FREE Design Space File to Create Your Own Gratitude Tree!
The things we’re grateful for—relationships, homes, lifestyle comforts, financial success, etc.—may not grow on trees, but in today’s post they will! We’re going to walk you through the steps of creating your very own gratitude tree!
To get you started, we’re providing a FREE Cricut Design Space™ file for the shapes of the tree trunk and leaves! These tree shapes come from a variety of our Cricut® collections, including Art Philosophy, Artbooking, Flower Shop, and more! Click here to download this file!
Once you’ve downloaded our free file, or have selected Cricut® shapes or metal dies of your own, select a variety of colored cardstock to cut your leaves. For our tree, we chose to incorporate vibrant autumnal colors, but color choice is completely up to you! Just make sure to select shades that will allow your journaling to show. (As a reminder, all Close To My Heart colored cardstock is two-toned, so you can use a single color and still end up with two shades!)
After your leaves and trunk are cut, it’s time to create your base page and attach the trunk. We kept our base page simple with a denim patterned paper from our Textures Paper Packet, featured in the 2021–2022 Core Products Catalog. We also decided to add a little more dimension to our tree trunk by cutting two trunk layers and positioning them slightly off set from each other. For even more artistic fun, we chose to use a wood grain patterned paper from our Wood Grains Paper Packet for our top layer and a solid Mocha cardstock layer on the bottom. (Attaching your top layer with thin 3-D foam tape can be another great way to bring dimension to your tree!)
When your base is ready, put it in a 12″ x 12″ frame and set it in high traffic area of your home. Place the cut, leaves along with a few colorful pens and adhesive, in a handy bowl. Allow everyone who passes by to write something they are grateful for on a leaf and have them attach it to the tree! Another way to use this project is to bring it to your Thanksgiving Day table for a fun family activity! Pass the leaves around the table and invite your guests to write what they are grateful for. When everyone’s finished, collect all the leaves, and watch your gratitude tree spring to life as you share the thoughtful contributions of your loved ones!
For our tree, we used 3-D foam tape, thin 3-D foam tape, and a glue pen to attach the leaves to the base tree, resulting in a nice variation in dimension from leaf to leaf. Once you’ve attached all the gratitude leaves to the tree branches, you can use any extras to create a small leaf pile at the base of your tree trunk, helping to fill out your page and give it a little extra flair. One of the best parts about this project is that it’s sized to fit inside a standard size scrapbook album! Add a bit of journaling to bring some context to the project, dress it up with a few embellishments, and you’re ready to put it into your scrapbook to cherish for years to come!
Recollections of days, meals, and even gifts may fade over time, but creating a lasting memory of gratitude and family is a sure-fire way to make this year’s Thanksgiving holiday unforgettable! Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving tradition? Tell us about it in the comments, below!
Recipe
12″ x 12″ Gratitude Tree Page
Cricut Design Space™ File, X6060 Mocha Cardstock, X6043 Nectarine Cardstock, X6033 Paprika Cardstock, X6051 Sundance Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X8031 Textures Paper Packet, X8028 Wood Grain Paper Packet, Z1500 Red LePen™, Z1509 Sepia LePen™, Z1513 White Gel Pens, Z4054 Gold Embellishing Thread, Z3312 Gold Glitter Gems, Z5317 Saddle Brown My Legacy™ D-ring Album, 4110 Top-load 12″ x 12″ Memory Protectors™, 12″ x 12″ Frame
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