Advent calendar

My mom and I created this advent calendar a few years ago. I might not have even had kids at the time, I can't recall, It's all a blur. Anyhow I found it difficult to find trinkets small enough to fit in these favor tins and I had several incidents of the lids falling off and dumping out candy when I filled them with things like M&Ms. Last year I saw a great idea in Disney Family Fun magazine for an advent calendar filled with fun things to do as a family everyday leading up to Christmas. I just finished printing up my list of things and I am cutting them and putting the little slips of paper in the tins. Some are simple things like read Twas the Night before Christmas, watch the Polar Express and make a paper plate Santa. Others are take the train to see Santa at the Danbury Rail Museum and go to the Holiday Spirit Festival at Bowdoin Park. I am looking forward to sharing the calendar with the boys tomorrow and I am glad I don't have to worry about spilling mishaps with the calendar this year.

Thanksgiving Table Favors

I know Thanksgiving has come and gone. But I did make favors for the table and take photos. I loved the Gratitude Stamp Set in the Stampin Up Holiday mini this year and the paper that went with it. It was just beautiful. We made these at the Stamping in the Woods retreat I went on this fall with my upline and stamping friends. I covered Hershey's nuggets with the paper and put them in treat bags. The bags had to be folded and taped in the back so the chocolates fit snugly. My sons were so excited to eat their chocolates that all they did during dinner was ask if they could open them!

Stuff to add

I do have photos of things I have been working on to add. I just haven't gotten to it yet but I will. I have been enjoying all the project on the blogs I follow and not spending enough time crafting my own project. Stay tuned for an update.

Fall frame

I love this frame. It's the first project I completed with my new gypsy and I can't believe how easy it was to make all these cuts. I started with a white mat from Michael's and stamped SU Pumpkin Pie Ink all over it. It didn't cover evenly but I really like the way it gave it texture. It almost looks suede to me. Then I used TH walnut stain distress ink all over the mat. I cut the apples, basket, leaves, and acorns from Doodlecharms. The pumpkins and wheelbarrow are from Everyday Paper Dolls. The tree is from Stretch Your Imagination and the font is All Mixed Up. The apples got a coat of glossy accents to make them shine and some brads made the basket. Everything is shaded with distress inks. I'd like to come up with a few more designs to give these frames as gifts (but we'll see how much I actually complete before Christmas). Oh yeah a side note I bought a cheap-o frame from WalMart and when I tried to stuff this into the frame the glass cracked in three places! So I either need to find some frames with a little more dimension or not use dimensionals on my die cuts.

Altered Paint Can

I just whipped this up as a sample project for a workshop I am hostessing for my friend Beth who just signed on with Stampin Up. I used the ornament punch and stamp set and this paper and ribbon is actually from last year. Beth ordered the candy cane paper from the mini catalogue so that's what we'll be using. Gotta see if she has ribbon to match. I think it came out pretty cute and would be great for cookies or a small gift. Quick, easy and cheap teacher gifts too!