Family Advent Calendar

Every year when I was a kid we would each get one of those cheap Advent calendars with the waxy chocolate in them.  Remember those?  So many fond memories...the excitement and anticipation of what shape it would be next...my Dad pre-opening the little cardboard doors to make it easier for us to open (yeah right...he just wanted to see what it would be first! haha) They still make them, but now they have stepped up versions...Kinder surprise, Lego, PlayMobile, Barbie, etc.  They even have posh grown-up ones with Lindt chocolate in them.  Fancy!  And probably the coolest one for men that I saw recently was a Whiskey Advent calendar with tiny 3oz bottles of different whiskeys each day.  How cool is that!?  Unfortunately for the hubs, they only ship within the UK.  Drat!

I'm all about Christmas traditions so we will definitely be doing Advent calendars in my house too.  But being the crafter that I am, I couldn't just settle for the waxy chocolate kind...heck no.  So I just went about making my own with the one that Silhouette had available last year.  Here it is:

    

And rather then filling the entire thing with candy, I wanted to make it more about fun activities that we could do as a family.  Here's my list:

1. Unwrap an Advent Calendar present - Christmas Pajamas (I got them each a new pair for the holiday season)
2. Christmas chocolate (there has to be at least one)
3. Watch Santa Clause The Movie (anyone remember this one? John Lithgow, Dudley Moore...It's one of my all time favourites)
4. Make a Christmas craft
5. Shop for toys for Santa's Anonymous (trying to start teaching them early about the spirit of giving)
6. Snowman Pizza for supper 
7. Go see the CP Rail Holiday Train (I'm so excited for this!  And it's another way to show the spirit of giving as the goal of the train is to collect food and money for local food banks)
8. Build a gingerbread house (I have many fond memories of making these as a kid)
9. Watch the Polar Express movie or read the book
10. Make a Christmas craft
11. Unwrap an Advent Calendar present - Christmas aprons! (I found the cutest Christmas Aprons and chef hat sets for super cheap at Walmart)
12. Bake cookies - gingerbread men and sugar cookies
13. Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas and have Grinch punch
14. Unwrap an Advent Calendar present - Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas book
15. Have Christmas hot chocolate
16. Go for a drive to look at Christmas lights
17. Make cinnamon Christmas ornaments
18. Go for a sleigh ride (not horse drawn, just our regular wooden one pulled by me)
19. Christmas shaped mini pizzas for supper
20. Watch Elf and have popcorn
21. Unwrap an Advent Calendar present - Snowman gum
22. Watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
23. Have Reindeer pancakes for breakfast
24. Make elf donuts and treats for Santa and his Reindeer
25. Unwrap an Advent Calendar present - a new Christmas ornament

I hope the kids have as much fun with it as I will!  Watch for pictures of these events posted on my blog in December.  I'm doing the December Daily scrapbooking kit so I'll be documenting all of our December fun!  Can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tis' The Season

I started planning this year's Christmas card back in September.  Now, I'm normally not the plan in advance type of girl, but I knew I would probably have a million different crafty projects that I would be scrambling to finish before the big day, so I'd better get crackin.  I also thought I'd better check with the Hubs to see if he needed any for people he works with...here's our convo:

Me: hey I've designed my Christmas card to work on at the crop this year...do you need any for work?
Hubs: yeah that would be great...I need 40. 

I was thinking that he'd need about 10-15....so, over 400 pieces of paper later, 67 cards are finished and ready to spread some holiday cheer.  Here it is:

I used Stampin' Up's Crumb Cake for the card base and American Craft's Hollyday collection for the rest.

Now, on to more projects!  Thanks for stopping by!

For Little Darlings

I LOVE fabric and I love sewing!  Like seriously, my fabric stash is going to catch up to my paper stash soon!  And since I've been blessed with a little girl (in addition to my sweet little dude) I have found so may cute little things to make for her...like pillowcase dresses! So when I needed a baby shower gift for some brand new, sweet triplets, I knew I needed to make one of them for the baby girl.  But, I had no idea what to make for the two baby boys!  So, I jumped on over to Pinterest and found an adorable bow tie tutorial that looked easy enough even for this newbie sewer.  I think they both turned out wonderful, don't you?

The fabric I used for these creations is from the Riley Blake Verona Collection.  The whole collection is stunning!  Here are a few close-ups:

For instructions on how to make your own pillowcase dress visit The Mother Huddle.  To make the darling bow ties, visit A Lemon Squeezy Home.  You'll be glad you did!

Now, I wonder if the Husband would wear one of these bow ties...  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Joining the Blogging World

My first post in the world of blogging!  Welcome to my little crafty blog!  Currently in my crafty world, I'm working on a million different projects (that's how I roll)!  I'm constantly finding new inspiration and new ideas that I must try.  Check out the blogs I follow, or find me on Pinterest to be inspired.

This weekend I'm planning on finishing a darling baby shower gift for my cousin and her beautiful triplets...Pillowcase dress and matching bow ties (seriously adorable!), and finishing up the decorations and treat boxes for my little guy's construction themed 3rd birthday party that's coming up and the end of this month.  Watch for these posts in the next few days.  Thanks for stopping by!