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Monday, November 4, 2013

Give Thanks Door Tags

As promised in one of my previous posts a new 'Fall' door decoration.  With Thanksgiving quickly approaching I thought it would be a good idea to share with you my 'Give Thanks' door tags (just in case you are in need of something to make).  This is a project that Tabatha and I made this summer ( I have to admit...I just finished mine).  We saw it on Pinterest, but put our own twist on it.
What you will need:
Wood (any type you would like)
Paint (any color you want)
Letters (Give Thanks)
Ribbon for hanging the tags
Ribbon to decorate the tags
Flowers or other things to embellish the tags
As stated above you will need wood, I had this piece of bead board in my garage and I had enough to cut 2 sets of tags out of it.  
I know using machinery and flip flops are not a good match,
but I live in my flip flops and I wasn't about to go put shoes on!
We decided what size we wanted the tags and I used the table saw to cut the width.  
Then, I used the chop saw to cut the length.  The tricky part was getting the angle for the top of the tag. We had to call Kenny (Tabatha's husband) to walk us through this process.  
Basically, we cut one side with the angle we wanted then we traced it onto another board to get the same angle.  
We did that until we had the same angles on each board.  I am sure there is an easier way to figure that out, but that is how we did it.  
After you cut the angles on each tag you need to drill holes at the top of each tag.  I don't remember the size of the drill bit that we used (it will need to be big enough to pull your string through).  
When you are finished cutting and drilling you need to paint the tags.  We chose a yellow color, because it was a nice contrast for both of our front doors.
After the paint is dry you feed the string (or ribbon) through the holes.  We found our string at Hobby Lobby and to be honest with you...there was no name for it (it was in the Christmas section).  We thought it looked like dreadlocks, so that's what we called it.  
Once it is through you tie it in a double knot.  You then feed it through the second tag and get it to the desired length (how far you want your tag to hang down), then double knot that side. 

Now for the fun part:  DECORATING!
We chose a burlap ribbon (Hobby Lobby) for the bow.  To make the bow, I wrapped the ribbon around 3 times (see left photo), then I pinched it between my fingers and wrapped another piece of the ribbon around it and tied it in the back.  
After you have the bow and other decor on the tags, it is time to put the lettering on.  
Tabatha used brown vinyl to write out our letters using her plotter.  She also did a capital G and T, as well as a lowercase g and t.  I decided to use the lowercase and she decided to use the capital.
After I attached the bow, I felt like it was too plain so I decided to add some Fall flowers to the tags.  I used hot glue and floral wire to attach them.  I also had to hot glue the wood pieces together because the 'thanks' tag kept overlapping the 'give' tag.
It's so easy to overlook Thanksgiving, because of the Halloween decorations and Christmas decorations (that are out way too early, as far as I am concerned), but it is one of the most important holidays to me because I have so much to be THANKFUL for.  
So remember...count your blessings and give thanks for the little things in life!
~Julie

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