Paper Bag Advent Calendar

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!  Mine wasn't so great on actual Thanksgiving Day as I was too sick to partake in the festivities! :(  I'm trying not to be too big of a baby about it and move on!  There's always next year!

I'm part of a great mom meetup group and a few of them came over a few weeks ago to learn how to make cards.  It was a lot of fun.  They wanted to do another get-together and make some kind of an advent calendar.  I came across this one by Julie Ebersole on Ellen Hutson's blog and thought it would be perfect. 

I bought a pack of the Kraft bags she mentioned in her blog, but they look way smaller than the ones she used...but I made them work. Here's my finished product.

Here are some close-ups:

I used snowflake and "swirly-q" stamps for the background design.  I used mostly Memento's Rhubarb Stalk ink.  I tried a gold and white on a few, but they didn't stand out like the red did.  I used my 2" circle punch on the green Christmas paper that goes behind the numbers.  I needed to make 5 sets of numbers 1-25.  I was trying to figure out how to do that since I didn't have any number stamps.  I remembered my Fiskars templates and that I had a number one...thanks to a great friend who had given them to me a while back!  So I started cutting numbers!  I ran my numbers through my Xyron Create-a-Sticker contraption so I wouldn't have to mess with gluing the back of each one.  Love that sticker maker! 

Since we already have an advent calendar for Olivia to open each day and get some kind of little gift or treat....

For the paper bag advent calendar I decided to put a slip of paper in each one with an activity or craft we're going to do that day.  I'm still working on that list and making sure I have supplies for each project on the day we need it.  Luckily, I have the supplies I need for most craft projects. :)

Last week we were at Target and Olivia saw a Gingerbread House kit with the house all done up and she went crazy over it.  So I bought one and that's going to be one of our activities.  She asks about it every day, so I'm sure that's going to have to be one of the first things we do. :)

Lastly, I'm so excited to have a few of my friends come over and craft with me today!  Gotta get the potato soup in the crockpot and Rick Krispie treats made!  Yay!

Hope you all have a great week...Go Get Your Craft On!
Cheryl


Supplies Used:

Mini Clothespins	ATC Mini Kraft Bags	Xyron Create-a-Sticker
Fiskars Number Template	Ultra Shape Express Cutter

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Subway Art -- Easy Wall Decor

I wanted to tell you all about this great blog, Eighteen25, where they make holiday-themed subway art and all you have to do is download it, send it to your favorite store to be printed and you have some great wall art!  They also have some cute Christmas pennants to go along with the Christmas subway art this time around.  You should go check it out. 

I had mine printed at Walgreen's.  I believe it was $3.  The frame (half off at Hobby Lobby) was $8.  So for $11 you have something really cute for your wall or shelf or give as a gift.

I printed the banner too, but only one sheet.  Need to print a couple more to have a good-sized banner.

Update:  I printed out 2 more pages of the banners, for a total of 9 pennants.  Since the back of the pennants are blank, I decided to cover them with some fun "anytime" paper, which I will hang as part of my upcoming birthday party decorations.  Then when that's over, I just flip it to the other side and I have a Christmas pennant!  I'll be showing you all my handmade birthday decorations in a post next week. :)

Go get your craft on!
Cheryl

Homemade Christmas Wrapping Paper

A few weeks back I had to buy a lot of frames (half off at Hobby Lobby, of course) for Christmas gifts.  After I got done inserting the pictures in each frame, I wrapped them back up in those big sheets of bland paper they used to wrap around them at the store to keep them from breaking.

I was thinking how time consuming it was going to be to individually wrap each one with Christmas paper and wished I could just use that bland paper.  So I did...only I spruced it up a bit, of course!
Before....

After...

This is probably my most favorite...

Not only because it depicts the true meaning of Christmas, but it has a newspaper-y feel to it.  I used Stampin' Up Early Espresso and rolled some on with an Inky Roller to distress the look of the paper a little.  Then I used the same ink to stamp my images.  The "Rejoice" stamp is an individual stamp I got at Hobby Lobby a year or so ago.  The other stamp is from a set from Stampin' Up.

I think this is my second favorite....

Here's a close-up of a couple more...

So fun to come up with different design combinations.  And when you have tons of stamps...this is a great way to put a lot of them to use!

Of course, you'll wrap it with some great twine or jute and add your homemade tag.

I also made some wrapping paper for my niece's birthday to wrap her present in.  She's a lover of all things owl-y!

 Who's making their own wrapping paper this year?  Regardless, go get your craft on!

Cheryl

Inky Roller

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Paper Flowers

I love the look of these paper flowers.  If you wad them up real good, they start looking like fabric.  And I love the shabby-chic look of them, all distressed and wrinkly.  Here's some I've used on cards in the past.

Then I got the bright idea to go bigger.  But I didn't have a big enough circle punch.  Then I remembered the Fiskars templates that I have and lo and behold, I had the circle ones!


You use this nifty little cutting tool with it...

 

So I started cutting my circles, distressing the edges, distress inking the edges, crumpling it up, holding it together with a jewel brad and then hot-gluing an alligator clip on the back and voila!

Pretty hair clips!  The one above is clipped onto an elastic headband.  Here are some other designs.

I'm super excited that Venice Baby is carrying my bows.  You need to check out Venice Baby's blog.  She has the cutest hand-made items!  The Long Winter's Nap Caps are a personal favorite.  Can you just picture your kids with these in front of the Christmas tree for your Christmas picture this year? 

Go get your craft on!
Cheryl