November 19, 2018

Thanksgiving Card — Margaret Scrinkl (@scrinkl)

How to Make a DIY Thanksgiving Card

What You’ll Need to Make Thanksgiving Cards

Materials / Tools:

Light Green or Yellow Cardstock 5x7 inches (160 g/m2)

Fall colored paper (120 g/m2)

Black and white paper (120 g/m2)

Pencil and eraser

Excel Blades K18 Grip-on Knife

Excel Blades 5" Super Sharp Scissors

Glue

Double-sided foam craft tape

Excel Blades Alumikit

Fall Cards DIY Tutorial

Greet those most important to you with a thoughtful, handmade autumn card this Thanksgiving. This post will inspire you with Thanksgiving card ideas you can create using a few simple supplies at home, including glue, scissors, cardstock and Excel blades.

Cardmaking is an excellent craft for cultivating mindfulness, allowing you to work with fall colors and symbols to create a beautiful piece of art that everyone can enjoy. Our fall card tutorial can help you make perfect Thanksgiving place cards for the family table. These fall cards also make excellent greeting cards to say hello and give thanks to family and friends.

Making paper crafts for Thanksgiving Day is easy and fun with our step-by-step instructions. You can even get the kids involved in placing your fall-themed paper art like leaves, a pumpkin, a pilgrim and a turkey on the card.

Get crafty this fall and make your very own decorations for the Thanksgiving table. Grab a paper cutting board, your high-quality Excel blades and the rest of the supplies listed in our easy-to-follow tutorial to get started.

Step 1: Before you get started making your Thanksgiving greeting card, lay down a durable cutting mat and collect your supplies. We suggest using a 5”x7” piece of heavy-duty cardstock for the card’s base.

Step 2: Choose three different fall-colored pieces of lightweight cardstock and draw your fall leaves using your pencil. If you prefer not to freehand your leaf patterns, you can also trace the leaves from an online template. Then, use your Excel Blades K18 Grip-on Knife to cut out the leaf shapes.

Step 3: Continue cutting out various leaf shapes in different colors of paper. Use the Excel blade for smaller leaves with curved patterns or narrow stems. When finished, you should have orange, red and yellow leaves to paste onto the front of your greeting card.

Step 4: For larger leaves, you can use your Excel Blades 5" Super Sharp Scissors to cut along the traced lines. The stainless steel, wear-resistant blades ensure precise cuts to give your card a professional finish.

Step 5: On a small piece of orange cardstock, trace or draw an acorn squash or pumpkin shape. Then, use a smaller piece of green cardstock to trace the vegetable stalk. Cut out the shapes using your scissors. Attach the vegetable stalk to the top of the pumpkin using your glue.

Step 6: Take three small pieces of brown, yellow and red cardstock. Trace the turkey’s body on the brown cardstock. Then, draw the wing, head and wattle from the red cardstock. Finally, draw the legs and beak on the yellow cardstock. Use the Excel blade to cut out the legs and beak.

Step 7: Cut out the body, wings, wattle and head using your scissors. Attach the head to the top of the turkey body using your glue, and apply a small piece of double-sided foam tape to the back of the wing and attach it to the body. Use your glue to attach the legs and beak.

Step 8: Place the head of the turkey on a small piece of black cardstock to draw the Pilgrim hat’s crown and draw the brim on the same piece of cardstock separately. Cut out the crown and brim using your scissors.

Trace a small buckle on a scrap piece of yellow cardstock. Then, use your Excel blade to cut out the center of the buckle and the scissors to trim the edges.

Use the glue to stick the buckle to the hat’s crown and attach the hat's brim slightly overlapping the bottom edge of the buckle. Glue the hat to the turkey’s head.

Use the Excel blade to cut a small circle from white cardstock for the turkey’s eye and draw a small upside-down semi-circle in the center using your pencil or a felt-tip marker. Glue the eye to the turkey’s head.

Step 9: On several small pieces of orange, yellow, brown and red cardstock, draw the turkey’s feathers. Cut them out with the scissors and attach them to the body of the turkey with the glue, alternating the colors.

Step 10: Once your turkey, pumpkin and leaves are ready, you can start assembling the card.

Step 11: Apply a small piece of double-sided foam tape to the back of the pumpkin and stick it to the bottom right-hand corner of the heavy-duty cardstock.

Step 12: Apply a small piece of double-sided foam tape to the back of the turkey’s body and stick it to the bottom left-hand corner of the card. Bend the tail feathers slightly outward to add some dimension to the design.

Step 13: Apply glue to the back of your fall leaves and stick them to the cardstock in a circular wreath shape, leaving space in the middle of the card.

Step 14: Write a heartfelt message of thanks in the center of the card.

Celebrate the Season with a Handmade Fall Greeting Card

Creating a thankful for you or thank you card this November is a simple, unique craft to help you celebrate the season. Feel free to follow our tutorial or use it as inspiration to create your own fall design for a cute, handmade greeting to tell your loved ones Happy Thanksgiving this holiday.

For more DIY Thanksgiving crafts ideas, subscribe to our YouTube channel — and don’t forget to tag your finished card on Instagram at excelblades and excelblades.co.