First Advent

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, a time of anticipation and preparation for the birth of Jesus. One of the visual aspects of the passing of time is with an advent wreath where one candle is lit the first Sunday of Advent, the second Sunday the first candle and another are lit and so on until December 25th. Another visual and tactile way to count down the days is with an Advent calendar. I have several of these - oops I think it's now another collection.


2008 Advent Calendar swap- round cookie tin painted beige with gold highlights and lots of fun rub-ons to decorate the tin when the calendar pieces are not there yet. I ran some small faux greenery around the outer edge just to give it a more wreath-like appearance.


Our hotel key Advent calendar filled with great pictures of Christmases past and family. More pictures HERE.


Michael's Advent calendar made solely of QuicKutz dies and lots of embellishments.


Advent calendar swap 2009 - I just fell in love with the snowman ornament found at Michael's in 2009. My friend Stacy did a beautiful job with the bow!


This is a talking story of Christmas Advent calendar. Each day that is opened, another nativity figure gets placed on the magnetic background and a portion of the Christmas story is revealed.


Here is the Advent Calendar finished. This was purchased in 2008 at The Shop, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.


This musical Santa Advent calendar, also purchased in Santa Fe at the The Shop plays music when a switch is turned on. Grandkids love this one!


I found this Lego calendar in Chicago. Or was it Huntsville, AL? I don't remember. What I do remember is lugging it back home! It's one that gets used year after year. the kids can build the little Lego characters. Very entertaining, even for the 29 yr old.

I am linking to Tablescaper's blog for Seasonal Sunday.. be sure to jump over and get some great decorating and seasonal inspiration.
I am linking to Holiday Haven's Christmas Blog party.. check this blog out for some great ideas!

Pennies from Heaven - the project

Finally, here is the project. I used an old 1960's edition of Reader's Digest for the front and back covers. I love die cutting printed pages or using them for other projects, so old books are great. These still have the cool textured and printed covers with leather spines. A great find for 25 cents each! Have you realized that the cent sign is missing from the keyboard??? I used a Zutter Bind It All to punch the holes along the spines of the covers and the pages. Added a few stamps, letters, die cuts, pennies, Graphic 45 paper, and the keyhole and key embellishments from Mellisa Francis. The "m" is diecut using QuicKutz's new English Rose alphabet dies from a paint chip from Lowes.
Quickutz Lemonade font die cut and edged and then adhered to a piece of graphic 45 paper cut using a Spellbinders die.
A quote I'd been saving.
This keyhole started out white! I used alcohol inks in various colors, tapped on and sprayed on and then finished it up with a bit of gold antiquing.
A close up of the key. Oh and don't you love that ribbon. I onlyhad a few inches left of this precious commodity. It's a french woven ribbon in the most luscious shades of browns and metallic.
Cut out an image from the Graphic 45 paper. Here's a tip. use a small hole punch to get the "postage stamp" affect!
As I mentioned earlier, just a bit of the ribbon left. so i ended it just on the back of the cover and covered the ends with a round dot of paper!
I loved using the 'from the library' page from the book. On the back of the front cover is a stamped image into which I'm going to write a bible verse.
And my favorite card. I've kept this for a long time. And those that know me dearly know that the more 'I'm fine's' that come out of my mouth, the less fine I really am. Yes, I'm fine.
I also insert some cards into this journal. Cards from special folks. Oh the mess I've made in doing this. And it didn't really start with this project.. I was looking for some sewing note cards I'd purchased eons ago to put in a frame! I finally found them, but not after I manager to amass 3 piles of cards on my studio floor. I have plans I have plan I have plans.. Does this ever happen to you?
another sweet card...
I also inserted some 7gypsies pages that were just the perfect size. Notice the blue ledger paper? that came from a small "legal" pad. Used the whole pad, a few pages at time!
I had saved this beautiful envelope from a dear friend. Trimmed it a bit and now I have a perfect pocket into which to place items to keep!
It was too pretty to discard. Now wasn't it?
A really cute shoe card. You know the saying, you can't have too many friends or too many shoes!
A beautiful handmade card by a really wonderful person.
A note recently received in the mail.
And i finished with another envelope on which I placed a very happy Mary Engelbreit postcard.
Here's a tip on inserting small items or those items you might not want to punch. Punch and insert a strip of cardstock.
onto which you can then adhere the smaller items. Works like a charm.
All those note pages will make a perfect spot to keep track of all the pennies from heaven that fall my way!

I hope you enjoyed this little project. Make one for yourself, it's fun. And a great way to use some of those things you've been saving!

'For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' Jeremiah 29:11

Vintage Valentine Images challenge

I've posted lots of antique valentine images for you to use to create a charmer of your own.














To be entered into a random drawing, use one of these images to create a valentine of your own. Once your creation is complete, attach it to an email to me. There is an email link right below the 'Thoughts' section. I'll draw a winner on Sunday evening February 14, 2010.

So here's my rendition of the new QK postcard die. I backed it with a contrast piece of paper cut out using the around the corner MS punches. A few stamps, some gold embossing, gel pens, and stickles and I was done! Can't wait to see your creations..

February Calendar

These calendars just have a way of being more and more fun to create! So I ventured away from the Valentine red and found some more soothing colors, it's really ok. Gather 1 piece of brown cardstock, 5 coordinating (can be front and backs) designer papers, Petal Pink Liquid Pearls, Coffee Ice Stickles, VersaMark watermark stamp pad, copper embossing powder, Versafine pigment ink pad in Vintage Sepia, brown/beige mini check ribbon, pearl swoosh, stamps of your choice, QuicKutz Calendar set 2, QK Calendar set 1, QK envelope, heart tag & ribbon slot heart die, Spellbinders scalloped hearts, QuicKutz Santa's Workshop spine, Chestnut Roan cat's eye ink pad, brown felt tip brush marker for outlining letters, QuicKutz Love Shapes., and QuicKutz pop up windows. You will also need some adhesive, t!m Holtz's tiny attacher, and a metallic copper marker.

• All stamps are stamped with the Watermark stamp pad and then embossed with the copper embossing powder.
• The centers to the numbers are embossed with an embossing pen and embossed with copper embossing powder.
• The Santa's Workshop spine is cut down to just one side and outlined with the Petal Pink Liquid Pearls.
• The word February is "stickled" with the Coffee Ice stickles.
• The Calendar strips are die cut as desired (1 with header and 4 without) and adhered only along the top and bottom side so that you can still insert tags into the pages.
• Special dates have the numbers colored with the copper marker.

Enjoy and