Thanksgiving Blessings Holder

I found this idea on another blog and fell in love with it immediately. With Kyle getting older, I really want to make each holiday have a special tradition and I think I'm going to like this one.

This is a Thanksgiving Blessings holder--just like the poem says! I plan on making these for all of my family. Each year I will put them out along with paper and pens. I plan on keeping the previous years' papers inside so they can read what they were thankful for in the past. I can't decide if I want to put names on each of them so they always get their holder back or if I should pass them out randomly and let others read what was written the year before. Decisions, decisons! Let me know what you think by leaving a comment at the end of this post.

You can find a copy of the Blessings poem under Project Directions to the right. Just print it out on the cardstock of your choice. Cut each poem to 2 3/4" x 1 5/8". The next layer is 2 7/8 x 1 3/4". The Chocolate Chip layer is 3 x 1 7/8".

Get a totally different look by changing your designer paper! My first example uses the Autumn Vine Designer Paper found in the Holiday Mini catalog. The other example uses the Hawaii Papaya Designer Paper.

To make the holder:

1. Start with a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of cardstock.
2. Score at 5 1/2".
3. Trim @1" off one end. Then score that shorter end at 1". Round the corners of this flap, if you wish.
4. Add a piece of designer paper to the front--4 1/4 x 3 1/2".
4. Fold back the flap and add adhesive to keep it shut.
5. Now, decide if you want to add ribbon along the sides or sticky strip.
6. If you are doing ribbon, punch 3 holes using the crop-a-dile on each side below the flap and a hole on each side on the flap.
8. Cut a 20" piece of ribbon. Insert ribbon from the back in the bottom holes. Do a "blanket" stitch along both sides. Tie ends across flap into a knot. If you wish to have a bow on front, you will need to make your ribbon longer.

You can always change the size of your blessings holder. The directions I found were 5" wide, but I wanted to maximize the number I could get per sheet, so I changed it.