Thanksgiving Canvas and Banner

Hello, it's Brooke here! Before Thanksgiving has come and gone, I wanted to share 2 little Thanksgiving projects with you: one I made last year, and one I finished TODAY. :) If you're feeling crafty, I bet you could whip up these projects just in time for your Thanksgiving celebrations.

Thanksgiving Canvas
I love making things in photoshop using digital scrapbooking supplies, then combining them with other mediums, such as canvas and ribbon. I created this in photoshop using a scripture that I love from the Book of Mormon (Alma 34:38)---Live in thanksgiving daily. I finished up this project this morning.
I LOVE that and really need to apply it in my life on a daily basis! So I needed to make a cute reminder. :) I printed it at Costco on luster paper. Meanwhile, I had a canvas just sitting around, so I painted it dark brown, and once I picked up my photo I used Mod Podge to stick it on the canvas. I also added a polka dot ribbon and Mod Podged that baby right on too. Mod Podging is a verb, people. :) I love that stuff. I added a layer of Mod Podge on top of everything, and instead of doing a carefully thin perfect layer, I did it messy and cross-hatched, so I could get more of a textured look. Last of all, I added a small velvety flower to finish it off. I love how it looks hanging on my wall!!! It makes me happy and it was super easy. This is something that I can keep up all year long to remind me how blessed we are and to give thanks every single day.

Thankful Banner
I made this project last year for the Oct. 2008 issue of Bella Scraps Magazine, and thought I'd share the tutorial here just for funsies. :)
Materials: printed layouts, coordinating cardstock, adhesive, hole punch, distress ink, various ribbons
Step 1: Create your letter layouts in your photo editing program. I was making the word "thankful" so I made 8 little coordinating mini layouts. I knew I wanted my mounted letters to be 6 inches x 6 inches when finished, so I created my layouts at about 5.25 inches by 5.25 inches so I could have my cardstock mat provide a nice border.
Step 2: Print layouts and cut them out. I used the luster photo paper at Costco, that's my favorite. For the cardstock mats, I used my QuicKutz Silhouette to cut out the various shapes (bracket, scallop, circle, and rounded square). It saved me tons of time but you could make any shape you wanted and cut by hand, or even use chipboard pieces as your mats. I've seen cute banners that use triangles.
Step 3: Adhere the layouts to the shaped cardstock with your favorite acid-free adhesive. You could use double-sided sticky tape, glue sticks, Mod Podge, or Zyron machine, whatever floats your boat! Then punch a hole in the top 2 corners of each layout. I made my holes about 1/2 inch in. I also inked up the edges of the cardstock with distress ink.
Step 4: Now it's time to string up the banner. I cut my ribbon to a 7 foot length (I laid out my banner and allowed enough ribbon for a few inches in between each letter and about 12 inches on each end for hanging up). Then I threaded the ribbon through all of the holes in the tops of the layouts until they were all strung together. I used about a 3/4 inch wide ribbon and it was very easy to thread through the holes. Knot the ends to secure.

Step 5: Add coordinating ribbon as accents to the banner. I wanted to keep it simple so I just added some green ties in between each letter.
Step 6: Hang up your banner and enjoy! It's a fun way to use digiscrapping in your home decor. Now that all the hard work is done, I get to hang it up every year! :) Credits: Shabby Princess "Autumn Medley" and "Harvest Spice" papers; GG Digital Designs "Fall Fun" chipboard letters
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Have a great day and have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.
Love, Brooke
(Feel free to visit my personal blog, Little Wonders)