DIY Turkey Snack Tins!

We are just having a ball over here at our house, coming up with fun craft ideas to dress up our holiday table!  This week, we hit up our local $ Tree and found all sorts of odds and ends to keep around for last minute activities to help the little ones stay busy & delight our Thanksgiving guests on the big day too!  

Take a look at how fun & simple these DIY Turkey Snack tins are; you can put them together in minutes and they sure make serving up treats a lot more exciting than your run-of-the-mill bowl!  Just check these out . . .

Supplies You Will Need:

~ Soup can
~ Decorative paper
~ Kraft paper/grocery bag/or Kraft gift bag
~ Glue gun & glue sticks
~ Scissors
~ Double-sided tape
~ Christmas ornament (we used a plastic one from the Dollar Tree)
~ 2 buttons
~ Orange bead (or orange felt)
~ Red ribbon

Directions:

1.) Cover your soup can with decorative paper & affix with double-sided tape.

2.) Cut 3 equal pieces of kraft paper or grocery bag (we used spare kraft gift bags from the Dollar Tree:) into equal squares about 9" x 9.5".

3.) Accordian fold all 3 pieces.

4.) Round the corners.

5.) Fold each of the folded strips of paper in half, adhering them with double-sided tape.

6.) Adhere all three piece together.

7.) Fold your paper pinwheel open, leaving one unattached portion on the bottom.

8.) Cut an oval out of leftover paper and affix it to the front, bottom (above the open portion) of your paper pinwheel.

9.) With your glue gun, attach the scrap circle to the back of the covered soup can.

10.) Cut your decorative paper into equal strips, about 3.5 inches wide and 12 inches long.

11.)  Draw the shape of a turkey feather onto the back of one of the strips.  Stack the paper strips together and cut as many 'feathers' at a time as your scissors can handle.

12.) Arrange your decorative paper feathers into a fan-shape and stick them together with your double-sided tape.

13.) Hot glue the paper feather fan to the back of the paper pinwheel.

14.) Remove the hook clasp on the front of your plastic holiday ornament.

15.) Use the hot glue gun to adhere the ornament to the front of the soup can.

16.) Cut a small piece of ribbon and hot glue it to the front, center of your ornament.

17.) Glue two buttons above the ribbon to make the 'eyes'.

18.) Next, add an orange bead under the button eyes to make the 'nose' (you can cut a small piece of orange felt for a 'nose' if you would rather:)

19.) Fill your soup can with nuts, snacks, jumbo crayons, candy, or whatever your little heart desires and set this little guy out on the table for your Thanksgiving guests to enjoy!

Isn't he just glorious?  Now I know you all are just itching to get to holiday decorating (I can tell from the Pinterest Christmas frenzy!)  But I have a few more Turkey Day crafts & decorations up my sleeve first!  I just love this holiday-all about family, friends, & gratitude; and so many fun possibilities for crafting with the kiddos too!!

DIY Yarn Christmas Tree Tutorial

(via http://www.unionpeople.info)

So your shopping is done, your presents are wrapped, the stockings are stuffed, and your baking is finished and you are looking for a few last minute centerpiece ideas for your holiday table?

Well, look no further, because these gorgeous little yarn Christmas trees are so simple to do and so creatively chic, and you know you have too much extra yarn lying around anyway, right?  Check out this fantastic little Christmas tree tutorial from One Happy Mama . . .

YARN CHRISTMAS TREE


Supplies You Will Need:
~ styrofoam trees (found at your local craft store)
~ yarn (used really fuzzy yarn for an even more whimsical feel)
~ hot glue gun
~ felt
~ toothpicks
~ glue dots
~ star punch or star die cuts
~ felt balls


Directions:
1.) Start by tracing the bottom of each tree on your felt. I used some dark brown felt, but you can use any color since you won't really see this felt - it'll just cover up the styrofoam on the bottom protecting any surface that you place it on. Once you have the circles cut for the bottoms - hot glue them on each tree.


2.) Next get your yarn ready, put a bead of hot glue along the very bottom of the tree base and then place your first row of yarn on it. Be careful not to burn your fingers! ;) You can do a little at a time to be sure you don't. ;)

3.) Go around the bottom with the yan and then once you have that first row secure, continue wrapping and wrapping the yarn all the way up the tree. You don't even have to wrap it perfectly - I had my yarn overlapping, etc., and it turned out cute and whimsical. This craft isn't suppose to be difficult and sress you out - only fun with cute results! ;)

4.) Once you get to the top, clip off the yarn right before the very tip of the styrofoam tree, unless your tree has a pointy top. If it does - just continue wrapping it and clip it off and secure it down with glue. If your tree is like mine and had more of a flat top - what I did was clip off the yarn once I got to the top and then put some glue on the top of the tree and then starting in the center, I started with the yarn and then wrapped it in a circular pattern until the top styrofoam was covered.

5.) Then for a cute touch, I added some felt balls that I had to the tree for little ornaments. You could very easily just leave these trees bare for a simple look - I wanted a bit more whimsy so I put the felt balls on the tree. You can be creative and use other things too like pom pom balls, jingle bells, etc.

6.) Lastly, I punched out two star for each tree using a star punch and some pink glittered American Crafts cardstock and then I put a super strong glue dot on one star, placed the toothpick on top of that glue dot and then added another glue dot on top of the toothpick and then added the other star on top of it. Then I stuck the toothpick into the top of the tree.

Voila. Cute Christmas yarn trees.

And as always, a tiny bit more to get your wheels a-turning . . .

(above images via http://www.livinglocurto.com/2011/12/yarn-christmas-craft/)

Aren't those colors just lovely?  Or you could go a more simple route if you prefer  . . .

(photo courtesy of http://ashleyflad.blogspot.com/2010/11/cranny-yarn-christmas-tree-giveaway.html)

(image via http://pretty-ditty.blogspot.com/2009/12/yarn-christmas-trees-tutorial.html)

(photo courtesy of http://digeny.blogspot.com/2010/12/diyable-christmas-tree-countdown-yarn.html)

(image via http://www.kimberleemarie.com/blog/easy-christmas-decorating-ideas/attachment/yarn-wrapped-christmas-trees/)

Aren't they darling?  And simple to make too!  Stay tuned for a couple last minute Tree Tutorials.  You are going to just love them, I promise!!  Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!