I know I am a few days past Thanksgiving, but I wanted to share an idea that I like to use for my holiday table that you could apply toward your upcoming Christmas plans- stamping placecards, messages, or labels.

I cut cardstock about 3″ by 3″ and love to use metallic ink great for holidays like copper color, gold or silver. Very festive! With a tiny aphabet or message stamp I create labels for each member of the family around the table. Sometimes I have written a small message inside or written specifically why I am thankful for them or love them. You could even make a game of it or hide the winner of a small prize, or first to get in the buffet line! There are lots of ways to be creative here and make your meal more memorable!

I have also used these cards to disperse reminders about the table (like the “Thanks” cards), or as labels when there are many people visiting my buffet. For example to label: Regular or Decaf coffee, a baked dish or dessert, Splenda or sugar, etc. This would be a great craft to let the kids in on too and let them help you stamp or decorate with holiday stickers. These would look beautiful coordinated with the stamped napkins or paper tablecloth posted earlier this month. Get stamping!

I borrowed this idea from an old Martha magazine – stamping napkins, tablecloths, or towels for the holidays. These large napkins could make lovely certerpieces or could line the table length or buffet that you serve from. A great, quick hostess gift or decoration for any holiday!

This is one of those perfect projects: Cheap, Quick, Simple, and Not Messy! Literally, a 5 minute project. As you can see some are stamped all the way around, in the corners only, or clustered around the corners. All these looks using only one stamp!

Needed:
Package of Cloth napkins
Stazon permanent ink pad
Holiday picture stamps or messages

My friend also cut stamped a leaf and cut it out in order to stamp the leaves clustered in a corner without overlapping the leaves. The paper leaf blocks the ink to keep each leaf looking crisp.

Note that I am only using Brown and Plum Stazon ink and one stamp so you can obviously be alot more creative with this idea! I am hoping to find holly leaf or star stamps to decorate for Christmas.

To make eating at the “kids table” seem like a more fun idea, I wanted to create a special spot decorated just for them. This would be great for Thanksgiving or family meals and if it’s messy when they are done, just throw it away! It would also be fun to stamp the child’s name at their place, or let them color in the stamps or draw on the paper if the meal is done and you want them to stick around a little longer with the family.

Supplies needed:
Craft paper, brown or white traditionally, but any color
Rubber stamps
Stamp ink
Tape

I went ahead and taped the runner to the bottom of the table to make it easier to stamp. Then I created a pattern around the paper with the pumpkin, leaf, acorn, and swirl of wind stamps in different colors. Obviously my boy couldn’t stay away from my display.