How To Make A Gratitude Necklace Book

 

Here's a new video from the Keepsake Books series 

just in time for Thanksgiving

with easy to get materials and easy to follow directions.

Click here to watch on youtube.

Thanksgiving

May we take time for quiet moments of gratitude
today and through the year.

For Thanksgiving

Wreath of embroidery hoop with maple keys and wire. Writing with sepia ink and brush on a page from an old book that I was given pieces of. I think I was inspired to use it by all the writing I saw in the PBS American Experience on the Pilgrims. 

Thanksgiving

Writing thankful as my Thanksgiving message seems like such a facebook era thing to do. Before I never would have thought of expressing the holiday by an adjective describing how I feel but here it is. I am thankful to live in a place where I can see this on my walks.

Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving where you are. As Gertrude Stein wrote:

Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful.

Many Thanksgivings

I am thankful for the opportunity I had to be part of the Children's Museum Many Thanksgivings Wampanoag program several years ago. I did a bookmaking component as part of two summer institutes. We visited the Wampanoag tribal lands in Mashpee where this photo was taken. I try to remember the way of the native peoples—the earth always provides us things to be thankful for.

Children's Museum People of the First Light website

Book: People of the first Light by Amy Cope

And a bookmaking project based on The Native American Good Morning Book by Chief Jake Swamp of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)

A Thanksgiving Gift from Ginger Burrell

Ginger Burrell has shared a pdf of this wonderful little Thanksgiving book. Print yourself a copy, then fold and cut to make a book. She's even left a space on the last page for you to write thanks of your own.

Thanksgiving Book from Ginger Burrell

I Am Thankful Scroll

As Thanksgiving approaches, it is a time to reflect on what we have to be thankful for. This month's project is a new version of the Wish Scroll which makes a great "I am thankful" scroll for Thanksgiving.

There are three containers and scrolls in the photo. The container on the left is made from a cap from soy sauce covered with wrapping paper and curling ribbon saved from a package. The one in the middle is made from a film container covered with paper from a catalog and old videotape. The one on the right is made from the top of an Avery glue stick covered with brown grocery bag and yarn. All the scrolls were cut from brown grocery bag.

One of the things I am thankful for is my work. It keeps me curious and engaged and gives me the comfort and satisfaction of making things with my hands and sharing with others.This scroll was inspired by the new version that will be in Handmade Books for a Healthy Planet (coming in April if all goes according to plan). The directions on the website and the accompanying pdf have also been changed.

Directions

Giving Thanks Accordion Book

http://www.makingbooks.com/accordion.shtml

I was inspired by the book Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message to make this book for Thanksgiving. Chief Jake Swamp says in his author's note: "The words in this book are based on the Thanksgiving Address, an ancient message of peace and appreciation of Mother Earth and all her inhabitants. These words of thanks come to us from the Native people known as the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois or Six Nations."

Since the accordion has four pages, I chose to reflect on each of the four seasons and write about what I give thanks to. I used the front panel of a grocery bag folded in half the long way with the writing inside. It made an accordion substantial enough to not need a cover. I used cut and torn paper for the illustrations and a fine black sharpie marker. This would be a good project to keep the kids busy on Thanksgiving morning while the adults are involved in cooking or in the classroom.



Giving Thanks Teachers Guide
http://www.leeandlow.com/p/thanks_tg.mhtml

You are the Historian: Investigating the First Thanksgiving
Interactive website for children with a teacher's guide from Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA
http://www.plimoth.org/education/olc/index_js2.html#

People of the First Light: Teacher Resources on Native American History and Culture
developed by the Children's Museum of Boston
Take a look at the Professional Development for workshops related to Wampanoag culture if you are in the area.
http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/educators/wampanoag.html#

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe website
http://mashpeewampanoagtribe.com/history.html