The Virtual Advent Calendar Revisited

It's hard for me to believe that last year at this time, I was doing the Virtual Advent Calendar.

Everyday in December leading up to Christmas, I did a holiday project inspired from my collection of vintage craft books.  If you're looking for some last minute decorating or gift ideas, many of them had tutorials.  Just click on the photo above for the Virtual Advent Calendar Posts like:

Bottlebrush Christmas Trees;

The Plastic Toy Wreath; or

The Soup Can Santa.

Enjoy the retro goodness that is the Virtual Advent Calendar!  Happy Holidays!

Sarah



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Thumbprint Art - Christmas Lights Picture Tutorial

A while back I thought I started putting together a board on Pinterest devoted to Thumbprint art....there are so many cute ideas out there! I particularly loved this Christmas Lights picture {inspiration here}. I wanted to use the same concept in a different way: picture frame mat.

Can you think of a grandparent on the planet who wouldn't love one of these?!? This would make a great gift for someone special. Oh, and the total cost is about $3-4 for the frame because it's likely you have everything else on hand! Awe.some.

To make this, you need:

• Picture Frame (mine is a 5 x 7 purchased at Target the other day for $3)
• White cardstock cut to 5 x 7 - cheaper than buying a mat for the frame
• Stamp Ink - I used Acid Free Ink in red, green & yellow
• Fine point Sharpie to draw in the cord
• Picture of someone special to be framed! I used a little piece of double stick tape to keep it secure.

I printed out my inspiration picture for reference!

My girl and I just set up shop and started stamping away ... we made four of these. So first, we stamped all the reds, then the greens and finally the yellow. I'll admit she didn't (surprisingly!) love this, so as soon as she made her prints, she went back to playing and I drew in the cord string with a fine point sharpie.

Close-up of a finished Christmas Light Picture Mat.

My plan is to put a Christmas picture in here, but I don't have one printed up yet ;)

Isn't this awesome how the lights from my Christmas tree are reflecting in the frame? Soooo pretty! Will you make one? If so, be sure to leave a comment w/ a link to your blog!  

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Guest Posting at Honey Bear Lane Today!

Come check us out over at Honey Bear Lane today... we are sharing a tutorial to make this super cute Christmas Card Booklet! It's a great way to save & organize all those beautiful holiday cards we get this time of year!

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Christmas Decor Submissions - Voting Time!

Lots 'o Pillows, see more here.

Beaded Ornament, see more here.

And please VOTE on your favorite Christmas Decor craft!

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Lots 'o Christmas Pillows - Challenge Submission

The challenge here on the blog was offically Christmas Decor; however, my personal challenge was so do this without buying anything new! I'm pleased to report that with some patchwork to stretch the linen-blend fabric a looooong way, it worked!

I present lots ' Christmas pillows. :)

I wanted to paint on the linen fabric, so with the help of Microsoft Clip Art, freezer paper stenciling and the Martha Stewart Pearl & Metallic paints I was able to create exactly what I wanted.

Like I said in this post, you can make the Plaid / Martha Stewart paints work on fabric by adding Fabric Medium to the paint. It works!

I got a little carried away with my embellishing ... there are Jolee's heat fix crystals, some ribbon and of course some pom poms on these pillows!

All the pillows have an envelope back closure so I can easily swap them out.

My personal favorite is this one: the reindeers are just too much! It's so hard to see in the picture but each reindeer is sporting at least one clear crystal. The lead reindeer got a collar, the antlers are decorated on the 2nd, and the 3rd one has a little bling on his booty.

I was going to stop with those pillows, but just kept going! The smaller one with the Christmas trees on it, is just an regular old pillowcase - just smaller. That fun fringe on there was purchased at JoAnn's - it's the "chenille" fringe by Simplicity in the holiday section. Ok, I did buy that!

For the big "Joy" pillow, I used the negative pieces of my freezer paper stencil for the first Joy pillow (up top). All that cutting is exhausting, so I wanted to stretch my stencil as far as possible. Oh, and I'm giving most of these away anyway .... so I won't end up with two Joy pillows.

So there they are! I'm pretty excited about these pillows and hope the recipients are too ... now to figure out which ones to keep and which ones to gift :)

Oh, and please do vote on your favorite Christmas Decor Project!

I'm linking up here !

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Submission - Beaded Ornament

I went simple and sort of old school with my submission.  A beaded ornament made with some fun plastic beads I found at Hobby Lobby last year and a styrofoam ball.  It's an update version of the styrofoam ornaments we made as kids.

I also attempted one from buttons, but didn't quite get it finished.  Here's what I've got so far.

I'm not sure if I like it or not.  Your thoughts?

Okay, go vote, vote, vote!

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Kid Christmas Craft - Pinecone Christmas Trees

Like so many of us, I get a lot of inspiration from good old Pinterest. Good thing I don't have the bookmark-it button at work, or else I may never get my work done! While rummaging around for Christmas ideas, I came across this cute idea. My kids have a thing for pinecones and our neighborhood park has plenty of them!

All you need to do this is:

• Pinecones
• Glue
• Mini (teeny tiny, super cute) pom poms
• Looking back at the one I pinned, I believe the pom poms I used are smaller than those pictured on pinterest.

One morning while I cooked breakfast, I set the girls up to make Pinecone Christmas Trees. Each girl {obviously} had their own bottle of glue - that's how we have to do things in this house at the moment. I think with a just turned 4 yo, and an about to be 3 yo it's the only choice. Sharing is not anyone's favorite thing.

Anyway ... they worked away and decorated the *tops* of their "trees" until they lost interest. I really really wanted to finish the trees for them, but managed to just let them be! These cute kid-made trees are currently our table's centerpiece. If I get around to it, I want to do this with the rest of the pinecones!  

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Next Challenge is ...

Pretty general, but very timely ...Christmas Decor!

Here's a lovely picture to get us in the mood ... I (Sara here) visited Disneyland for the 1st time last week and was in awe of the amazing Christmas displays. And, don't even get me started on the Christmas fireworks display - ridiculous and like no firework show I've ever seen!

Anyway ... our Decor projects will be posted here on Wednesday!
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$0.99 Advent Calendar

This is a post about an cheap old advent calendar that I did NOT make. So this post falls into the "tip" category for the time when just cannot make everything yourself! (This is the category that I fall into) ...

Hit up your local Trader Joe's and pick up 1 or 10 of these adorable advent calendars for only 99 cents each! Each door has a little chocolate candy behind it ... so given that I have 2 kids and am not prepared to battle over an advent calendar, I got 2! Now we'll all be happy :)

And while you're there, you can pick up a kit to make a $4 gingerbread man! I'll post a finale shot when we get this little guy done!

Happy December 1st!

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For the Mantel! Challenge Submissions are Here

Here they are! Our crafts for a Christmas Mantel ...

We have a Pink & Aqua Mantel up top ... see more pictures here!

vs.

Blinging Rudolph Stocking ... see more pictures here!

Check them out and let us know what your favorite craft is - don't forget to vote! :)

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Blinging Rudolph Stocking ... a Challenge Submission

For the mantle ... I've always said I want to / should / would make my kids handmade stockings, and now I can say 1 down, 1 to go! This is a killing two birds with one stone kind of project as I'm entering this knit stocking over here in hopes of winning a super fancy serger! :) What a fun and easy contest ... spread the word!

So that's how I came up with a stocking for this challenge - fits the mantle criteria - check, need one in the house - check, can enter in a contest - check!

I have recently amassed an insane amount of knit fabrics (help! someone stop me!) so I didn't have to stop at all for this challenge. I just turned to the closet and looked for Christmas colors + pink! (I think I was inspired by all the yummy peppermint chocolate goody boxes @ Trader Joe's! I'm obsessed w/ the Joe Joe's and that beautiful red, white and pink striped box gets me every time!)

I enjoy applique work so it was a given that I'd use that technique to spruce up this stocking. I couldn't leave Rudolph with a plain old nose, so I spruced him up with 3 hot fix crystals :)

I know we are supposed to be crafting for the mantle, but my Christmas decor is not coming out until after Thanksgiving comes down, so for now, it has to 'hang' with some doll dresses I recently made!

  

Oh and here's a peek at another fun Christmas craft I made ... I saw something similar on Pinterest and couldn't help but re-create it. I used ruffles leftover from this skirt to make the Blinging Rudolph Stocking. I cannot wait to get a picture of a special little one in this skirt! It's pretty tiny in person!

Be sure to vote for your favorite Christmas Mantle Craft!

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Our Next Challenge ...

Decorate that Mantel! For this challenge, we must have something to spruce up the old Mantel for Christmas!

Photo Source

Mantel projects are due on Wednesday ...
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