Advent TREE!!

Helllloooooo!
I am still here...if you are interested in my health and my recovery, check the bottom of this entry.
So two years ago I made some pretty awesome advent calendars...(check here for full entry)

and I still haven't made one for my boys...mostly because they love those crappy chocolate ones (because they get chocolate every day, Hello-o! They are getting the Trader Joe's chocolate advent every morning, yup - I send them to school high on chocolate. I am an awesome mom! Duh! ;)

So, I decided that I didn't really want to give them more stuff...I want to lean away from that kind of Christmas. I saw a flat version of this on Pinterest made with envelopes and foam core background. I wanted a paper calendar, one I could make, and useable for my lil' dudes. So I made a list of activities and borrowed some from  All Things Simple.

Here is what I came up with, an Advent Tree:

with important family activities that we can share together. And before some of you wise-guys ask (Leanna)...no, I didn't make the tree...it's from Target. What I did make, are the envelopes and filled them with an activity for each day.

For example:
 day one is: Read "Elf on the Shelf" together
day 2: Make teacher gifts
day 3: Pick mitten from mitten tree for foster kids
day 4: Watch "The Grinch"
day 5: can you believe it...I can't remember!

Luckily, I made a master list, with the dates all assigned and even some alternate days for the outdoor activities. I made each envelope out of a 4" square of scrapbook paper, scored on all 4 corner diagonals, folded in and rounded the upper corner. I then decorated the fronts and put numbers cut from my cricut. I can't fit them all on the little tree..so I'll pop them on as the others come off.

Hope you are enjoying the season of Advent!

and as for my health...
Here I am folks....recovering from my first treatment, which was both not as bad as I expected and much worse.
I didn't get as sick as everyone told me I would...bone aches for 2 days were actually endurable. However, the bone aches were like twinkling Christmas tree lights and would go on and off constantly...for 48 hours straight. And I couldn't sleep with the pain. And the worse part: I know I have to do this two more times. But, it could be worse and I could have to do more than 3 treatments...and there might not be hope for recovery. So I will take the aches and try not to complain about the pain...or groan out loud. Too often.
Thanks for the cards and love! I'll post more as I can...

Revisiting my Advent Calendars

I am going green and going to recycle and re-post the advent calendars I made last year. Such lovely calendars...too bad I didn't make one for my boys. I have the shell made but I haven't decorated my boxes. Maybe I can get it done by the 6th, but there are so many crafty things to get done this weekend! We'll see.
Enjoy the recycled post!

Christmas Advent Calendar

Happy first day of Advent! I have been gone a'craftin me some Advent Calendars and I have two more to make this week. These take me about 8 hours to make but they are fun to do. The biggest challenge is lining up all the boxes and figuring out which paper goes with which decoration better. That seriously takes about an hour and a half of my time, because if you know me, then you know how serious the details are to me. And they are even more important when making a gift.

This first calendar is made for my "phamily" for part of their Christmas gift. It turned out really well.

I made some of the decorations, added some wooden numbers but most came from the "Mistletoe" and "Fa La La"collection by Making Memories. I really like the paper and chipboard colors. Then, when I was bragging on it to another friend, she casually asked if I would mind making her one...or two. So I made one up for her and I'll be trying my hardest to make the other this week. This one is similar but I made a few different decorations like a glitter star and a big poinsettia flower.

Drop me a line and let me know what you think!

I'm linking to:

More Advent Calendars

I made another and I think I'll stop now....here are two photos of the last one made this year. I used SEI paper and chipboard accents, and mixed in a few K Company numbers and a few things homemades as well.

Cards for the last class of the year to be posted tomorrow/late tonight. Drop me a line and let me know what you think!

Christmas Advent Calendar

Happy first day of Advent! I have been gone a'craftin me some Advent Calendars and I have two more to make this week. These take me about 8 hours to make but they are fun to do. The biggest challenge is lining up all the boxes and figuring out which paper goes with which decoration better. That seriously takes about an hour and a half of my time, because if you know me, then you know how serious the details are to me. And they are even more important when making a gift.

This first calendar is made for my "phamily" for part of their Christmas gift. It turned out really well.

I made some of the decorations, added some wooden numbers but most came from the "Mistletoe" and "Fa La La"collection by Making Memories. I really like the paper and chipboard colors. Then, when I was bragging on it to another friend, she casually asked if I would mind making her one...or two. So I made one up for her and I'll be trying my hardest to make the other this week. This one is similar but I made a few different decorations like a glitter star and a big poinsettia flower.

Drop me a line and let me know what you think!

The last class of the year, a 3-card class, will be posted tomorrow. And by-the-way, ANOTHER SOLD OUT CLASS!!!! Thanks guys!

Oh, yeah...It's another Calendar!

I finally finished this fun little idea I wanted to try: A Birthday Countdown Calendar. Funny story...I bought the wrong little boxes for the Halloween Advent Calendar when my sister so sweetly requested 2 calendars to make. And of course I lost the receipt and couldn't return the box favors, so I needed to figure out how to use 100 rectangle boxes. I came up with another type of advent calendar...a birthday countdown. What kid doesn't absolutely LOVE celebrating their birthday? And now they can have an itty-bitty giftie each day for a week (6 days) before their birthday.

As I was making this I wasn't sure it was going to turn out as nice as the Halloween advent, but I think it looks pretty darn good. I made this for my favorite October 26th boy and hope he enjoys counting down the days before his birthday.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think. And let me know if you're interested in buying a Birthday Countdown Calendar kit. I'm playing around with the idea of making this into a kit available as early as October 25th.

Thanks for looking, hope your week is a good one!