The Toy Box Years: Thanksgiving

The Creators of the Toy Box Years

The creators of the Toy Box Years are my two beautiful daughters and wonderful, handsome soldier husband.

"Nani" (our oldest) is a 11 year old 6th grader who loves Taylor Swift, ballet, books, fashion designing and sewing. Ask her what she wants to be when she grows up and it changes daily to anything from "an artist" to "a teacher" to "a singer/dancer". Nani is also currently fighting a battle against brain cancer -- recently diagnosed in June 2016.

"Nudgie" (our youngest) is a very smiley, very happy, very giggly, very spirited 8 year old 3rd Grader who's favorite toys are anything that gives mommy an anxiety attack - ladders, stepstools, the climbing wall at the playground. Like her sister, she has a love of reading and coloring, loves gymnastics and still provides mommy lots of snuggle time!

"My Marine" is my high school sweetheart. We've been married over 20 years and met when we were 17. (You do the math....) His favorite toys are Blackhawk helicopters, the lawnmower, our steam cleaner, and microbrew beer bottles. My husband is also my hero in that he proudly serves his country as a Blackhawk crew chief (hence his favorite toy!). And need I say that there is nothing hotter than my man in uniform!

All About Me......

Once upon a time I had a career and worked in the corporate world. Once upon a time, I dreamed about leaving that all behind to follow my true calling -- being a wife and mommy.

The first part of my calling was fulfilled in 1995 when I married my Marine (now soldier) and my love. Little did I know that being a military wife would change me in so many ways and that because of that, I would have an extended family all over the world from Japan, to California, to North Carolina.

The second part of my calling took a little doing, but I finally achieved that dream in 2004 with the birth of our first child, followed 4 years later by her baby sister.

So now, when someone asks me what I do for a living - I simply smile and say proudly that I'm following my calling - I'm a mommy and a wife -- and I couldn't be HAPPIER -- I'm living in the Toy Box Years!!

As a little wrap up to our Thanksgiving crafts, I just wanted to share a few photos of what we made over the past month!

I made this turkey to send to my niece for Thanksgiving along with a turkey book. The feathers are removeable and match the button colors. My brother-in-law says that my niece just loves it - which makes me happy!

The girls coloring wooden Thanksgiving pilgrims the day before Thanksgiving

Recycled bud vase filled with decorative stones. The feathers were made out of the sturdier felt and had feathers glued on. The face, feet, and hat were made with regular felt.

The day before Thanksgiving was Grandparents Day at Nani's school. Since her grandparents live in different states, I took Nudgie with me to visit Nani in her classroom. We helped to make handprint turkeys. We didn't have enough time for Nudgie to make one, so I just cut out a couple feathers for her and let her color and glue the face and feet on. We're convinced that Nani is the reincarnation of Picasso - especially if you saw her last craft

I realized that as I was decorating for Thanksgiving, that I didn't have any place settings to match the season. I have Halloween and Christmas. I even have 4th of July and Easter - but no Thanksgiving. So I decided to be a bit creative and try my hand at making my own.

I had some larger pieces of craft foam (about 11x17) that I dug out of my supply. I went to The Dollar Tree and found a package of extra large hair rollers. I found the wooden accents at Hobby Lobby and the fabric at JoAnn Fabrics.

So, I cut my fabric so that it was just a little bigger than my piece of foam - allowing about a 1" border all the way around. I cut 2 pieces so that one would cover the front and then a second piece would cover the back.

Then I took my scissors and cut diagonal in the fabric at the corners.

Then using Fabric Tack fabric glue, I folded the edges over, gluing them to the foam.

Then I took the second piece of fabric and glued it to the back, covering the foam and the edges. (For some reason I didn't get a photo of this step.)

And that was the placemat!

For the napkin rings, I took the hair roller and cut a piece of fabric so that it covered the whole thing. I allowed for about another 1" border on either side as well.

I then rolled the fabric over the roller and secured the ends with a combination of hot glue and the fabric glue. Once that step was done, I then went around the edges and cut strips (kind of like flower petals) all the way around. Then I folded each "petal" down inside the roller and secured it with hot glue.