Today is Pinterest Inspired Party Day!  A party created for the sole purpose of motivating all of us addicted pinners into actually MAKING something we have pinned!

I HAVE actually tried several RECIPES I’ve pinned, but all the other amazing things… not so much.    :)

I loved the Countdown to Thanksgiving that we did last year where we wrote what we were thankful for on all the feathers and pulled off one a day until the BIG DAY!  :)

Creating our Thankful Turkey was so much fun, and really how can you go wrong with making “being thankful” something anticipated and fun? 

We divvied up the feathers and each member of the family SECRETLY wrote down the things they were most thankful for.  It made it all very fun and exciting not knowing what everyone had written.  :)

The kids were always SO excited to take down a feather and see whose it was and WHAT they were thankful for!

But I decided to take some Pinterest inspiration for this year’s countdown and make our Turkey fantabulous and more like this one… 

via Pinterest via Under my Umbrella

Isn’t it so cute with the scrapbook paper feathers??? 

I freehanded one feather and then did the old fold in half trick.  I folded the feather in half down the middle and then cut the two edges together with it still folded to make sure it was as symmetrical as humanly possible.  :) 

Then I used that feather as my guide to trace all the others.  The pinterest post had a tracing pattern that I was excited to print and use, but it ended up being smaller than I wanted, so I just sort of used the pattern as my guide and freehanded everything. 

To keep things looking oh so chic… or at least MY VERSION of chic, ha ha, I used bits of the same papers I used for the feathers, for the feet, beak, and weird, hangy down thing.

{Just googled it, and it’s either a wattle or a waddle.  You pick.  Google is indecisive.  We all have our moments, though, right?}  :)

I tried to help our writing skills this year by writing on the back of each feather…

I am thankful for _______________ because __________________.

That little second part “because” helped prompt everyone to name a person or thing AND describe what specifically about that person they are thankful for, thereby hopefully avoiding the dreaded trite one word answers.

For example, I might say something like, “I am thankful for my diet Mountain dew because it is ‘da bomb’ and is the only reason I SURVIVE some days!”

Or if I was being more of a grown up, I could say, “I am thankful for my kiddos because they somehow always find a way to make me laugh.” 

I decided to laminate the whole lot so we can possibly reuse this year after year, which ended up kind of being a FAIL since the dry erase markers had way too thick of a tip for the size of the feather PLUS there was LOTS of smudging of the thankful writing during assembly!  Aack!

Definitely would have worked better with a wet erase marker instead.  Here’s hoping we’ll actually be able to READ our Thankful Thoughts when the time comes!

I used a regular old glue stick to attach the feathers to our turkey so it will {PLEASE!} be easy to remove for reading. 

I was kind of stumped as to how to hang our beloved turkey, and in the end, I wrapped a small piece of hemp around the poor fellow’s neck and then looped my hanging ribbon around that.  I then fastened the looped ribbon with a brad and wala!

{I didn’t have any brown construction paper, so I just recycled some cardboard… thus, the printed back you are looking at}

I used Amanda’s super trick for attaching wreaths to metal doors to hang Mr. Turkey to our door, and it was a piece of cake! 

A few pieces of tape down and he’s good.  I love that it will be super easy to pull him up to swipe a feather off!

We have FIFTEEN feathers so our Thankful Countdown will begin November 10th!!  Until then, we get to admire our cutie pie work of art!! 

Let’s NOT focus on the fact that we are already hanging our turkey inhumanely from the NECK, mmkay?  A glimpse of the poor guy’s future maybe?  No, no!  Think CUTE thoughts, people!!

Ahhh!

And just for good Pinterest-Measure let me throw in this second project, though I don’t know if this one should really even count.  Does pushing print and slapping it in a frame count as a Pinterest project?? 

Let’s vote YES!

I thought this ‘I love Autumn’ printable was perfect for fall and even better, I used a 75¢ thrift store frame.  Win-Win!

I hope to spray paint it white actually, but that didn’t happen before the Pinterest Party Deadline.  :) Whoops!

Pinterest is fantabulous if I haven’t already said that once or twenty bajillion times. 

What have YOU pinned lately??

Check out Young House Love for lots more Pinterest Projects!

Don’t forget to come enter for the Cupcake Box Giveaway!!!! Great chances to win!!!

You know you wanna!!!  :)

::Sometimes I link to Weekend Bloggy Link up, Tatertots & Jello, House of Hepworths, Delightful Order, Bowl Full of Lemons, Organize & Decorate Everything, This Chick Cooks, Funky Junk Interiors, Craft Envy, Somewhat Simple, Shabby Creek Cottage, No Minimalist Here, Skip to my Lou, Fingerprints on the Fridge, CRAFT,Today’s Creative Blog, Thrifty Décor Chick, CSI Project, and Someday Crafts. You should check ‘em out!!::