Gratefulness: Family DIY Activities that Encourage a Heart of Thankfulness

DIY Pallet Project: Infarrantly Creative

Well, hello there again precious peeps! I am oh.so.happy to announce we have happily skipped right on past the doorbell-candy-begging-day and have arrived to the warm cozy season of GRATEFULNESS. I for one could not be happier to see Halloween pass us by. I love the carefree dress up of it all - at the same time the dark side of it is something that is becoming inescapable. So let it BE GONE!

And here we are... finding ourselves seven steps into the month of NOVEMBER already. 

Today's inspiration came to me in a very roundabout way. A friend of mine, who lives in Africa with her littles, was looking for some kid friendly Thanksgiving crafts that would use simple {easy to find in Africa} materials. Not the easiest of feats by any means. I was already bored, confined to my cozie blankie with several sore throat lozenges stuffed down my throat..did I mention BORED???... and who doesn't want to be the perfect craft finding hero for someone living in Africa anyway? So a-hunting I would go...

Simply Vintage Girl

WOWZA - was I blown away by the amount of GRATEFUL ideas for families out there. There are some seriously talented and thoughtful Mama's out there doing some fabulous footwork for you to have a quick, pain-free start. So, as much as I want to show some of the nugget-size, simple, cute crafts I found -  I believe these heart-sized concepts on these links will leave you truly inspired for a larger impact this November and beyond. You can always fill in the down time with cutie pie crafts you find on pinterest.

I LOVE the Thankful Tree by Vintage Girl in the photo above. I can think of several different options for the tree and the adornments. How delightful to have an endless opportunity to keep on adding throughout the month, along with the daily reminder of our blessings. Not to mention it is cute to boot! 

UpsideDown Homeschooling

I am really excited about this printable keepsake journal - it is a prompter of the heart and mind for the kids as well as a keepsake to treasure for decades. There are two options: one for younger primary and one for the olders. It is on sale for $1.99! Check it out over at Upside Down Homeschooling. 

A Grateful Chalk Board for families to write their own items on by the creativemama.com

I love this one for SO MANY Reasons. Mainly because it looks soft and cozy like a beautiful fall season full of gratefulness. It makes me want to snuggle up in the basket with the heart pillows or pull each one out and hug it while wrapping my little pea brain all around the gratitude focus on that one sweet little heart. 

 I also love picturing the precious hands of my family sewing each treasured heart of gratefulness. LOVE IT!!! Like really love - will probably do.... and can use my Aunt's vintage fabrics, Africa fabric scraps we have brought back with us and other scraps we have saved from other projects throughout the years... YES - THIS is a MUST DO!

The Thanks Giving Tree by Ann Voskamp: Simply ADORABLE!

The Thanks Giving Tree:A Holy Experience

These Free Printables are over at A Holy Experience by Ann Voskamp of One Thousand Gifts. There is an easy download to make these ADORABLE leaves full of wisdom, love and gratefulness with a journal area to add your family's precious additions.

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Inspired by Familia

21 Days of Gratitude is already up and running over at Inspired by Familia, heading into it's second week...but.... it is never too late to start being inspired with gratefulness, is it? So why not head on over and check it out. She has several designs of graphics and a great challenge to join in on. 

I love the idea of being prompted to find gratefulness  in a specific area. It can be so easy to find things to appreciate in the direction our eyes naturally focus on. These "prompts" allow us to look into areas that would typically slide right by unnoticed. This is a terrific way to help our children's vision of gratefulness to expand to areas they may not naturally think of. What a wonderful way to help them grow and develop in gratefulness.

These are only about half of the inspiring ideas I found. Yes, half. Now to pick the one I really think will impact our kiddos the most this year. I am thinking the basket of fabric hearts or the Thankfulness Tree. Hmmm.... I really like the journal too. Would three be too much? Hee hee.

I hope that these projects and/or concepts have encouraged you in some small way. I believe that the more we teach our children to look for things to be grateful for, the more they will be generous with their hearts & their lives.  

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers - Eph. 1:16

-Simply Sublime

For the LOVE of Chocolatopia.

Our family is part of a Homeschool Co-op where the parents teach 2 semesters (consisting of 8 weeks) to a group of about 10 kiddos. I am a hands on, creative kind of girl. I also find food to be in my list of TOP 10's in my life. (Okay - it really lands in the top 5). So this semester I decided to teach EDIBLE ART! How fun is that? This particular project turned out so cute I thought I would share.

I combined 2 different really cute pinterest projects I had scoped out plus added a little touch of my own to create one exceptional fall chocolatopia.

First things first the kiddos need to take a lil' field trip outside to find some pliable leaves with nice veins.

PHASE # 1

Wash with a little soapy water, rinse and pat dry. Set aside for later....

PHASE # 2

You start with Wilton's Dark Chocolate Melting Chips - you can find these at your local craft store. I picked mine up at Michaels. Since we were limited on time we followed the microwaving instructions.

I had the kiddos get a handful of each of the following ingredients:

1. Butterscotch Chips
2. Hershey's Kisses
3. Nutter Butter Bites

Then you simply lightly dip the kisses & chips into the now Melted Wilton's Chips and press one on each side of the Nutter Butter. SO SIMPLE & SO CUTE!!!

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Here is the finished acorn. YUMM-O!

PHASE #3

Blow up a good quality balloon - but you don't want the balloon fully blown up. We blew up ours until it was about 3-4" in diameter. You will be making a small bowl with this. (Hint: Tie it as tightly & closely as you can to to bulb part of balloon to get the most pressure in the blown up area)

1.  Now you will dip the balloon into the melted Wilton's Candy Melts. Dip as deep as you want your bowl to be. We dipped about 2 inches into the chocolate. Set on waxed paper until it sets (or cool in fridge). 
2. When cool dip 2nd time. 
3. Snip tip of balloon - allow air to release, then pull balloon out gently.
4. VOILA - a choco-bowl! 

They do have how-to video's on youtube for this.

PHASE #4

I think this may have been the kids favorite part. The chocolate leaves. Once you know the leaves are clean and have no water on them it is time to get your chocolate on. I used a rubber basting brush.

You simply dip it into the chocolate and brush a nice THICK COAT on the BACK of the leaf. If your chocolate coat is not about  1/8" thick go ahead and add on a second coat. Let cool - on counter or in fridge. When cool peel leaf from chocolate...  and ta da... LOVELY LEAF of Chocolate you do have!

Now assemble them all together. Place your leaf into the bowl and add your acorns. 

Isn't it CHOCOLISCIOUS?