It's All About Gratitude

Hi All! Happy Friday! It's time to answer another Rose Blossom Garden Challenge. Don't you just love going into the weekend with a little crafty inspiration? This months' challenge is all about Thanksgiving. Lately I've been pondering a little quote I read that says, "Gratitude makes what we have enough." Wow! That's been pretty convicting for me! Thinking about Thanksgiving, then, I wanted to do something that would be a reminder of that powerful little truth. Here's what I came up with:

For this project, I started with an unfinished wooden 12x12 inch tray that I picked up at my local craft store. I layered it with various paints and finishes to give it a distressed look. I then used Mod Podge to cover the bottom of the tray with fabric from Close To My Heart's Sarita textiles collection.  Using the Artbooking cartridge, I cut out the overlay on the "b" key from Kraft Cardstock. (I used the recommended measurement of 11 inches.) The overlay has a nice area for journaling on the right side if you're using this for a scrapbook layout. However, I wanted a lighter look, so I cut around the tree on the right side so that the background would show through, like so:

Using the negatives from the overlay cutout for templates, I cut various leaves and the tree trunk from the Sarita paper pack and did some paper piecing to add interest. I then cut "Gratitude" and "Enough" at 1 3/4 inches using Artbooking. I used both Colonial White cardstock and Sarita for the letters, and inked the edges with Goldrush Exclusive ink. The "makes what we have" phrase is stamped in Stāz-On Opaque White ink using the retired "You Are My Happy" alphabet. Since I was putting several layers of Mod Podge over everything, I wanted to make sure the white ink wouldn't fade or run. Stāz-On plays well with Mod Podge.  "Gratitude" got lost in the tree, so to make it pop, I backed it with Burlap ribbon and added some copper brads for interest. (Love mixing all the different textures!)

I decided that the edges needed something more, so I added a strip of scalloped Goldrush cardstock to the top. The little flower in the middle is cut from Burlap ribbon, bronze glitter paper (which matches the Bronze Shimmer Trim at the bottom), Sarita fabric and a button from the Rosewood mini medley collection.

For the bottom, I pleated a piece of Sarita fabric and then added the Bronze Shimmer Trim to give it a finished look.

Finally, I added antiqued copper studs (also from the Rosewood collection) in each corner for a little extra texture.

And there you have it! My little gratitude reminder. For more inspiration, be sure to go see what my fellow design team members have created in the Rose Blossom Garden.