea. I have never head of this. Too bad our Thanksgiving is over here in Canada :(
This looks like a great thing to do all year long. :-)
OH what a cute idea!! Love it!
thanks so much for sharing:) This is a great idea!!
That is such a wonderful idea. When Mary gets a little older, I will do that with her! Thanks for sharing this:)
I used to do that for my kids when I taught school. WE put everything in our tree from leaves, nuts, birds and even squirrels.
Such a neat idea Kelli!! I love Thanksgiving ~ its one of my favorite holidays!
We've done this for Sunday School so don't know why we didn't do this at home! The kids are grown now but will pass it on for grandbabies!
Thanks Kelli,
LF
Great idea Kelli.
I look forward to reading more about your Thanksgiving celebrations.
Lindsay
What a fun, fantastic idea! I'm going to use something like this for my Heads-Up Girls!!! Karol
Oh...we wish to do this when my children were little. I miss those special times so much. (If only I could get my husband to join in...we could have our own Thankful Tree. I don't see that happening. :)) Yours is so pretty, too.
I love your tree, My 2 are going to love doing stuff like that when they get a little older :)
I really like this idea. When my DH and I are blessed with little ones, we will have to do this.
What a cute idea. I may steal this idea, Kelli!
That is such a beautiful tradition!
I'm all over that. What a GREAT idea. I wanted to create today and could not think of what or where. Thank you for tickling my senses. :)
I was about to start moving furniture around. hehe.
Wendy
I just found your blog through Diddle Daddle designs. You have a beautiful blog. I will be visiting often.
I love that idea Kelli. One year I took a white tablecloth and just painted a turkey on. I will pull it out and be festive about it. I haven't used it for a long time now, but I do remember that last Thanksgiving meal with that tablecloth. Memories. Thanks Kelli
There are so many things you do with your children that I wish I could have done with mine...now I have a second chance to do them with my new granddaughter:-) So many wonderful traditions that I want to share with her!! xoxo
I have just discovered your beautiful 'blogspot'. It is so welcoming and I can't wait to visit you again. Thank you for sharing so much of your home and ideas.
I'm not very arty, but have recently decided to have a try at making my Christmas cards and gift tags and your step-by-step ideas have given me inspiration. Thank you so much.
Have a blessed week.
Carol
Kelli-
Do you know how to make gift bags out of wrapping paper from rolls?
Danielle
We do that by making a turkey and adding feathers of gratitude--it will be a post of mine at a later date. I enjoy noticing what I'm grateful for and so do the kids. Have a great day. Julie
Love this idea!! This may have to become a tradition for us as well.
Kelli,
I LOVE this idea!!! I saw something similar as a garland today on a blog...
http://bloggingwithus.blogspot.com/
What a great way to let everyone know what we are THANKFUL for!
How very cute. I hope you save the leaves. They'll be great to look at when the kids are grown. Mimi
What a great idea! Your a thankful lady!
Kelli I have left you a wonderful award at my blog please stop by and visit and check out your blog award.
Kelli, thanks for dropping by my blog. I love this idea and wanted to share it with my readers. I made mine last night and hung it on the side of the refrigerator. Thanks for sharing one of your traditions with all of us.
Teresa
What a lovely idea! So simple and yet so effective. A great way to teach children to count blessings! I wish I had thought of this when my children were small. :)
I love this idea. If I can get organized enough at home (ie getting caught up on all of Kaia's homework, and getting our house cleaned) I might try to do this, this year.
Another idea for leaves is see if your church has a die cut. We do for leaves. Also some craft stores will die cut the paper if you purchase the paper there. It definitely would save time, and if at church, money!
what a great thing to do. i love it!
Such a cute idea - love it!
I love this idea, Kelli. It's so sweet. :)
Your tree is so pretty! We used to do a variation of this when my kids were little. I traced their hands for the leaves. I remember one year, the tree didn't have enough leaves for my industrious little Gracie and she "drew" leaves on my wall with a sharpie marker. For many years, I left them there and placed a bookshelf in front of them. They were a sweet reminder of their childhood!
This is a darling idea! What a great day to show our father in heaven how grateful we are!
Congratulations on getting your voters card!
Hugs, Sharon
Wow! I will have to try it! Visit paris's blog puppycove.blogspot.com
Love this idea!
what a really nice idea!
This is a FABULOUS idea! One that I definitely will use with Elizabeth when she gets a bit older. I LOVE THIS! Thank you for sharing!
His,
Mrs. U
That's a wonderful tradition! :-)
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