Thanksgiving Cookie Place Cards

Before I show my Thanksgiving Cookie Place Cards, I have to share this yummy recipe I found! It was my Mum's birthday last week and all she asked for was a carrot cake. A carrot cake for Mum? Well I had to find the very best one. I found this delicious recipe at Gimme Some Oven. Fresh grated carrots, roasted black walnuts and raisins that have been plumped.

It was such a delicious three layer cake! So beautiful - it was a perfect, autumnal birthday cake. I quickly made a little banner with some beautiful Fancy Pants Design paper to add just an extra touch of love. What is your favorite carrot cake recipe?

This week I really wanted to try making marshmallow fondant. I found a great recipe at Moms & Munchkins. Tackle this baby at least 1 day in advance before you want to use it - I found day 2 was a smashing success! And be prepared that this is a messy endeavor.. have a couple dish clothes at the ready.

Thanksgiving Cookie Place Cards - Items Needed
Batch of baked and cooled cookies
Batch of marshmallow fondant
Corn syrup
Royal icing frosting - piping consistency (frosting bag, coupler and size 2 tip)
Red and orange gel food coloring
toothpicks

Start out with some freshly baked cookies - any type of sugar cookie will do. I like chocolate because I think it adds some flavor dimension. I also used an oval shape - you could use anything (square, circle, turkey, etc.) You will want something that is large enough to frost a name on to.

Roll out your marshmallow fondant thinly - about 1/8" thick and cut with the same cookie cutter used earlier. You need an edible adhesive to put on the cookie to stick to the fondant. You could thinly paint corn syrup, any type of frosting or ganache. I happened to have chocolate ganache in my fridge and used that. Then layer the fondant down on top. Smooth out the sides of the fondant, pushing it on to the cookie.

Mix a small amount of fondant with orange dye and another small amount with red. Roll into a boll and smush until it is consistently colored, unless you prefer a marbled look. With a sharp knife or toothpick, cut out the shape of the leaves and carefully create a vein through the center of the leaf.

Adhere the fondant leaves to the cookies by placing a small amount of corn syrup painted on the back of the leaf.

Prepare your frosting bag with coupler and size 2 tip. Carefully write each guest's name on the cookies with royal icing and allow to dry.

These cookies do not need to be refrigerated and can be done a few days in advance. Just keep them covered in a cool, dark spot of the kitchen.

Such a fun and yummy way to set the Thanksgiving table! You can also get the younger ones involved with this. Fondant decorations can be made in advance. Simply set up a cookie station with corn syrup, new paint brushes (to be used with food only), and frosting. While you work on the the turkey and stuffing, your kids will have the best time creating these.

Thanksgiving Turkey Legs - Sugar Cookies

It's been a few years since I've enjoyed cookie art. I've had such a desire to paint lately and figured that with the holidays coming that I would put it to an edible use. These are so fun - my kids were going nuts as I made them. And children are exactly who I had in mind for these - a yummy treat during the Thanksgiving season.

For these cookies, I used Sweetopia's Chocolate Sugar Cookie recipe. It is incredibly delicious - an amazing chocolate flavor and smooth cookie bite. This recipe does make quite a bit of cookies, so be prepared for a full bowl of dough.

The cookie cutter for the turkey legs is actually a hot air balloon! I love cutters that can be used in various ways. My friends and I actually came up with quite a long list of what this cutter could be used as.

Now that I have 3 crazy kids corralling me while I'm in the kitchen, I have to be as efficient as possible. Here are my tools ready to go and this is what you will need:

*hot air balloon cookie cutter

*royal icing

*2 icing bags with couplers and size 2 round tips

*2 squeeze bottles

*brown sanding sugar

*2 disposable cups

*spray bottle

*brown icing color

I love this royal icing recipe from Cake Central. It was the perfect amount for these 4 large cookies with a bit left over.

After the frosting is made, I move a small bit into a disposable cup. I tinted it with the tiniest bit of brown to create a nice taupe, bone color. I learned this fabulous trick on Sweet Sugar Belle about placing the frosting in some plastic wrap and placing it all in the icing bag - you have to go check this out. It has changed my life!

After outlining the turkey meat and bone.

Once the outlining is done, it's time to create the flood icing. I spritz the the icing until it has a nice fluid consistency, like syrup, and place into the squeeze bottles. My cups are cracked here because I smash the sides together while pouring the icing out - makes it nice and easy to clean up!

Flood the bone with icing and allow it to dry. I use a long skewer to help gently push the icing around and pop any bubbles that arise.

Then flood the turkey meat area and sprinkle a bit of brown sanding sugar on top.

I guarantee you that these will be a hit! Silly and delicious - just as a sugar cookie should be..

The Thankful Advent

Want to learn how to make my Thankful Advent?

It's all about remembering your blessings!

I'm guest posting today over at Mom Endeavors!

Another Toddler Thanksgiving Craft

I tried again to find a "job" to entertain my sweet toddler while I tried to get work done. I found a super cute Thanksgiving fingerpaint project on All Kids Network. Isabelle is crazy about painting and I rarely let her at home - just too much work with her busy hands and the baby. However I'm trying more and more to move out of my comfort zone so that she can learn and enjoy.

I cut the corn and stalks last night. My husband insisted that I cut some green leaves for the cob as well. Husbands are funny, aren't they? But I gave in..

On her own she painted the corn very similar to the original tutorial.

I didn't even instruct on what she should do. Love her orderly pieces of corn.
And then well.. that got boring I guess. We ended up with a crop of muddy corn! She had fun and I got no work done, but we had a great afternoon together while the baby napped.
And I have more cute Thanksgiving decorations. Granted they are muddy brown, but they are made with love!

Turkey Garland

The Baby still insists on 2 naps a day while I'm lucky if I can get Kiddo to be quiet for 1 nap. During the morning nap I try to work while Kiddo plays or reads. The reality is Kiddo wants to hang on my leg and have constant attention. It's hard to balance this. I want Kiddo to feel loved and have that special time with me, but there are some days that I'm so busy that I quite simply need to work. I thought if I had some dedicated crafts for her to do while I worked, that we might both be happier.

Early this morning I searched Pinterest for Thanksgiving inspired child crafts. I found this post on the blog, Chasing Fireflies. I loved it! I thought it would be a great activity for Kiddo and would be super cute as a decoration. I made a pot of coffee and chopped up Kiddo's doodled construction paper in festive colors. Now if you spend some more time punching holes in the "feathers" your Kiddo's life maybe a tad easier, but.. I'm lazy.
During Baby's nap I gave Kiddo the colorful stack of feathers, a skein of yarn I no longer loved, and a yarn needle. Kiddo is around my sewing tools 24/7, so I feel very comfortable with her using a blunt yarn needle. She's 3 1/2. Please use your own judgement with your kids... I showed her a few times how to punch through the paper using the needle and off she went.
Did I get more work done? Probably not. My leg is still the place to cling to no matter what craft is available. However, she did finish a beautiful strand of garland all on her own. It looks awesome and fun in our playroom. And I actually love that the feathers are from doodled paper.. looks more like us..
What was I working on? Well it's top secret, Peeps! But here is a tiny peek..

Linking up to: Tatertots & Jello

Inspiration

When Isabelle was born, I created a mini quilt for her every month.

Now that Juliette is here, I don't have the same amount time to devote to both girls, but I really wanted to continue with little monthly gifts for both of them.

For November, I knew that I wanted to make them hairbows with matching shirts.

My mom and I think it's pretty cute to dress them alike,

and well since soon enough I'm sure they won't let us - we have to take advantage now!

The hairbows were super easy. Just some felt, ribbon, and hot glue.

(My husband said they looked like the NBC peacock..husbands..)

And the tees were super easy too!

There is an Etsy seller that makes shirts with turkeys on monograms,

but I thought it was super cute on the "T".

T for turkeys.. and my girls are turkeys!

Want to make them?

Need help?

Let me know and I'll post a tutorial.

My Little Turkey

As my business has grown over the last year, I've felt myself putting projects for family & friends on the back burner so I can get a little more work done. This was heartbreaking for me. The point of running my own business was so that I would be at home with Isabelle (and future kids), and give more to those I love. So each weekend I "try" to set aside all work, and only do projects for those I love. It's not a perfect system, and this weekend I slipped. A lot of the photographers I had orders from HAD to have items this coming week, that meant I HAD to work overtime and then some. With all that said, I was bound and determined to create a dress for Isabelle for Thanksgiving. My original hope had been to sew 2 ties that matched for her cousins; had great visions of the family photos. Sorry Brycen and Bailey, the ties are probably not going to get done in the next 48 hours. I'm sure they'll forgive me.. Well after some Wii and pumpkin pie..

The pattern I used was Olive Ann Designs : Jump-N . Purchased it at one of my favorite local fabric stores, Material Girls over in South Jordan.

And I'm still on my corduroy kick; using a heavy wide wale green cord and small wale chocolate brown w/ matching green polka dot .

I made some changes, and honestly now that I'm done I will make more changes to the next one. I am not a flamingo fan, so that appliqué got axed. Also..

* Isa is skin & bones, so her body measurements put her at size 1. However, I didn't take into consideration that she has my head. Big heads means big ideas! It is super hard to get it over her head and tears usually erupt. For the next dress I will either push the sleeves out more or increase the width of the neck.

* It is supposed to be reversible, but honestly with 2 cords it makes it very bulky. With the next one I'd either use only 1 heavy fabric or not intend to make it reversible.

* Your bobbin thread color is important!! For this reason I will probably not use the polka dot side as wearable option. The bobbin thread color is distracting to me though I'm sure Isa is unaware :o)

* I added a machine embroidered turkey on the bottom for a little added holiday decoration. The original had that flamingo.. I bought the embroidery pattern at SWAK Embroidery

If I had more time to spend on the dress I think I'd be slightly happier with it. It really only should have took around 2 hours to sew, but with a toddler yelling "Go Diego, Go!" and deadlines looming over my shoulder.. I said this Turkey is done, stick a fork in it!