Handmade advent calendars

I have a friend who has made gifty advent calendars for her family for several years. It always seems like fun, so this year I decided to try making a couple, too. 

To make the base of the calendar, I used 2" x 2" square boxes. I ordered a pack of 50 boxes online, so I was able to make two calendars. I assembled each box (folding it on the scored lines) and used Scor-Tape to adhere groups of four boxes into columns. Then I glued six columns together to make a large "box" of 24 small boxes.

The package of 50 boxes also came with a little tag and a piece of twine for each box. I saved the twine for other projects, but I used the tags to number the boxes. I stamped the numbers 1 through 24 on some of the tags and then backed each one with a colored circle I punched out of red or green card stock.

To make the calendar more stable, I wrapped ribbon all around the outside and glued a piece of card stock to the bottom.

With the calendars assembled, I was on to the fun part of filling them. It was also a bit of a challenge -- the items obviously needed to be small, and I didn't want to go overboard with the cost. I decided to include a little Christmas message -- a silly joke, a quote, or an activity (e.g., make paper snowflakes, go for a drive to look at Christmas lights, etc.) -- for each day. I put a bit of festive paper shreds in each box, added the gift or treat, and put the message on top.

Below are photos of some of the items I included in the calendars.

These are items I made with things already in my craft stash. The flowers are glued on to office-type silver magnetic clips. The circle bookmarks open and have thin magnets inside so they don't fall out of your book. The rectangles at the bottom are pads of little Post-It Notes. I just used scraps of patterned card stock to make covers and some elastic thread and a flower for a closure. The miniature embroidery hoops are so fun. I considered actually stitching something for inside, but I didn't have time for that. Instead I used patterned paper that looks like stitching or quilting and just added a tiny button and bow in the middle. 

These are some of the items I purchased or already had. I also included tea sachets, shower steamers (little discs of aromatherapy powder that dissolve in the shower), a little heart trinket that made a pretty chiming sound, and of course chocolates. For each calendar I did four days that included two chocolates, and they were different brands/flavors each of those days.

Finally, I included a few crafty goodies in one of the calendars. A mini ink pad, sample jars of Paper Glaze, and a little bottle of Shimmer Splash were all the perfect size.

I know both recipients enjoyed opening a box each day to find a fun little surprise. I'm hoping to get the empty calendars back so I can refill them next year.

Whew! I managed to squeeze in one more blog post before the end of the year. Here's wishing you a gentle year of peace and kindness.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recap of 2024 Christmas cards

Christmas, like so many things this year, has been a struggle. I certainly didn't intend to go more than a month without doing a blog post, but here we are. I figured I should get at least one post done in December, so here is a recap of the designs I used for my Christmas cards this year. (To review the full post for any month, click on the link after the month name.)

January: Outline stickers

February: Fractured cards

March: Christmas mice

April: Modern merry

May: Holiday postage

June: Simple snowflakes

July: Cranberry Christmas

August: Happiest holidays

September: Nature's Christmas

Whatever holiday you celebrate (or don't), I wish you a season of light and peace surrounded by those you love.

Thanks for stopping by!

Artistic Pallet

Here it is the end of the week, and I'm just getting in a blog post. Again. I've been working on a couple of advent calendars that I need to get done, and then there are Christmas gifts to make and buy, cards to mail, and on, and on. There are so many things in my head, it's hard to get to my blog. But here I am with a couple of cards made with the Artistic Pallet background stamp from Unity Stamp Company.

For the first card (on the left) I stamped the background on cream card stock and then colored in the different portions of the stamped image with alcohol markers. I added some gold splatter, rounded two opposite corners of the panel, and adhered it to a dark brown card base. I tied hemp twine around the card front and then adhered a die-cut stem and leaves (with some of the little negative bits left in) to the panel. To make the sentiment I stamped "Happy birthday" on a small banner, and I finished the card with some gold sequins.

For the second card, I used the Sunflower Wishes stamp set (also from Unity Stamp Company) for the focal image and sentiment. I did all the stamping on kraft card stock, and I used colored pencils to color the sunflower. The embellishments on this card are the same as the first: hemp twine, gold splatter, and gold sequins.

To create texture in the center of the sunflower I added dark brown prills. They're kind of like tiny beads with no holes, except they're not uniform in size and shape. I just coated the area with liquid glue, added the prills, let it dry, and then shook off whatever didn't stick. I fussy cut the flower and used foam tape to adhere it to the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mixed media autumn cards

Well, election day has come and gone, and I'm so disappointed with the results of the presidential race. I'm also fearful and anxious about what the next four years will hold. So it's been a stressful week, and crafting seems like such an insignificant thing. But it does help me feel a little less anxious. And I hope that by sharing my work -- sending cards or gifting hand-crafted items -- I can put a little joy out into the world. So I'll keep making cards and sharing them here (hopefully a little more often than I did last month).

Today I'm sharing two autumn-themed mixed media cards. In September I ordered a few of the Paper Glaze sampler sets from Picket Fence Studios, and the Colors of Herbs set was perfect for some fall leaves.

I chose a leaf stencil for each card and applied the Paper Glaze to the card stock using a pallet knife. Starting with the yellow, I applied the glaze to random places of the stencils. Then I did the same with the orange and green pastes, blending the colors together in some places, and let the panels dry.

For the first card, I stamped a sentiment from Lighthearted Leaves (Stampin' Up!) on white card stock, die cut it with a stitched circle die, and adhered the circle to the leaf panel. Using the Autumn Leaves dies (Gina K Designs) and card stock that coordinated with the paste colors, I die cut three leaves and attached them to the panel (using foam tape) so they look like they're falling from a tree. I rounded two corners of the panel, adhered it to a dark brown card base, and finished the card with gold sequins.

For the second card, I used the Collage Backgrounds Hero Transfers (Hero Arts) to fill in the open spaces around the stenciled leaves. I die cut the Happy Birthday die (Simon Says Stamp) out of black and gold card stock and attached the sentiment toward the top of the card. For embellishment, I used my finger to apply Gold Hero Paste (Hero Arts) around the edges of the panel, added bits of coordinating ribbon with a tiny stapler, and finished with gold sequins.

I love the texture that the paste adds, and I'm really happy with these finished cards. I also made a few more backgrounds with the other Paper Glaze sampler sets I ordered, but I haven't turned those into cards yet. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Craft weekend

Last weekend I spent a few days at my friend Lisa’s house for our (sort of) annual craft weekend. We ate good food, watched Hallmark Christmas movies, and made lots of cards. I thought I’d share a few pictures of the fun we had. 

The weather — and the trees — were gorgeous. We took a few breaks to walk in the sunshine.

Works in progress!

At first Lucy was willing to share the chair. But then she said, “No, thank you.”

Dessert! Pumpkin cheesecake and key lime cheesecake.

My finished projects. I worked on birthday cards — I need to replenish my stash — and finished twenty of them. Hopefully I’ll get around to sharing better photos and some details in separate blog posts one day relatively soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween greetings

I think it's fun to make Halloween cards, so I try to make at least a few every year. This year, though, I went a little crazy. I had a pack of 6" x 6" patterned paper I wanted to use up, so I just kept making cards until it was gone -- I ended up with 26 cards.

Below are pictures of each of the different card designs. Since there are quite a few photos, I'm going to skip writing out details; if you have a question, feel free to leave a comment and I'll respond as soon as I can. Here are the main supplies I used for these cards:

• Build-a-Scene Halloween paper (Taylored Expressions)
• Stayin' Alive stamp set (Taylored Expressions)
• Pumpkin to Talk About stamp set (Ellen Hutson)
• Happy Haunting stamps and dies (Ellen Hutson)
• Haunts and Harvest stamps and dies (Gina K Designs)
• Dressed to Scare stamp (Penny Black)
• Brown-Bag Monster stamp (Penny Black)
• Various sentiment stamps, dies, and punches

And there you have it! I tried to pick a favorite, but I couldn't. The next task is to get all these cards in the mail before Halloween!

Thanks for stopping by!

Quick and easy card set

The last few weeks have been busy, and I haven't really had any time for stamping or blog posting. So today I have a short post with a quick and easy card set I made a while back and never shared.

A design like this is great for sets of cards: it's quick to make multiple cards, you get to show off pretty patterned paper, and you can use any sentiment. I started by choosing a pack of patterned paper with a variety of large and small patterns as well as multicolor and tone-on-tone patterns. I decided which papers I wanted to pair together and then chose coordinating card stock for the card bases. I cut the pieces of patterned paper (4" x 4" for the large pieces and about 1-1/4" x 4" for the small pieces), adhered them to the bases, and added a 1/4" strip of black card stock to cover where the papers meet.

I stamped the sentiments on white card stock and die cut them with a stitched circle die. Using foam tape I adhered a circle to each card base overlapping the black strip. I finished each card with two gold sequins.

I'll try to post some more cards soon. Thanks for stopping by!

September Christmas cards: Nature's Christmas

Whew! I'm just squeezing in a few Christmas cards for September. I struggled finding a layout I really liked for this month's cards, so I made five cards with the same vintage look and feel but slightly different designs.

I used the Nature's Christmas stamp set (Stampin' Up!) for these cards. It's an older set, but new to me -- I recently got a secondhand set from a friend of a friend, so I wanted to try it out. I used the wreath and bird house images and "Merry Christmas" for the focal panels and colored them using Prisma Color pencils. I cut out the images with stitched dies and matted the panels with Cherry Cobbler card stock.

I used Crumb Cake card bases to keep with the vintage look, and I embossed each one with a different embossing folder. I don't use my embossing folders very often, but I love the texture. I used narrow green ribbon, gold rickrack, and gold sequins to embellish the cards.

Inside the cards I added a panel of vanilla card stock stamped with a sentiment in dark brown. I also stamped a poinsettia image in the lower left and upper right corners using Crumb Cake, and I think it adds a nice finishing touch.

September just flew by, and I know October will be the same. I'm not planning to make any Christmas cards in October, but who knows. I do want to make some autumn and Halloween cards, so hopefully I'll have some of those to share in the coming weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Floral pairs

In my last couple of posts, I shared some two-at-a-time cards -- cards that I made at the same time with the same stamp set and layout/design, and sometimes a few slight changes, such as colors or sentiments. (Often when I make cards this way I'm giving away one card and keeping one for my stash.) Today I'm sharing more pairs of cards made with the same stamp set. However, these floral cards show two different ways to use the images in each set.

For the first pair of cards I used the Forget-Me-Nots stamp set (Gina K Designs). To create the first card (left) I stamped the image on white card stock and colored it using Prisma Color pencils and Gamsol. I stamped a sentiment and cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die. I matted the panel with black card stock and then placed it on a light blue card base. For embellishment I added a simple hemp twine bow and a few blue sequins.

For the second card (right) I stamped the large image randomly across a piece of white cad stock to create a background. I also splattered the background with blue metallic watercolor. Again, I matted the panel with black card stock and adhered it to a light blue card base. This time I used a die-cut sentiment (cut twice and stacked together for a little dimension) with a vellum circle behind it to help it stand out a little more against the background. I finished the card with light blue sequins.

For the second pair of cards I used the From the Vault Flowers stamp set (Hero Arts). This set includes several floral images and sentiments in different styles. For the first card (on the left) I used a silhouette-style floral branch. I stamped the image multiple times on a rust-colored card base using coordinating ink and then sponged the edges with the same ink. To make the focal image, I stamped From the Vault Aged Shadow (Hero Arts) in pale yellow on white card stock and then stamped the floral image in the middle of the shadow. I added a sentiment (from a different stamp set) and tore off the card stock around the stamped images. I adhered the layer to the card base and added a few enamel dots and a twine bow.

To make the second card (right) I stamped the line-art daffodil image in the lower left corner of a piece of Crumb Cake card stock and “thank you” next to it. I colored the image with Prisma Color pencils — I’ve discovered I really like using colored pencils on kraft card stock — and then splattered the panel with Sparkle Silk. I matted the panel with dark brown card stock and the adhered it to a Crub Cake card base. I finished the card with a few sparkling clear sequins.

Thanks for stopping by!