Countdown to Christmas

Ok, so it has been awhile since I have posted. Did you think I disappeared off the face of the earth? On Sun 1 Nov, I became completely focused on only one thing..... my calendar class that just happened this past Saturday. I had to get all the pages planned and prepped along with everything else that was happening in this household. It was a very busy week and this week is just the same. I have the Trenton Children's Centre Craft Sale this coming Saturday, 14 Nov. It will be taking place at the Elk's Lodge on Telephone Rd here in Trenton from 10am till 4pm. Come check out my booth and support the Trenton Children's Centre. There will also be a hot lunch available for purchase along with a bake sale and many other vendors. I have making chili and baking on my list of things to do this week as well :) Come see me to browse my sale merchandise along with doing a little make and take. Looking forward to seeing you.

Ok, so onto today's post.... My Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar

I had contemplated running this as a course, but was afraid it would be too expensive of a class. There are a variety of materials you can build your calendar on to keep the costs lower, but let me tell you how I did mine.

Supplies Required:

1/2" Thick Plywood - 16" x 24"

1 3/8" Wide Wood Trim

White Paint

114831 Small Christmas Countdown Decor Element ($26.95)

3 pieces of balsa wood (3" x 24") cut down to 25 pieces at 2 1/2" x 3"

Adhesive Velcro Dots (2 per box - 50 used total)

Jewelery Boxes (I have quite a few available for purchase at $0.30 a box)

Designer Series Paper (1 1/4" x 3 3/4" piece for lid wrap and 1 3/8" x 2 3/8" for bottom of inside of box)

Grosgrain Ribbon

Crop-o-dile

Tea Cup Hook

Picture Hangers

Adhesive

Glue Dots

Steps to Complete:

1. Glue moulding to plywood board. Once dry, paint the entire frame white. Paint the Balsa Wood Strips white.

2. Mount Decor Element in centre of board once the paint has dried. Specific Instructions for this step come with the product.

3. Attach Boxes with 2 Velcro Dots. Place them on the box first and then place the box in position on the board and the other portion of velcro will remain in place.

4. Attach Tea Cup Hook so numbers on wood strips will not sit too low

5. Decorate top of boxes with DSP and Ribbon. Decorate inside as well with co-ordinating DSP, so once the day has been opened you can leave the box open for display.

6. Cut the Balsa Wood Strips down to 2 1/2" x 3". A small hand saw is all we used. Apply the numbers from the countdown directly to the wood pieces. Use Crop-a-dile to punch holes in top of each numbered piece.

7. Now you just need to fill each box. I really like the size of boxes that I got because I am able to put in a couple treats for the kids and then they take turns opening the boxes every day, but they both always get something.

You could pretty much put anything you like in these little boxes - money, candy, chocolates, mini gift certificates, special things to do today notices and whatever else your imagination can come up with.

If you are interested in making one of these for your family's Countdown to Christmas, don't hesitate to contact me for more information, to order the decor element and to purchase some sweet little boxes. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

I will be back tomorrow with another post from my calendar class. Have a great Tuesday!!

Happy Halloween

Well, Today's the day!!! The kids are very happy and we will be carving our pumpkins this morning. I thought today I would share a new look for my blog! I have been wanting to create my own blog header since I started this blog, but haven't gotten around to it! Well, my dreams came true when we came out with the My Digital Studio and then I could create a header simple and easy and using all of our actual stamp sets and paper. I am so excited. I already have another look ready to go for the holidays. I hope you enjoy them!

Here are a few little treat boxes and a Halloween card to inspire you today! I hope you have a wonderful Halloween and I hope the weather turns out nice for the trick-or-treaters!

This is the Box #2 Sizzix Bigz XL Die which I cut out of Pumpkin Pie Card Stock and decorated with a strip of the Cast-a-Spell Designer Series Paper. The little chick and greeting come from the Twick or Tweet Stamp set in the holiday mini catalogue. Punches that were used are the Word Window, 1 1/4" Circle, 1 3/8" Circle and Scallop Circle. I love my punches!!!

This next treat box was made with the Fancy Favor Bigz XL Die.
I cut out the box in Perfect Plum Card Stock and stamped images from "From the Crypt" stamp set in Perfect Plum and Basic Black ink. I attached ribbon through the sides of the box to create a handle and made the embellishment on the front of the box my circle punches and the "Eat, Drink & Be Scary" Stamp set. I used my markers to achieve different colours in the greeting.

The second box is done using the same die but this time I actually closed the box with ribbon instead of leaving it open like a basket.

I used the Sweet Treats stamp set and the circle punches to decorate the front of it.







And lastly, the card for today was one that we did at my Halloween class. I wanted to make the focal point the Designer Paper and the rub-on punched out with the Wide Oval Punch.

I made the card out of Pumpkin Pie Card Stock, stamped the Brocade image from the "From the Crypt" stamp set as a background. I layered my Card Stock and Designer Paper pieces together and wrapped the black Wide grosgrain around it and then attached it to the front of the card.
I used the spooky treats rub-ons on Whisper White Card Stock and then punched out using the Wide Oval Punch. To make a mat for that, I used the Lots of Tags Sizzlets Die. I added the crow rub-on, stamped the bat and cut it out and sponged the edges of the main card to finish off the final details. Thanks for stopping by today! Happy Halloween!!

One More Day and Counting!

Every morning Victoria wakes up and tells me how many more days until Halloween! I don't think she has ever been this excited to go Trick or Treating before.

This is one of the cards we did at my Halloween class a little while back. When I was doing my blog browsing I came across a card similar to this. Thanks for the inspiration Michelle Zindorf. I loved the way the sponging was done so thought I just had to try it.

I created the moon first by punching a 1 3/4" circle out of a post-it note. I placed it down on my whisper white card stock and then the sponging began. I started with going gray, then added basic gray and finished off with basic black on the top half of the card stock. Below the Moon I sponged sahara sand and then soft suede. I stamped the tree from the Branch Out stamp set in basic black and sponged around the edges in basic black also.

When you remove the post-it note, it looks like you have created magic. The moon is so crisp and clear and is screaming for the bats to fly through the shadows. I stamped Happy Halloween and punched it out using the Wide Oval Punch and then I stamped the tree again on the punched oval but in stamped off Basic Black ink.

I used Elegant Eggplant as my main card base and sponged eggplant around all the sides. Of course I love ribbon, so needed to add a bit of that as well. And there you have it! I hope you have a great Friday and find some time to create!! I will be... considering I have a calendar class in a week!

Supplies Used:

Stamp Sets: From the Crypt, Branch Out, House of Haunts

Card Stock: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black, Going Gray, Basic Gray, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Old Olive

Accessories: Stamping Sponges, Post-It Notes, Wide Oval Punch, Elegant Eggplant 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

A Special Birthday!

My husbands birthday is coming up later this week(tomorrow to be precise) and I wanted to create a card specifically for him. Usually he gets whatever I might have sitting around at the time, but this time I wanted to create a card with him in mind. This is what I came up with.....inspired by a card by Rochelle Gould. I didn't have some of the same stamps, so I altered mine to work with the product I have.

I ran a piece of Close to Cocoa Card Stock through the Big Shot with the Weathered Texturz Plate. Then I sponged Chocolate Chip Classic Ink over the raised impressions to give it the look of grainy wood. I cut my paper up in strips and then attached them to my card front and accented them with brads.

The background is stamped with the Sanded Background stamp and then sponged with close to cocoa classic ink. I stamped the Happy Birthday greeting from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set all over the front. The Tools are stamped with Black Staz-on ink and then Watercoloured and cut out and mounted on the front with dimensionals.

I hope you enjoy today's post. Sorry it has been so long! I have had a busy week and last night I had 11 gals here for the Delightful Decorations Class. It went very well despite the large attendance and I will be sharing the projects with you in the very near future.

Have a great day!

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Totally Tool 113256 $34.95, Teeny Tiny Wishes 115370 $48.95

Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel and Watercolour Paper

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Going Gray, Black Staz-on ink

Accessories: Stamping Sponges, Aquapainter, Big Shot, Texturz Plates Kit #4, Paper Snips, Vintage Brads, Paper Piercer, Mat Pack, Dimensionals

Final Deal of the Week!!

The final deals of the week are from October 26, 10 AM (MT) through October 31, 11:50 PM (MT).

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Special Price
116214	174	Princess Party Kit	$21.95	$13.99
116213	175	Pirate Party Kit	$21.95	$13.99

If you would like to take advantage of these great deals, click HERE to order online or e-mail me at cathmsand@cogeco.ca. Orders must be in by Saturday 31 Oct at 8am.

Get Well Soon.......

I hope everyone is keeping well and evading the cold and sicknesses that are going around. The card I am sharing today is one that I made for a friend who doesn't have a cold or the flu but was hit by a car when riding her bike! Can you believe it? Wearing reflector gear from head to toe, a headlamp on her bike helmet and the driver still didn't see her riding down Hwy 2 towards the base. I couldn't believe it. She was asked by the police why she wasn't riding on the sidewalk! I guess it is allowed in Trenton! She is doing well despite the head spins and nausea she is still having from hitting her head so hard. Stamping has been good therapy for her as she can't read books, watch tv or be on the computer.

I was so excited about the card I made for her. I was having a fantastically (my new word) creative night on Fri night and came up with 4 cards. This one along with 3 other Christmas Cards that will be offered as a class in the near future. I stayed away from the computer this weekend and committed myself to my stamp room. It was a wonderful weekend.

I created the Background on Pixie Pink Card Stock with the Stampin' Up! Perfect Details Texturz Plates and the Big Shot and then highlighted all the raised dots with my white gel pen.

I stamped the band-aid image from the Wellness Wishes stamp set in Staz-on Black Ink and then coloured it in with Pixie Pink ink and a Blender Pen. I cut it out and then mounted it on top of the same image (using dimensionals), which was stamped and punched out with the Wide Oval Punch. I love the Lots of Tags Sizzlets, because there is one that perfectly mats the wide oval punch. I added some Black card stock and ribbon and voila!!! I hope you like it.

Have a great day! Check back tomorrow for another exciting card!

Supplies Used:

115962 Perfect Details Texturz Plate $5.95

115356 Wellness Wishes $19.95

114508 Lots of Tags Sizzlets Set of 4 $29.95

112082 Wide Oval Punch $22.95

115605 Black 5/8" Grosgrain $11.95

A Halloween Hi!

The kids are busy counting down the days until they can go trick or treating! I hope the weather on the 31st will be as mild as the past few days have been. Their costumes are ready to go and now I just need to figure out how I am going to paint their faces :)

This card was another one that we did at the class on 7 Oct. We used the More the Merrier stamp set which is a Level 3 Hostess Set. You can earn this stamp set free by hosting a workshop with sales of $655.

I stamped the pumpkins with Black Staz-on Ink on Watercolour Paper and then watercoloured the image with Apricot Appeal, Dusty Durango, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. I watercoloured the ground in soft suede and the sky in Bashful Blue.

I used Dusty Durango, Soft Suede and Apricot Appeal Card Stock. As you can see I love sponging and have sponged all the edges with ink. The apricot background was done with the Texture Plates Kit #4 and the Big Shot. This card measures 3" x 6" and fits nicely into our small open end envelopes. This card is also the perfect size for money!!

Have a great day!