DIY Thanksgiving Place Cards & Free Printable

With Chasity’s wonderful place card tutorial, you can make your table settings shine for any special occasion, including Thanksgiving. As a time saver, she has included a free printable for you to use!

Kelly Creates Supplies: Dream pens Set 1 and Set 2, Multicolor Small Brush pens Set 1 and Set 2, Multicolor Bullet Tip Pens, Multicolor Fineliners, Deluxe Lettering Kit (Pencil, eraser)

Other Supplies:  White Cardstock, Adhesive, Paper Trimmer, Scissors, Fall Patterned Paper (Amy Tangerine: Late afternoon Paper and stickers), Christmas Paper (Crate Paper: Together for Christmas Paper), Rainbow Stripe Paper (Amy Tangerine: Picnic in the park), Baker’s Twine, Wood place card holders (Amazon)

Hi Lettering Friends! Hope everyone is having a wonderful November. In the United States, this is the month when we celebrate Thanksgiving and really focus on gratitude despite how different this November may look from years past.

Today I am sharing a tutorial with you for Thanksgiving place cards. These are fun to create even if you have a smaller gathering this year and will make everyone feel special, bringing that handmade touch to your table.  As you may already know, I don’t cook Thanksgiving dinner. My husband does all the work, so I pitch in by making the table look amazing, and these place cards are just the perfect touch.

I started with a white piece of cardstock and sketched the letters with pencil.

(NOTE: You can print the place card PDF at the end of this post and letter names on that instead of blank card stock. However, I recommend that you can print onto white smooth card stock that is a heavier weight than printer paper.)

I really love the Kelly Creates drawing pencil from the Deluxe Lettering kit because it erases cleanly, and I will erase these lines later in the tutorial. Be sure to sketch lightly since it will be erased. I also wrote “Happy Thanksgiving” at the top of the place card and then drew a border that measures 4” x 2.5”

You can use any kind of letter style for the place cards. I chose a fun, whimsical style. Simple block lettering would also look great or faux calligraphy.  Give a few styles a try and see what you like best!

The next step is to choose your Kelly Creates pens to make colourful polka dots. I chose oranges and browns because I wanted an ombre effect for my letters, plus I like those colours for my Thanksgiving table.

Once you decide what pen colors you want to use, start by making large dots inside the letters. I placed orange dots at the top of letters and worked my way down and switched to brown.

Make the larger dots in all of the letters first. Be sure to stay inside the the pencil lines.

Now, using pens with the same colour ink, fill in with smaller dots. I used Kelly Creates Multicolor Fineliners and Bullet tip pens, plus the Multicolor Small Brush tip pens.

Next, use the second color to repeat the process with a variety of Kelly Creates pens: Large dots using the Dream Pen, and fill in with Small Brush, Bullet Tip and Fineliners for smaller dot sizes.

I used 2 browns from Set 2 of the Dream Pens –  Nest and Bark – to create the ombre from orange, to light brown to darker brown. I chose to create the gradient of colour from top to bottom and keep it consistent with each letter, but be creative and see what you like best.

Now, using Kelly’s ruler, draw the border around the place card with a Kelly Creates Fineliner or Bullet tip pen. I used the ‘Bark’ Kelly Creates Bullet Tip pen, which is the darkest brown in the set.

Then, I used the Kelly Creates ‘Sunset’ Multicolor Fineliner and wrote “Happy Thanksgiving”. (If you use the printable PDF, this step is already done for you).

Next step, using an eraser, erase all the pencil lines.  One of my favorite features of Kelly Creates pens is that you can erase over your work, and there are no smudges or smears!

After you erase all of the pencil lines, go back and fill in any areas that may need it. I found quite a few places to fill in once my pencil lines were erased to complete the letter.  When you feel good about your letters, use scissors or a paper trimmer to cut out the place cards.

I love this technique for place cards. This is perfect for more than just Thanksgiving. Here are a few more examples of a Christmas place card and birthday place card to show some different ways to use this technique.

And because you all know that I am a paper crafter, I added some patterned paper and puffy stickers to my place cards.

I purchased some inexpensive wood ‘log’ place card holders from Amazon, and I love the rustic look, but it would be just fine to place these on the plates, without the holders.

Thanks for stopping by today, and be sure to give these fun place cards a try, and show us what you make! I love seeing everyone’s creativity. Share with us in our Facebook group or use the #kellycreates tag if you share online.

Click HERE or click the image below to download the Happy Thanksgiving Place Cards Printable. This PDF is light grey so you can trace over the writing and border boxes with any colour of Kelly Creates pen you like. Enjoy!

To see more of Chasity’s crafty inspiration, follow her on Instagram @chiciscre8ive.

To shop the supplies Chasity used to make these place cards, click the images below or visit KellyCreatesStore.com