a special gift 10 years in the making

Tomorrow is my 10 year anniversary with Mr. Dude. Can you believe it? Time has both flown by and it just seems like yesterday that we celebrated in a truly embarrassing way...we got married in Vegas. Once again... can you believe it?! It's true. I have my photo with "Elvis" (hidden away, but I do have one.)

To celebrate we get a few hours to spend alone together, a precious treasure as we get so few.

This is what I've made for my husband but we both get to enjoy the year-long gift. It took about 2 weeks to get the book made during nap time in the afternoons and a few hours on the weekend.

I made the book and used my Bind-it-all (first time using it and I've had it for over a year!) I made the tabbed pages out of card stock and covered the pages with patterned paper. Then I used Glimmer Mist and sprayed the pages to add some sparkle.

Each Page is labeled for one month, has quotes and notes and has a date planned and paid for. It was fun to make!

I'm only showing a few of the pages, he should get to have a few of the pages kept secret.

I hope you enjoy your weekend!

I'm linking this to Trendy Treehouse

And Life As Lori

Birthday Count-down Calendar

Next week my middle monkey turns 6. 6!!!

So I made him a cute little Birthday Count-down calendar, sort-of a mini advent calendar 6 days before his birthday. Today he had a slip of paper that said "Choose either the box or the envelope". He chose the box, and inside the shoe box on the kitchen table was another slip of paper that said "You need to choose the envelope". Inside the envelope was the movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Tomorrow he gets some gum. Kind of a let-down from today, but he's been home with a stomach bug, so he needed the movie today and not next week. Typically, we will put a chocolate or a few quarters or a little gift inside. I might need to make myself one of these in May...

Teacher Gifties

We have 3 teachers to give a big thanks to, so we are big on creative-and-thoughtful-on-the-cheap.

I made these cups and the boys made cookies to fill them with and we tucked a $5 coffee card inside. I debated on giving more, but then realized that if every kid gave a coffee card (and most will) then there is no way they'd be able to use them all up in a year. Oh, to have that problem!!

I used Dixie hot cups and some scrap Christmas paper. I used Scor-pal tape to secure the paper on the weird foam cups (no Styrofoam here in Portland-not sure what it used in it's place.) I glued a layered tag on the lid then embellished the cup with a ribbon and glitter snowflake. I glittered the snowflake with ultra fine glitter and Mod Podge. I LOVE the little snowflakes with the buttons. Very cute!

Enjoy the last 9 days of Christmas!

Notepad Madness

There seems to be an abundance of notepads out in Cyberland, so I guess I felt the calling to make my own and post 'em. The were fun and easy to make. I went to Office Max-the only place that was willing to cut the pads. I bought a 12 pack of Jr legal pads and took them to the printing/cutting counter and had them cut in half. Since there is a printed margin on the left, the cut left-sides are not useful if you were to make these as gifts or to sell, but they work great for your phone message area, the car, for kids or donated to your local kindergarten class or preschool. Kids love pads of paper!

Anyways, back to the project...

I made a pattern out of cardstock and decorated the cover with My Mind's Eye paper. Inside there is a small pocket for your receipts or anything else you'll need to tuck inside. Voila! a little holiday notepad. I think I'll make a few more (11) and give them as gifts and maybe even add the project to my last holiday class. I'll have to think about it a little while.

As for today, I am so done with Halloween...and candy. Isn't that something? I'm sure it will pass. ;)

Halloween Count-down Advent Calendar Directions

Materials:

6 pieces 12x12 cardstock, color of your choice
Scor-pal (optional, but most measurements reference the scor-pal)
1/4” width Tacky tape/red-line tape
Runner tape, like Tombow
1” circle punch (Marvy Uchida)
Foam tape or dimensional tape
Assorted holiday papers
Chipboard accents, rub-ons, brads and other items for decorating
Michael’s brand wedding favor pre-made boxes
Cricut w/basic George for numbers or chipboard numbers

This calendar holds 5 boxes per row and measurements are for this size. The sleeve and boxes will be a snug fit, but over time and use the boxes and sleeves will loose shape and stretch. The snug fit assures the boxes will not fall out with an accidental knock or nudge.

Directions:
Cut all 6 pieces of cardstock to 7 1/8” x 11 3/8” reserve scraps
Score 6 large pieces length-wise at 2 3/8” and 4 3/4” (on scor-pal line long edge at 2 1/8” guideline and score on 4 1/2 mark. Flip paper and do again on opposite side.)





Fold on scored lines. This is the sleeve body without sides
Repeat with all large pieces of cardstock

From remaining cardstock scraps, cut 12 pieces measuring 3” x 3 3/8” and 1 piece at 2 1/8” square (set this one aside with treat boxes).
On 3” x 3 3/8” paper, score length 5/8” (on scor-pal, line up length of paper at 1 1/2” guideline and score on 2 1/8” mark.)

Score width at 1/2” and 2 7/8” (or flip paper and score at 1/2" on opposite side.)

Trim corners out; fold on scored lines; Place tacky tape on all 3 scored flaps

Remove tape backing and adhere flaps to inside of sleeve, on edges. Start with back edges first, then top and bottom.
Repeat on other side. Complete other boxes. Using a liberal amount of tacky tape, adhere all 6 sleeves together.

For the Treat Boxes:

Cut decorative paper to 2 1/8” square pieces. You’ll need 30 for the calendar

Have one unassembled box handy. Find your reserved 2 1/8” square of cardstock. This is your template for all future punched papers, so line it up accurately. Line up & center template square to card box front and mark the curve of the box front on the cardstock.

Using circle punch, measure halfway down with punch and punch out the curve/semi-circle from the template. With template you can measure on the back of your decorative paper and mark the curve and punch without having to measure against the boxes each time, or eye-ball the measurement and waste paper with each mistake. It’s particularly handy when punching 30 (!!) box fronts.

Using runner tape (I highly recommend for speed and durability over glue) adhere the decorative paper to UNASSEMBLED box (a flattened box removed straight from the package) front. This makes it faster to decorate 30 (!!) boxes.

Assemble boxes and decorate with chip board accents, labels and numbers for the count down days. (Decorate with rub-ons before assembling boxes; it’s much easier to “rub”.) Use foam tape to lift some accents for added dimension. Enjoy the process and have fun!

For more advent calendars I've done: Christmas in Blues; Red & Green Christmas; Birthday

I'm Linking to:

New-Friend Friday at Trendy Tree House

And The Idea Room


And:

Party in a Box!

I made this cake gift for a friend. The inspiration came from Becky's site "Inking Idaho" and she in turn was inspired from Nichole Heady . Nichole's site explains how to make it...maybe you'll be inspired to make one, too?

Check back Saturday for the advent Calendar instructions and maybe some treats!

Thanks for looking!


On May 24, 2010 I linked to:

Counting down Halloween

Here is the final photo of the advent calendar.


I made this calendar by hand, with a little (okay, a lot) of help from Michael's wedding favor boxes. I saw the Starbucks advent calendar last year and thought I'd make a similar calendar. Then I thought of my friend Liz who absolutely LOVES Halloween and thought I'd try it for her. Each box is 2.25 inches square and can hold candy or a creepy toy. Some of the draw-backs: The count-down to Halloween is 30 days, while a Christmas advent is only 24 days. So this is a rather tall advent calendar. To balance out the size-issues, I absolutely couldn't wait to make this, so the excitement helped propel the project forward and the results are just spectacular. Sometimes our projects don't turn out as well as planned in our minds (or notebooks!) This one worked out wonderfully.


I've been approached by many friends and crafters for tutorials and requests for instructions so when I make the next one for my sister, I'll write up the instructions, record measurements and take a few photos. I'll have those available here on Saturday, September 19th.

Here's the blog entry for directions


Thanks for all the comments and praise!

MATERIALS & TOOLS:

Scor-pal, EK Success 1" circle punch, Fiskars paper cutter

Michael's brand wedding favor boxes (use your coupon!); Michael's brand Halloween die-cuts; Target dollar-spot paper pack; Target dollar-spot Halloween rub-ons; Bazzil black cardstock; Tacky tape; Cricut-Basic George for numbers; foam tape; brads and paper scraps for labels.

Can I get an "Amen!" ??

I am done with my little project. It took about 9 hours of planning, design and work. I have this one complete and ready to be given to a friend of mine that LOVES Halloween with a great passion. Hopefully, her entire family will enjoy this advent calendar that counts down the days until Halloween. Here is a close-up and I'll post the final photo tomorrow.

Thanks for looking!

Just a bit more....

Okay...here is another photo. Let's call it "phase 2".

It is just a little more of this CRAZY-AWESOME project I am creating. I'll have it all done on Sunday, so check back for the final photo.

Thanks!

Guess What?

I hope you are all enjoying the last few days of vacation and indeed, if you were to look out my window, it would seem the last few days of summer as well. I love weather like this. Blustery, wet and sweater-inspiring. Of course, I get tired of it fast, especially when I have to go outside and wait for the school bus while it's pouring and wind is blowing the rain into my face. But today, I love it!

I had a chance to get my projects organized and listed in importance of what needed to get done and when. Then I went and created what I really wanted to make - whatever the consequences. It was most likely caused by the weather. And since I'm in this quirky mood...I'm not going to show you the entire project. I'll just show you a corner of something not yet finished. But trust me...it is soooo FABULOUS!

Wanna guess what it is...or what it's going to be?