Thanksgiving Greeter
November 24, 2011
Good morning Clear Scraps friends!
Leah Crowe here this morning, and I'm excited for Thanksgiving here in the States. I can't even remember the reason, but my children and I did not carve our Pumpkins this Halloween, which led me to this fun family project I created with the help of my children. My cousin is hosting Thanksgiving, and I wanted to make her something fun to display on her porch as all her guests arrive this year.
To get started, I gathered my Clears Scraps Large Scallop Banner, pattern paper, ink, glue, scissors, twine, embellishments, and craft knife.
First I paper pieced my turkey face using chipboard from a cereal box. I covered that in Kraft cardstock, inked the edges, then drew on my eyes. I let the small ones color in the eyeballs as I cut out the shape for the beak, wattle, feet, and hat. We then glued all the paper pieces to the Turkey's face, and glued the face to the center of the pumpkin, and the feet to the bottom.
Next using the one of the banners, we traced the scallop edge on our 6 sheets of pattern paper. I chose 6 different double sided pattern papers so I wouldn't have to repeat the same pattern more than twice if I didn't want to.
Here's a tip, it takes a little more time, but your scallop pieces will be more uniform when it comes time to adhere them to the banner. Trace the top edge, then go down each side about 1" following the line, then draw a line connecting the two points so they meet horizontally. Cut this piece out and use it as your template until your pattern sheet is full.
Cut out your scallops and ink the edges if you choose.
My Turkey has 5 feathers, so grab 5 acrylic banner pieces. Measuring from the tip of the banner along one side, go up 2" and bend the acrylic up. This is what will anchor the feathers to your Turkey without need for adhesive.
Turn your pumpkin around where the back is facing you and draw a light line in pencil where you want your feathers to be placed. Very carefully using your craft knife, cut a 1 1/2" line where the banner will be inserted into the pumpkin. The very first time you place your banner pieces in the turkey it will be hard, I had my husband help me the first time. Peel the film to right above the bend mark, then push the acrylic in your turkey. Now is the time to make any adjustments with placement.
Working on one banner piece at a time, peel the film the rest of the way off both sides, and adhere your scallops to your acrylic, starting at the top. If you want more definition on the "feathers" bend the paper scallops towards you before adhering to the acrylic.
I glued paper scallops down to about 1/2" above the bend in the acrylic.
Turn your piece over and trim off the overhang.
Here is one complete
Once you have all your feathers glued to the acrylic, it's just time to insert them into the Turkey, errr pumpkin. :)
What I love about this, people are going to want to see how you made this. There are no nails or ugly bits hanging about, and you can see the beautiful patterns on the back that you miss out seeing on the front.
You can really cut down on time if you have several helpers. One to make the face, several to help you ink the paper scallops, etc. It can turn a couple hours into time well spent with your family and loved ones.
Until next time,
Leah Crowe - Clear Scraps Design Team
Products Used: Clear Scraps Large Acrylic Scallop Banner; PP: Cosmo Cricket, My Minds Eye, Crate, LilyBee, Pebbles; Cardstock: Kraft; Ink: Ranger; Glue: Beacons 3-in-1; Twine: JilliBean Soup; Markers: Zig;
Super cute! I'm gonna do this for next year! HMMM, Now I'm wondering what it would take to turn my white pumpkin in a Santa for Christmas...
Posted by: VIrginia Poland | November 24, 2011 at 07:04 AM
Oooh Ginny, or a great snowman!!! :) :)
Posted by: Leah Crowe | November 24, 2011 at 07:25 AM
This is soooooooooooooo FUN!!! I loveeeeeeeeee it! Thanks for sharing how you put it together! Happy Thanksgiving!! :):):):):):):):):):):)
Posted by: Julie Tucker-Wolek | November 24, 2011 at 08:43 AM
so cute! thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Nhung Tran | November 29, 2011 at 09:39 PM