Advent Countdown

 I have been scrambling the last few days to complete the Karen Foster Advent Calendar I purchased last year after Christmas. Since I was going to be babysitting my granddaughters today I needed to have it done so they can begin using it on Saturday, December 1st.
I read that it takes about 5 hrs to do. I think it took me a wee bit longer.

  The paper is from MME collection "Merry". I just love the pastel colors and thought this would be perfect for two little girls.  Each box is 1.5" by 1.5".

 Here are some close up shots with some embellishments.

  Of course I had to top it off with some frill.

 Inside each box there is a chocolate goodie

or a slip of cardstock (I used the Christmas Label die; forgot to take a picture) with an activity on it. Some activity examples are: Read a Christmas picture book, find a red kettle and donate the enclosed money, make a gingerbread hous with grandma. And for Christmas Day: "Sing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus".
When I took the calendar over to them today, Olivia, the oldest was so excited that she wanted to open the first box right then and there. I told her she had two more sleeps before she could do so.

Not sure if this counts towards CASology's Challenge, but it's worth a shot. After all, it's about time:

Now it's back to finishing my Christmas cards.
Thanks for taking a peek.

On a Roll!

  This is my 3rd consecutive week that I have played along with Retrosketches' Challenges. I'm on a roll.
  Here is this week's sketch.

 

 Of course if you follow my blog, you know this will be a Christmas card. In fact I liked the way it came out, that I made a total of 7 cards. Now I only have 37 cards left.

  Here's a  close up of the sentiment. I used the canvas impression plate on the front panel  to give the card some texture, but it didn't show up in the photo. Do you think I need to add some red rhinestones to the holly berry on the ribbon?

 Thanks for taking a peek.

November Blog Hop

  Wow! I can't believe that it's PTI's Blog Hop already. With all the prepping I was doing for Thanksgiving, I completely forgot. Thank goodness for the email reminder. I must admit when I saw the challenge I was taken aback.

 

The challenge is to select one of Nichole's favorite covers above (or a cover of your own) and use it as inspiration to create a really unique project.  

My first reaction was, "Are you kidding?" I still have 45 more Christmas cards to make. I thought I would just skip this month's hop.

After closer examination of the covers, I focused on the variety of colors on the cover of  Weekend.(it's on the bottom left corner)

I still mangaed to make a Christmas card.

I used the Christmas tree die from Layered Postmarks and cut two tree before using my Linen/Canvas impression plate. The Simply Chartreuse tree is popped up with dimensionals. The sentiment is from Wreath for all Seasons.

Here's a close up shot of the trees.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peep. I know with all the Christmas cards I still have to make, it is going to take awhile for me to visit everyone's blog, but I'll eventually do so.

Retroskteches # 38

  Two weeks in a row entering in a challenge by the same sponsor! That's a first for me! Once again I found the sketch in this week's Retrosketches very appealing.

 Here's my take.

 I used Rustic White and Ocean Tides card stock.  The trees were stamped in  Soft Stone.

I decided to add the sentiment in the top corner. I used Soft Stone on this too! 

Thanks for taking a peek!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

  Just a quick post to wish every one a very happy Thanksgiving.I know I have much to be thankful for this year as always. Here's my latest banner.

An up close of one of the pennants. The leaves were stamped using wood mounted stamps from Hero Arts and Great Impressions. I used my Copics to color them; then I fussy cut them

Thanks for taking a peek.

Just a bunch of Turkeys! Gobble, Gobble!

Just a quick post showcasing one of the Thanksgiving cards I made for my granddaughters. I was brave again and used my sewing machine to stitch the pattern paper to the Dark Chocolate. This was my first attempt stamping on ribbon. As you can see it bled some and became distorted. Luckily my granddaughters can't read yet!

  The little critter is made using a scalloped Nestability with parts of the Christmas label die and fillable frame die. I used the berries from the Holly Jolly die for his feet.

  I made a 2nd card just changing the body part using different pattern paper. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.!

Retrosketches #37

     Phew, I am going to make the deadline for the current Retrosketches Challenge #37. I just love this week's sketch.

It is such a fun, versatile layout. I can see myself using this same sketch for a variety of Christmas cards.

Here's my version:

The paper is from Teresa Collins' Christmas Cottage Collection. The santa is from Winter Snow Globe colored with Copics. I used puffy paint on his hat, cuffs and bottom portion of outfit.

  The inside sentiment is from Think Big Favorites # 20.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek.