5 Favorite Things

A couple weeks ago, I hosted a "5 FAVORITE THINGS PARTY."  For those of you who may not know what that is, here is a little description:

Each person brings 5 of the same item (something that they love or that represents them).  Everybody keeps the items under a certain price range.  For my party, we kept it under $4 per item.  Then at the party, each person has her name on 5 pieces of paper.  All of the names go in a bowl.   Going around the room each person explains what they brought and why it is one of her favorite things and then draws 5 names out of the bowl to give her items to.  So in the end, you go home with 5 different "Favorite Things."  Totally fun!  To make things even better, everybody brings a fun snack or treat to share.  Such a fun evening.

Anyway, I made some fun little thank-you boards for Thanksgiving, but they can also be used for other things throughout the year.  Take a look:

I originally got this idea from Whipperberry.  She has a great tutorial.  I did things slightly different, but hopefully they will both help you make your own!

Start by finding a frame. I found mine at Goodwill.  They weren't especially pretty--but it's amazing what a bit of paint can do!  After painting my frames, I also sanded them down a bit and stained over them to give them a more antiqued look.

To string the jute I marked down the side of the frame on the back every 2 inches, but alternated the sides by one inch to make a zig-zag pattern.  Then I used staples to hold the jute or twine in place.  Once the twine was in place and tight I simply tied little knots to finish it off.

To make my sign, I simply printed the wording.  I used "Oh so Thankful."  Then I mounted it onto some cute paper, and then mounted that to a piece of cardboard just to add a little dimension and stability. 

 I wanted to make the sign easy to take on and off, so I hot-glued a piece of pipe cleaner (about a half of a piece) to the back.  Then this can be attached and wrapped around the frame easily.

Then during the month of November, I have each member in my family write things they are thankful for on little cards and use clothes-pins to attach it to the twine.  Simple.  My kind of project!
So, in the end it looks a bit more like this: