Sign of the Season

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I thought it might be fun to make a little sign of the season, a visual reminder of what we need to be thinking. I started with little manilla tags and then added strips of fall colored scrapbook paper to the bottom. I wanted an aged look, so I took out my craft stain and rubbed it around the edges. (You professional scrapbookers would have probably used a different product.) When I was finished, I didn't really like the look. Luckily, the stain is water based so I gently rubbed a wet towel over the entire tag to even out the stain. Now I had the aged look I was after. You could probably achieve this same look by staining the tags with tea or coffee, if you have those products in your home.
(The left side is the "after" look) I added some self adhesive scrapbook letters. I couldn't find any in black, so I bought some blue ones and spray painted them before taking them off the page. At this point, I could have used ribbon to string all the tags together to make a cute banner, but I had other plans.

I cut a piece of 6" wide wood and a piece of trim molding to the length I needed.
I painted the wood black and the trim red. Once dry, I did a second coat of the opposite colors. Then I sanded both pieces to reveal the original paint. I glued the trim molding onto the wood and then used painters tape to make a straight edge for placing the tags. I adhered the tags using spray adhesive. For the final touch I nailed furniture tacks into the tag holes.

The finished sign looks like this:

I strung some fall colored ribbon through the remaining tags and hung them onto a metal tree that I bought at the thrift store a few years ago. This will be our Gratitude tree. My family is going to write things that they are thankful for onto the tags hanging on the tree. I plan on adding more tags because I know that we have a lot to be grateful for.If you like the idea of a gratitude tree, but you don't have a metal tree, just cut a pretty twig from your yard and plant it in a pretty pot with some Plaster of Paris or styrofoam. It's a wonderful tradition and a great way to record your family's blessings. And it's fun to tuck this years tags away with the Thanksgiving decorations and bring them out next year to read and add more.