Christmas stitchery

I have wanted to do this stitchery for the last couple of years.  Maybe this year will be the year!  I wanted to stitch some cute designs on some Christmas stockings that I want to make. 

You can find this pattern at Cedarberry Stitches.  Here is a link to their site.  I love their Stitchery designs!

http://www.cedarberrystitches.com/christmas.html

Ready for my last Advent Calendar?

Again I did not take pictures of the process.  My camera batteries were dead and I did not want to wait for them to recharge before getting started on this craft. 
I had purchased a premade Karen Foster Advent calendar. Scrapbooking warehouse had a good sale on theirs. I have to admit I was very surprised at how small it was, but the neat thing about it is it comes with numbers to stick on.

I mod podged Christmas Scrapbook paper on the squares doors and outside edges and back of the advent calendar., I cut 1 1/2 inch squares with my cricut for square doors. Oh and I antiqued around the edges of all the paper before I mod podged actually. I added the numbers and then mod podged again over the numbers.

You could be done right there, but I saw this same Advent Calendar at Gardner Village (A crafty place in Utah) and they had added a handle on the top which I thought was so adorable.  So I added a handle and then tied a ribbon on top.

 I have been having a hard time deciding if should keep the ribbon or if it would be cuter with just the plain handle. 

So anyway that is the last Advent Calendar I will be making this season.  My family will be happy to  have our kitchen table cleared of all my craft stuff :-)  I have a craft room in the basement, but sometimes I find it is easier to craft and be a mom at the same time upstairs where I can be aware of what everyone is up to.

My latest Advent Calendar!

So yes I must be obsessed with Advent Calendars! 
I saw this idea http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/advent_calendar/ And I wanted to do something similar. 
I saw they had the little tins at the dollar store in packages of 3. So I bought 8 packages way cheaper than the ones at Walmart and Michaels.
 So I had my tins, but I did not know what to do with them!  While I was shopping at Michaels for supplies for my  muffin tin Advent Calendar craft class I saw this plain wood craft wreath and suddenly I knew exactly what I was going to do with my tins!  I am the worst at documenting my steps while making a craft so I will explain the best I can.

1st I mod podged some pretty green Christmas scrapbook paper onto the round frame.

Next I spray painted the silver looking tins a oil rubbed bronze color because I love that look.

Oh also I found some cute Texas stars at the dollar store that had some silly santas and snowmen on them so I sprayed the oil rubbed bronze over that too so I could hang it down the middle of the wreath.

Then I cut out 2 inch circles on my cricut and mod podged them onto the tops of the tins.  I cut out numbers the same color green as the wreath.  I mod podged them onto the tops of the tins also.

I thought the oil rubbed bronze star and tins looked too plain so I added some cute decorative christmas ribbon to add some color and bling!  I attached them on with glue dots one of my favorite crafting tools!

I glued down the tins on the the wreath with heavy duty E-6000 glue.  I also attached the star with a silver ribbon and let it all dry over night.

My 11 year old daughter and I put in all the chocolates this morning and hung it on the wall. 

Yay! I think it turned out cute!

Believe it or not I have another different kind of Advent Calendar I am working on.  I will post that one soon!

The latest

Life has been busy for me lately!  Or I should say more busy than normal :-)  I threw a fun Birthday party for my son last Saturday.  It was a bb gun target shooting party. They made their own turkey targets ( Thanks Michele from Made by Meedy for the idea) and then had fun taking turns shooting them.  It turned out to be a huge hit with the boys and one of the easiest partys I have ever thrown.  If you look close you can see their turkeys lined up on the boxes.  This would be a fun Thanksgiving activity.  To make the Turkey targets you just trace out your hand twice on construction paper, cut them out, add google eyes and then attach the paper hands to each side of an empty soda can. I used double sided sticky tape.

We also had one of our neighborhood craft nights on Tuesday.  Thanks to all who came! We did a lot of neat projects to prepare for Christmas.  I was able to share 3 of my projects I have been involved in lately. My Nativity puzzle,  The mini muffin tin advent calendar and the Diamond glaze scrabble tile and washer pendants.  If you have not seen any of these projects you can find them on this blog.

I also keep forgetting to post the scripture tote bag I made a few weeks ago. I gave it to My 13 year old daughter who loves it.  She can fit her scriptures, Young womens journal and personal progress book in it nicely.  We made a red one with black and white polka dotted ribbon for one of her friends as a birthday present a long with a diamond glaze washer pendant necklace. Perfect and easy gifts for girls

I got the idea here. http://www.scribd.com/doc/14953545/Scripture-Totes

The Cricut Expression

Hey everyone I had a Birthday on Saturday and My husband surprised me with a cricut expression!  I never would have expected it because money has been tight lately. I have wanted a cricut for 5 years now and I had finally convinced myself that having a cricut was a silly waste of money since there are so many pre made stickers, die cuts, embellishments etc. out at the stores, but boy oh boy was I wrong!  I have been having so much fun!

 I was able to whip out quickly all the squares I needed for another mini muffin tin advent calendar I am making. It was so quick and this time I put the magnet sheeting behind the squares and I was able to cut squares on the magnet sheet on the cricut the exact same size as the scrapbook paper squares!

Any way I am sure to some of you this is old hat to you cause you probebly got the Original Cricut the first second it came out, but for me it is new, exciting and fun!

November bugaboo book club pick

So I like to recomend a good book every month to add to your reading or to convince you of the worth of reading.  I just love this book!  I could read it again and again!  It is the first and only book that has brought tears to my face as I was reading it.  I think it is a fitting book for Thanksgiving because it teaches us to be thankful in all things.  Not just the happy things, but "All things!"  I just love Corrie and her brave spirit!  If you have not read this book before just  know that it will be one of the best books you will ever read.

Turkeys

In my quest to bring Thanksgiving back on the Calendar I have made a point to make Thanksgiving crafts over the last few years.

I  painted this Turkey for my Mom at her Ward Super Saturday a few years ago.  She was too nervous that she would mess it up. It has a special place in my heart because the following  year she became ill with Cancer and passed away. When we were sorting through her stuff I did  not think she would mind if I took the Turkey home with me. It will always remind me of that fun Super Saturday we spent together before she got sick.

That same year I was in charge of my Ward Super Saturday and this is the Turkey we made.  If you live any where around Salt Lake You can find this Turkey at "The Wood connection"  in Midvale.  I just love that it  is Just simple and cute!

Last year my thankgiving craft was the stitchery I made that I already posted down below.

This year I would like to make a Thanksgiving tree.  Does anyone have any good ideas for that?

Thanksgiving Stitchery

This is my Thanksgiving stitchery design that I came up with  last year.  I really think Thankgiving does not get enough recognition! 
What I love about stitchery is if you can draw it you can usually stitch it.

My advent Calendar

I loved the muffin tin idea for an advent calendar.  So this is what I came up with.

Supplies:

-24 hole mini muffin tin (wal-mart has them for around $4.50)

-Christmas Scrap book paper ( I like to get the double sided paper so I have more paper options)

-2 1/4 inch scalloped paper punch ( you can use a round or square 2 inch punch also. I just like the scalloped look for Christmas)

-Christmas embellishments to decorate

-Numbers.  I just combined a bunch of different number stickers that I had, but you could use a the cricut machine , or print them off the computer too.

-If your tin has holes you can tie ribbon on also.   You can use it as a decoration or to hang it on the wall.

-I also spray painted mine a oil rubbed bronze color and then sanded it on the edges to give it a antiqued look.