Cute DIY Thanksgiving Turkey Place Cards for Cricut
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I made these adorable DIY Thanksgiving Turkey place cards on my Cricut Maker machine. They are so cute and I thought I would share a few tips with you that helped me out.
Where to Find the Pattern
The pattern for these place cards is in Cricut Design Space here.
I subscribe to Cricut Access so all of the elements are included in my subscription.
If you don’t have Cricut Access, it is worth taking a look because I feel like it saves me a ton of time. Whenever I want to make something, I can just dive into Design Space and don’t have to go searching all over the web.
Supplies You Will Need
To make this Thanksgiving Turkey place card I used the following supplies:
- Dark Brown from this Cardstock Sampler
- Red from this Cardstock Sampler
- Orange from this Cardstock Sampler
- Orange Kraft Board from this package – the color I used is no longer available but the orange will work well too.
- Gold foil transfer sheets and Foil Transfer Kit for the leaf on the base (optional)
- Light brown and vintage brown plaid papers from my stash
- Cricut Fine Point Pen in Brown from the Ultimate Pen Set
- Glue Sticks
- Foam dots
- Hot glue gun
- Cricut Maker Machine
- Scrap cardboard for the base
Tips to Make These Thanksgiving Place Cards
When you view the pattern in Cricut Design Space, you can also print the PDF of the instructions.
I recommend that you do this so you can follow along as you cut the layers.
However, there are a few things that I modified to make this pattern work for me.
Number of Place Cards
First, you will probably need one place card for each member of your family or for your guests.
Typically, you could just increase the number of copies of the project after you click “Make It” in Design Space.
But in this case you can duplicate all elements of this project except the white label that has the name written on it.
So, you have two choices.
The easiest choice is to delete the sample name, leave the label blank, and cut as many copies as you need.
Then manually write in the names by hand.
Your second choice – if you want your Cricut machine to write the names is to do this.
In the Design Space workspace, duplicate the label only for as many people as you need.
Modify the name in each one and then just write and cut the label layer only.
Now exit the cutting screen and go back to Design Space workspace.
Hide the white label layer so it won’t write and cut when you click “Make It”.
Click on “Make It” and at the top of the screen select how many project copies you need.
Cut your mats accordingly.
Sturdy Up the Base
Another thing you might want to do is reinforce the base.
The “feathers” on the turkey are made from Kraft Board which is fairly heavy.
The pattern itself calls for you to use a circle of the Kraft Board on the Base.
I however, opted to use a piece of vintage brown plaid scrapbook paper – which I embossed with a gold foil leaf, instead.
The combination of brown cardstock and the scrapbook paper was not going to be sturdy enough to hold the turkey place card upright.
And I did not want these place cards tipping over on the Thanksgiving dinner table.
So, I duplicated the brown cardstock circle layer for the base and cut the duplicate layer out of some scrap cardboard that I had lying around.
I then glued this cardboard underneath the papers for the base.
Which Adhesives to Use
To make these Thanksgiving Turkey Place Cards, I used 3 different adhesives.
The glue sticks worked best for most of the assembly.
However, to give the turkey a little dimension, I used foam dots between the turkey body and the red layer and also between the red layer and the orange layer.
Finally, I used hot glue to cement the accordion Kraft Board feathers to the small circle on the back and the assembled turkey on the front. I also used the hot glue on the straw to make the Turkey Stand
How to Make the Turkey Stand Up
You might be wondering how to make this place card stand up.
The directions call for using a small piece of a paper straw. While we are moving towards using paper in our house – we don’t really use straws that often and I have some really old plastic ones that I need to use up.
So, I clipped a piece of one of these to use as the stand.
You could also use a cut piece of popsicle stick, dowel, or any sturdy piece of plastic from your recycling bin.
How Did Yours Turn Out?
You will need to download the pattern PDF and call it up in Design Space to understand how to apply these tips to this project.
Happy Thanksgiving!
