Happy Christmas Advent Calendar

Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone. I'm sorry I haven't been able to post much lately, but I have been extremely busy with work and trying to get this calendar finished for the contest over at Michaels.com. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with alot of memories to cherish with family and friends. I don't know about you all, but we are still munchin' on left overs here in our home. Or the greatness of Thanksgiving left overs...yummmmmmmy...lol... So here it is. This took me a couple of weeks to make off and on. Every little spare moment I got I worked on this little booger...lol...I made the frame out of foam board and the little boxes from Tags Bags and Boxes Cricut cartridge. I'll add the rest of the recipe below if you are interested in them. I made this for our little one. I wanted something different for her this year and I have always wanted to make an advent calendar. So I took the plunge and this is what I came up with. What do you think? Think she will like it? The front I made into a window. You all know how I just love to make window cards with little scenes inside. So this was my take on it this year. A little different from years past. Remember you can click on the photos to get a better view if you would like to this is the outside of the calendar in the photo above and this is the inside.... Look at that very sassy kitty sittin in the chair. Isn't she just the cutest. The photo on the wall is one of our favorites with her sitting on Santa's lap when she was 5yrs. old. And holy moly, those darn nut crackers gave me such a fit with their size. I could not get their faces right to save my life...lol...I think they look dorky...lol ...I used cranberry re-inker to dye the cheesecloth that I used for a blanket and the bulbs on the tree. And a ton of stickles...oh man, did I use the stickles...lol... a closer view....

can you see the kitty in the window...she's looking at you...lol....

Cartridges and sizes Tags bags boxes heart box blackout 5” cut the lid off and punch a half circle in top front of box Christmas Cheer Snowman- 3 ½” Presents- 2” bag 1 ½” Present2- 1 ½” Storybook Frame- 4” --trimmed off sides

numbers blackout-1” Christmas Solutions Santa and sleigh-5” Happy Christmas 1 ½” Nut crackers- 3” Trees- 4 ½” and 5 ½” Ribbon and bows- 3 ½” Stretch Your Imaginations Bike- 1 ¾”---under left side of tree..can't see it to well...sorry Joys of the Season’s Stockings- 2” Fireplace- 3” Rocking horse- 2” Star garland- 1” Paper Doll Dress Up Christmas tree- 6” ...used the Martha Stewart leaf punch Design Studio George cartridge- I used the squares to cut the window and frame out

Well that's it for now...I hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead. Try to stay warm. It's gotten abit windy and chilly here...Hugs from Charm City....

Advent Calendar, Rubber stamping & Masking

Well the cold is starting to settle in here in Charm City. I went out this morning to take some photos and couldn't wait to step back inside. It was just a wee bit chilly. Other than that, it's been rainy these past few days again. Although yesterday we were able to make it outside and winterize a little more. Enough of that boring stuff..... This week was my week to post a tutorial over at the Hallmark Ladybug Blog and I wanted to show you how much fun I had with the Pazzles rubber stamp kit to make my own stamps. You can purchase the Pazzles kit in the store at Hallmark Scrapbook along with the Tim Holtz Distress inks that I used to mask with. Making your own rubber stamps using your Cricut machine is just another awesom way that we can use it, wouldn't you say. Not to mention how easy it was.... I'd love for you to pop over at the blog and check it out. I really love how this project turned out. ...it's an advent lighted Christmas calendar that I made out of one of those big wooden paper clips and the Santa cut from Christmas Solutions cart. There are so many cardstock layers and one layer of chipboard in the center. It kind of feels like a sheet of thin wood. I hung the rest of the numbers on the back so it would easy to change out the numbers everyday... Click on photos for a bigger view Front view back view lighted...sorry not a very good photo...but I thought this would be a great little night light for decoration. Well that's all that's been going on ehre in Charm City...not a whole lot...lol...I hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead.. Hugs from a chilly Charm City