enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

Thanksgiving invites

If you've been here awhile, you know my handwritten Thanksgiving invites have become somewhat of a tradition.

Here's 2010, 2012, & 2013 (Paul was deployed in 2011 and I went home instead).

We just invite our families and really they all know they are coming long before these arrive in their mailbox, but it's still fun to make and send them out.

Kiddopainting

This year, I got Ellerie in on the action and had her paint the white cardstock.

I covered the table with kraft paper and gave her six cards (figuring I'd have a few extra in case of mistakes). I've learned that the "trick" with toddler painting is to squirt a bit of paint on to the surface you want painted then encourage the kiddo to smear that around.

Thanksgivinginvites

I put a drop of orange, yellow and gold on each card, gave Ellerie a paint brush and let her get to work. I shuffled cards and pointed at drops that needed painting and we were done in five minutes. Not the most "free-form" play ever, but she was interested and enjoyed it. (Afterward she just painted on the kraft paper – and her tee shirt.)

Kiddopaint

The result was six sweet Ellerie originals. I picked my four favorites and handwrote the details (there are not many – Paul is working on Thanksgiving so we will be celebrating the day after) and added the year. To finish them off, I machine-stitched around the main text with gold thread.

Kiddopaintinvites

Simple and sweet and out the door (three of my favorite things).

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18 responses to “our thanksgiving invites.”

  1. Giada Avatar
    Giada

    Oh, Elise, I missed this type of posts 🙂 Love the little cards!

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  2. Kelly Avatar

    So sweet and a wonderful keepsake for the recipients!

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  3. Caitlyn Merwin Avatar
    Caitlyn Merwin

    Those are ridiculously cute – two of them look like turkeys – love ’em! I wish I’d had your advice when I tried painting with my toddler nephew, I was NOT as successful 🙂

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  4. Jen D Avatar

    That’s adorable! Love the idea of having your child involved. And not to mention the memories.

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  5. kristina Avatar

    Love these (as I have loved all past invites)…
    I love how your invitations have shifted from “starts at 1 pm” to “starts at noon” to “all day!” So fun. Maybe you are getting more and more confident as a hostess… hehe

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  6. Brianna Avatar
    Brianna

    This is sweet. I wish I had people to have over for fun holiday celebrations, although I’m going home for Thanksgiving this year, but I’ll be alone for Christmas and NYE.

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  7. vero Avatar
    vero

    i have been waiting for this post! hosting our first thanksgiving this year, and sending invites out, even if it’s just for vince and my parents!

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  8. Sarah M Avatar

    Yes yes yes! I did this with my kids’ finger-painting artwork and used them as Thank You cards one xmas. I had them fingerpaint in red and green and gold on huge pieces of paper, and then once they dried, I cut out envelope-sized simple evergreen trees and wrote on the back. Simple, cheap, and super personalized!!
    Sarah M

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  9. elise blaha cripe Avatar

    SO FUN. make sure you put the paint on the card for him. xx

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  10. T. Avatar

    such a sweet idea!

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  11. Sarah Milligan Avatar

    Cutest idea ever! Love the keepsake factor.

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  12. Vera Avatar

    So sweet that you have included your little girl in the process!

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  13. Anna Avatar

    I have been reading since at least the 2012 Thanksgiving invite. So lovely to see how this tradition has evolved along with your family. 🙂

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  14. Welcome Home Taylor Avatar

    These are absolutely adorable! I love the idea of having Ellerie help out with the card making!
    xoxo
    Taylor

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  15. Elise Avatar
    Elise

    Technical question: when you mashine stitch on paper, what size/type needle do you use and do you change the settings on your mashine? Mine first couple broke and when I move to bigger versions, they left the card stock looking to “hole-y”. Any advice would be much appreciated!!

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  16. Jennifer @ Brave New Home Avatar

    Ack! These are so adorable. I love celebrating the things kids create.

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