I missed my regular Thursday post, so here is a late night (well, late for me) post for you!

I am absolutely in love with Advent Calendars.  I don't know why, but I think they are great.  I have made large wooden ones for the kids (I wanted to have pictures for you, but DH didn't want to dig them out for me).  They are basically a 2'x3' piece of MDF with 24 squares routed out on each.  Each square has a watchmakers case attached to them with hot glue (which the treats go in for each day).  They are painted, each in a different theme, for each of the kids. 

Last year, after seeing this, by Leigh,

I bought one of the bases for myself.  However (and no, I'm not kidding) I think DH threw it out. I can't find it anywhere.  And I'm even more bummed, now that I saw this, by Sherri.

These are both SOOO well done! I just love them!

Then I found  this one.   I fell head over heels for both the simplicity of it and the elegance.  So, this is my new project.  I'm planning on tackling this tomorrow. 

I can't wait!

Anyway! Now that you've been overloaded by Advent Calendars, hopefully you'll be inspired to make your own!

Creative Love to you all!

Advent Calendars

I missed my Wednesday post, so I'm popping in now with some Advent Calendars I've come across lately.

I've seen these Advent Calendar Cookie Trays before, but just thought I'd share this one from Making Memories with you all.

I can totally see my kids looking forward to every new "ornament"!

You can find the instructions here.

I saw this door hanger one from Heidi Swapp. (Well, this one's not counting down to Christmas, but it'd super cute if it did!)

Course this one (converted to a holiday theme) that Flo shared is still my favorite!

A sketch from me

Since Liz unfortunately isn't posting her fabulous sketches for us anymore, I thought I'd try making one, using a 12x12 format and two 4x6 photos.



I was inspired by a sketch on Valerie Salmon's blog Got Sketch? (#91) but changed up the sizes a little. I hope you'll be inspired by it, too.

I haven't gotten around to making a layout with the sketch yet, but hope to this weekend, which I will upload ASAP.

Happy scrapping!

ETA: I made the layout tonight, but I ended up using the MSS December kit-- so I won't be able to post it until Tuesday. Sorry! ;)

Card Inspiration

Wow - can you believe it's almost December?? Where has the time gone!? I feel incredibly unprepared for Christmas....I haven't made any cards, bought any presents, or sent out invitations for a party that we're hosting next weekend (!!). I think this warm weather has messed with my head! I just can't seem to get into Christmas mode yet.

One of the things I'm giving as Christmas gifts are homemade cards. I've vowed to make one card a night for the next week and a half so I can get it all done. So far, so good (did I mention that I only started yesterday?? Ha!) I thought I'd share my cards with you throughout the next few weeks, and the inspiration behind each of them.

Oddly enough, I find making cards harder than doing layouts. I have no idea why. Maybe it's because there's such little space to work with. Or because there's no picture to work around. Either way it always takes me 4358923497 times longer to make a card than a layout. And if you knew how long it took me to do a layout...well, let's just say you'd probably laugh! What I like to do are look at layouts as inspiration and see how I can scale them down. For the card below, I actually found my inspiration from this:

Supplies used: Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly Punch (large, medium and small), Crate patterned paper, pop dots

The best part is that it uses up all my little scraps of pp. And once you get going, it doesn't take that long. Better get going on my card for tonight....wouldn't want to fall off the bandwagon on day 2. I mean, how pathetic would that be? Ha!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner

And last, but certainly not least, is the winner from my blog post from last week......

Tanya Dery!!

Congratulations, Tanya!
And thanks to everyone who played along with our give-away week-- we have such great members here at MSS!

and the winner is....

JULIA!!!

Congrats Julia!
You have won any 10 sheets of patterned paper you desire (from My Scrap Shoppe of course)!
Send me a message with your choices!

I was going to draw my RAK winner yesterday but I was on the couch and in bed all day sick. Feeling better today, but now my little sweetheart who was taking care of me... covering me with blankets and rubbing my back... is sick. :(

So, I'm a day behind in my to do list and have a ton to catch up on while he sleeps. The giveaway from last week is one of them.
It was interesting to see how you guys were/weren't going to record your holidays.

And the winner of a "yet-to-be-packed" RAK is...

Carol!

We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone who submitted comments on my last post about their worst birthday. Admittedly, I felt a little ridiculous about complaining about my little sickness when everyone else's stories were so much worse! My cold seems to have disappeared, but the runny/stuffy nose combo seems to be sticking around. Oh well.

Anyway.....I'm sure you're all dying to know who won! Well congrats, Laurie! You're the lucky winner of 2 Cropper Hoppers. Please PM or email me at setter213 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

I'll be back later today with the rest of my post.

happy monday!!

it is so beautiful outside!!!
the longer the snow waits, the better!

this weeks challenge for your Book of ME,
is a "now and then" challenge.
find a photo from earlier on in your life,
and a photo from recently.
What do you notice? whats familiar?
how are you going to journal the differences?

In my case the title and subtitle pretty much
say it all..and in case you can't clearly read
it, in the top corner of the top photo it says
1976, and the bottom photo has 2008 on it.

i also used the paper from the november kit,
which is SO AWESOME!!! if you haven't picked
one up, do so!!! (that is, if they're not
already sold out!)



So, we ran a week of giveaways last week,
did ya notice??? lol

so i asked what your favourite colour was,
and Susi replied turquoise blue and brown,
a lovely combo i might add...
Susi you are my winner!!!
please PM me on the MSS website so i can
mail you your goodies!!!
thanks for all who played,
and keep those BOM layouts coming!!! i love
seeing them in the gallery!!!

later,
Jen

A different use for chipboard

I was working on this layout a couple of weeks ago and was pretty happy with it, but felt it needed something else. I decided that a little more layering could be good, so I searched through my container of Fancy Pants chipboard shapes and came across this one. I didn't think two chipboard shapes would work that well, but I like the shape of them together. So, I found some coordinating patterned paper....



...and decided to trace the shape and cut it out. I flipped them both over and traced onto the back of the patterned paper...



... cut it out, sanded my edges and added it to my layout, under the chipboard red swirl. And voila, my completed layout:



How have you used chipboard in a different/creative way?
Leave a comment here telling me how and I'll draw for a RAK next week.

It's that time again...

It's often at this time of year when I remember all the blessings in my life.  All the reasons that I love my husband, my children, my families (extended and otherwise) , my home, my work and my play.  All the things that I have now that I didn't have when I was a single mom. 

I made this the year Declan was born because I was overwhelmed at how blessed I was, by yet another child in my life!

Leave me a message in the comments section with your name and one thing that you've noticed this year that has blessed you in some way.  I'll draw a name and post who won a giveaway from me in next Thursday's blog!

December Art Journal and a giveaway

It took me part of an evening, but my December Art Journal is put together and ready to go.


I'll be sharing my art journal/mini book here as well as guiding you through a few tutorials. Hold on... it'll be a long post.

If you don't have any of these supplies, feel free to substitute with anything in your stash! Make it yours!

Note: When I'm assembling my book I make sure that I put envelopes or folders or anything that can hold a lot of stuff in places where I'll need it. For example, I make sure that I have an envelope for the 16th (my son's birthday) where I'll potentially have more things that I'll want to include. I also make sure I have a folder or large paper on the 25th and other days where I'll have gatherings.

I move my papers around a lot and put my numbers on at the very end. You could also keep your numbers off and just add them on the day... giving you even more time to move your pages around before commiting!

So, here's what I did to create the foundation pages for my book.

Supplies:

- December Art Journal kit
- cardstock
- sewing machine
- embroidery thread and needle
- circle hole punch
- scallop border punches
- star punch
- page protector
- zig zag scissors
- wax paper
*Don't throw our your packaging... we'll be using that too.

Cover and back.

Take your 5x7 chipboard piece and punch two holes in it for your binder rings. Use this as a template for the other holes you will punch as you construct this book. Using the back cover as a template punch the holes in your bingo card for your cover. Trim a piece of ribbon and sew down the side.

Pocket page for extra supplies (I had supplies from the kit that I'll only use as I fill up my pages and wanted to store them together).

Take extra cardstock and trim it to 5x7. Using a scallop punch (or freehand it with scissors) punch one 5" end. Take a coordinating piece and trim it to 4.5x5". Punch a half circle on one of the 4.5" sides. Sew onto the larger cardstock as shown. Store extra stickers, die-cuts, etc.

Page 1.

(note: for most of the pages that made use of the 6x6" patterned paper sheets in the kit I trimmed them down to 5" wide). Trim your music note paper down to 5x6".

Page 2.

Take a piece of copy paper. Fold it in half. Draw a bracket shape like this { on the paper. Cut it out and unfold. Use extra cardstock from your stash. Place your newly cut bracket shape on your cardstock. Trace and cut out.

Page 3.

Take an extra page protector. Trim to 5x7" and sew down the side, creating a small page protector. Trim a 1" piece off one of your 6x6" patterned papers and place in the side of the page protector. Sew an additional line down the other side of the patterned paper, essentually making a tall and skinny pocket for it. For now I just slide my "3" into the page protector.

Page 4.

Another piece of patterned paper trimmed to 5x6". Staple a small piece of ribbon to the top.

Page 5.

Trimmed your vintage book page to 5x7".

Page 6.

Trim the glitter dot patterned paper to 5x6". Use a scallop punch down the side.

When I use my scallop punch I punch first and THEN trim my paper down to size (5"). Doing it the other way around will result in a page that's slightly less than your desired size.

Page 7.

The misted paper.

Page 8.

Take two pieces of cardstock from your stash. One measuring 5x6", the other measuring 4x5" (with a scalloped edge). Sew a pocket like you did earlier.

Page 9.

Take a sheet of white cardstock from your kit. Take the 1" piece of music note paper that your trimmed off earlier and adhere it to the side. Take a piece of ribbon and stitch it on the seam.

Page 10.

Ledger patterned paper with a small ribbon stitched to the top side.

Page 11.

Staple the chipboard star to the edge of the 4x6" transparency.

Page 12.

Stitch another piece of ribbon to the side of the kraft cardstock.

Page 13.

Grid paper.

Page 14.

Use your scallop punch on the side of a piece of patterned paper. Thread yarn through the holes in the punched edge.

Page 15.

Hand cut a scallop down the side of a sheet of the white cardstock. Take embroidery thread and stitch random lines going down.

Page 16.

Adhere your artisan die-cut to the envelope so that it's partly covered by the flap when closed.

Page 17.

Tag

Page 18.

Using a zig zag scissor trim the side of a 5x7" piece of cardstock. Punch or hand-cut three stars out of cardstock. Sew down the side.

Page 19.

Take your large chipboard frame from the kit. Take your plastic packaging from the frame and cut it down the side. Stick your chipboard frame to the plastic. Trim around to create a "window page". Adhere your number directly to the plastic.

You may have noticed that I leave the back side of all my pages. It does not bother me to have them blank and unfinished. I figure that I can always cover them with photos... or just leave them. If you're concerned about having things look unfinished you can back them with additional paper or embellishments.

Page 20.

Scallop the edge of the large dot patterned paper.

Page 21.

Create your own glassine envelope with wax paper. Take a piece of wax paper and trim it to about 11.5x5" (you can do this right in your paper trimmer). Fold it so that you have an envelope that's 51/4" tall. Sew the edges. Fold over your flap and angle the corners with a scissor. For now I just threw an extra punched star in it.

Page 22.

Loose leaf page.

Page 23.

Red envelope

Page 24.

Trim one of your white cardstock pages with a scallop punch. Stitch a random line down the side.

Page 25.

File folder page.

Page 26.

Take a 1x6" piece of patterned paper and adhere to the side of a piece of white cardstock (5x6"). Stitch a piece of ribbon down the seam.

Page 27.

Snowflake transparency page (trimmed to 5x6")

Page 28.

Take your fabric and trim to 6x5". Stitch to an extra piece of cardstock (for strength) and zig zag the edge.

Page 29.

Take the grid chipboard back from your frame packaging. Trim to 5x7". Machine stitch onto cardstock (to hide the barcode, etc. on the back).

Page 30.

Using your zig zag scissors trim the edge of the candy cane striped patterned paper.

Page 31.

Hand-cut a scallop on the top of the circle dot patterned paper.

Gather up all your pages and add your binder rings.

Voila. Your foundation pages are done!

I'm determined to get my printer going and update daily progress on my blog in December but we'll see. If not, then I plan to print out any pictures I want to use on a weekly basis. I'm not at ALL set on taking a picture a day. Some pages may just be words or ephemera.

So.

Now... the giveaway.

How will you be recording the holidays? Are you making a December journal?
I'll draw a RAK from the comment section on this post at the beginning of next week.