Manana's Thanksgiving Mirror

I'm close to finishing my posts about Thanksgiving, which is a good thing since Christmas is right around the corner!

Today I want to show you what I did with the antique mirror in my dining room. As I've told you, I wish I had a big chalkboard in my dining room to decorate for parties. But until I do - and until I learn to write with a prettier hand, I'll have to find an alternative.

The mirror hanging in my dining room belonged to my grandmother. My mother remembers it from when she was a small child, and we don't know where my grandmother got it, so we guess it is at least nearly 70 years old. (Sorry Mama!) Here is how I treated it for a Miss Manners party not long ago.

It is painted gold and it is HEAVY. I love that the glass is pitted and there are some "smoky" patches on it. It just adds to the charm. I have thought about repainting it or taking it to a framer to have it built out some to make it more substantial. But, ultimately, this is the way my grandmother liked it, so that's good enough for me! I did have an idea that will showcase it without modifying it, so hopefully, I'll be posting about that soon.

I have an original Cricut machine. I got it about eight years ago and, honestly, don't use it a lot. But I've been trying to pull it out more lately, and I like how this project turned out.

I ordered some gold vinyl and cut it to fit my machine.

I used my machine to cut out my words...

not always a pretty process!

Once the letters are cut, you peel away the outside and carefully lift the letters off the adhesive board. These will peel off the mirror easily and not leave residue.

I also used some leaf dies I had and cut out some pretty golden Fall leaves.

Next, I laid out my words in order to make sure I had everything I needed, and that I didn't leave anything out when applying it to the mirror.

I had to remove a couple of letters and reapply them, but I was careful and didn't have to re-cut anything. It reads...

Thank you

for the food

before us

the friends and family

beside us

and the love

between us.

It's hard to take a picture of a mirror, so I hope you can see it. I'm really pleased with the way it looks, and since it's in my dining room, I've left it up for now! I think it honors my grandmother, whom I still miss terribly. She was gone before we moved to the country, so she was never able to visit my home here. But this is one way I feel she's still close by!

Tomorrow I'm going to share the recipe for my sweet potato souffle.  Don't let it scare you. It's just a casserole, but it is good! See you tomorrow in the woods!

I'm so glad you stopped by my neck of the woods!

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