Gratitude Trees
Our November Family Craft was Gratitude trees.
Guests were invited to assemble a three dimensional tree, write what they were thankful for on the leaves, then add them to the tree.
I relied heavily on the library's Cricut for this activity. I found this tree template (I can't remember where! I looked at so many that didn't work out) and uploaded each image to the Cricut.
I resized the trees to 11.5" wide, which was as big as I could get it on my 12x12 chipboard. I wanted these to be sturdy and stand easily on their own, so we ordered some 46 point chipboard.
To cut through the chipboard, I had to get a Deep Cut blade for the Cricut. I used the Custom setting, set to Heavy Chipboard. That wasn't enough on its own to cut through this chipboard, though, so I had to select "Edit Custom Materials" at the bottom of the settings page. Eventually I turned the settings all the way up--350 on Cut Pressure, 4x on Multicut, and Deep Cut on Blade Type. Even from there, I ran the cut through twice. Also, tip: you don't have to unload the mat even though the arrow is flashing--if you just hit the Cricut cut button again, it will still send it through. That way you don't risk not getting your mat reloaded exactly right for a second cut.
Once the trees were cut, I had to manually add the cut lines up (or down) the trunks so I could slide the two piece into each other to make a three dimensional tree. Meaning, I made a cut with scissors. I couldn't figure out how to add this line to the image on the Cricut, although it would be easy to do with the Silhouette. But, no big deal. It was just half a straight line with a pair of scissors. I reckon I survived.
Next I needed leaves. I uploaded this image:
And cut leaves on red, yellow, orange, and green cardstock. I think they turned out really pretty. More good leaf templates can be found here.
At the event, I set up tables with each side of the tree, glue sticks, lots of leaves, and a few colored pencils to write with (or further decorate the tree with, as some kids did).
