Magical Handmade Centerpiece

 It is a family tradition for us to have a magical handmade centerpiece for special gatherings. I love spending time with my children coming up with the concept and the going on a scavenger hunt for the supplies to make a beautiful display. I know it's a running theme with me- but once again, we did not spend a penny at the store to come up with our creation for this year's Thanksgiving centerpiece. All of these items were either recycled, reclaimed or re-purposed! My kids absolutely loved the idea that we could make old things new again and the fact that they could be a part of it!

We Mod Podged a toddler's shoe box with fall-like paper. It just took us a couple minutes to measure the paper, lay an ample coat of the gooey stuff then place the paper down. My crafty friend Amy tells us that once we put our first layer of Mod Podge down and lay the paper on top of it- don't touch it for 20 minutes- and not a minute sooner or else it may bubble. I followed her spot-on advice then put a top coat of Mod Podge on the paper, allowed it to dry and then glittered it up! It looked perfect! To me I thought the box symbolized the passing of Thanksgiving and ushering in of Christmas all in one!

Then we went searching in our yard for some pine cones, a couple different tree branches, a dried out hydrangea and some foe raspberries I had leftover from a previous display. It was fun to glue gun the items together in layers. I did this separate from the box and planned to marry them later. It was trial and error to get the perfect composition but once the glue firmed up it looked great. I then cut a hole in the top of the box and put the stem of the hydrangea into the box down to the pine cones and then I positioned the branches with some more hot glue.

It was wonderful to have this beautiful little centerpiece to highlight our holiday this year!