Handmade Matchbox Advent Calendars

You've heard the expression- "Your eyes are too big for your belly."? That's how I'm feeling right now. :) You see, I took it upon myself to make these advent calendars for my sisters. I am still in the process of making one for my family. Originally, it seemed like a good idea- when I was going to make them with pre-made matchboxes. I had planned on using the pre-made matchboxes and I even went to Albertson's and bought two packages of them. It wasn't until much later that night when I opened the packages that I realized there weren't enough boxes in the packages. I had a total of 20 and I needed 24. Here's where my bright idea comes to play...I have the SU! matchbox die and thought I'd make 4 more. Riiiiigggghhhttt. It didn't occur to me until after I got the template finished that these matchboxes were going to be twice as big as a "real" matchbox. So, I nixed that idea- and decided to make all the matchboxes using the SU! die...it worked very well- though putting together 72 match boxes is time consuming and exhausting!
The white advent calendar is for my youngest sister and her 2 year old. For my sweet Kalea I wanted something bright, cheerful and fun- something that a toddler would enjoy. I attached ribbon with bows ( sewing them onto the drawers) on half the doors- and eyelets laces with green ribbon, and wt. ribbon with red dashes. Paper came from my LSS but, I can't remember the name of the line. And I can't find the scraps- and extra sheets right now...
I love the size of these drawers- you can fit 2 nice sized pieces of candy inside each drawer. I used some Dove Chocolate and in the drawer that is for Christmas Eve I put 2 pieces of Ghirardelli chocolate squares. Yummy.
This next advent calendar is for my sister Rachel and her girls. Both girls are teenagers, so I wanted something that looked more grown up. I used 2 brads in each drawer and laced some brown ribbon through them. I added chipboard snowflakes ( from SU!) painted and stickled. Paper is also from SU!


I am hoping that I can finish our advent calendar tomorrow . We also need to get our tree up- I guess I'll be putting it together tomorrow- just one more thing on my endless to do list...

Thanks for stopping by. Have yourselves A Very Merry Christmas!

Trick or Treat, Abby And Stamping on Fabric

I'm feeling lazy tonight so I'm incorporating these LO'S and cards into one post. This LO is made with paper that came from the Stamp and Scrap Club ( Thanks Erica!) - from the Angel Co. The pumpkin images come from the Unity Stamp Co. The ribbon is also from that kit..the flowers are Prima and FloraDoodles. The letters are glittery Thickers.


I think I'm finally getting the hang of layering flowers. It looks easier than it is- at least for me anyway. :)
This LO was completed as a Challenge for Scrap Happy's SAT6 which took place this past weekend. The challenge was to use eyelets in the title and as embellishments. I didn't have any small eyelets so I used the Jumbo ones from SU! Along with a Jumbo Gromit (also from SU!)-that counts right? The picture is of my daughter Linsea this past Halloween- She went as Abby from NCIS. I am so happy with the way her costume turned out. She looked so AWESOME! :O)
More flower layering here- I really like the way the flowers look all layered up like that! I am really happy with the the way the LO turned out and the color scheme. The paper in this LO is from the same Angel Co. stamp and scrap camp. It really amazes me how very different the LO'S look. While I like the paper- it isn't something that I would ordinarily buy- it's a little outside my comfort zone- but, sometimes that's a good thing. In this case I think it's a good thing! The papers worked really well with the Halloween theme.

This is a Thanksgiving card that I made using the stamping on fabric technique. I am pretty happy with the end result- though it's definitely a labor of love- all that sewing! It took me some time to get it done, but I think the end result is definitely worth it.
This Christmas is the first card that I made using the stamping on fabric technique- not bad for my first time! All stamps used in this post are from the Unity Stamp Co. I {heart} Unity Stamp Co.!

Well, I'm heading out to help my son finish his math. Division, YUCK! It takes him FOREVER to get it done- mostly because he doesn't want to do it....which is a feeling that I definitely empathize with! I still have nightmares about math...

Good night, thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a fantastic week!
~Katherine

Oregon Coast - A Coaster Mini

I finally found some time the other night to scrap. Life has been so hectic around here - that I've found it difficult just to stay on top of the priorities- much less the fun and crafty stuff that I'd much rather be doing! I put most of the album together this past summer while my kids were swimming at the pool. I'm not much of a swimmer-so I usually pack something fun to do while I wait the 2 hours until the free swim is finished.

These are some of the pictures I took while we were in Oregon- near Tillamook in August. We met up with my best buddy and her family and hit the beach. Even though it was a bit overcast- the kids still played in the water. :)

We got some really nice family pictures of both families- I think we might use ours this year as our Christmas picture ( not sure about that though- we usually take our family picture on Thanksgiving.)

The paper is from a DCWV paper pack-summer themed from a couple years ago. I bought the coasters for this album from a place online called blockheads- that was before I discovered the $1 coasters at Michael's. The Blockhead coasters are really great though- and not terribly expensive- I'd probably buy them again!

The nice thing is that we remembered the tripod this time- so we got pictures of both families together ( something that we haven't done before)-plus some really nice ones of the kids and I( I'm usually behind the camera-).

Thanks for stopping by- I hope your Thursday is a good one!

Halloween Treat Bags

Yesterday was my daughter Emma's 10TH birthday. It's always a challenge to celebrate a birthday when it falls early in the week. We took cupcakes to her class ( sadly, I didn't have enough time to make them..which is what I normally do-but we had washing machine issues) . Thank goodness for Safeway! We went there and bought a some cute Halloween cupcakes :). She also wanted to do something fun with her soccer team ( she has practice on Tuesdays) - I made these cute little treat bags. The witch comes from the Angel Company ( isn't she adorable?), I used basic cs and my copic markers to color her. I thought about adding more to her- but then I remembered that these were a bunch of candy crazed little girls and all my hard work was going to end up in the trash after the candy was gone. Turns out I was right! :)

Thanks for stopping by- Hope you have a ghoulishly fun Halloween with your families!

BOO! An Altered Frame

Monday is my Sister Sarah's birthday. I altered this frame for her as a gift. Her favorite holiday is Halloween- so it seemed fitting. I painted the frame with scrapbook paint ( only because I didn't have the right color acrylic on hand), paper is from K&CO, orange ribbon bought by the yard at my lss, stamped image from INKADIKADO- it's part of an acrylic set. I used Thickers for the BOO!

I guess if she doesn't like it- I can keep it for myself ( I think it turned out pretty CUTE). Though, I have to admit, I'm looking forward to seeing a cute Halloween picture of my 2 year old niece in it! :)

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your day is full of craftiness.

Blessings and Beach Beauty ***

I was feeling antsy last night. I really wanted to craft..but, I knew I was too tired to scrapbook. If I scrap when I'm overly tired, I tend to make mistakes that I normally wouldn't make. I need to re-color the pumpkin- but, as a whole I am pretty happy with the way the card turned out. The stamps are from the September Kit of the Month from Unity Stamps. The paper and cs are from SU! I used various colored buttons to complete the card.











This is the first LO I've scrapped in about a month. It's been a long dry spell. Things have been really hectic. My sister got married in September- so we drove to California to watch her marry Josh. Plus, we started online public school with my son. That's been something challenging to get used to. In some aspects,it's better for me because I don't have to make lesson plans. But, in other ways it's difficult because sometimes, it takes him longer to finish the assignments . But, so far, other than having to harp on him all the time about completing his assigned duties...which is what I'd have to do if he was in school too- it's all good.

The picture in the LO is from our visit with friends on the Oregon coast. The paper is from a kit from a Million Memories ( with Melissa Frances paper and goodies). I used Bling stickles and lots of lace. The blue flower I made out of felt. I'm not sure how I feel about the LO- I don't normally scrap with these colors, so I was definitely scrapping outside my comfort zone. But, I think it's okay.

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a weekend full of happy scrappy. :O)

World Card Making Day****

For World Card Making Day Erica ( the owner of an online group) challenged us to make cards with a Halloween theme. Here's what I came up with. All the cards are made with paper from the My Minds Eye Halloween paper kit. All the Halloween critters are die cuts from the same paper pack. I cut the the cards to fold at 4"X4".




Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are able to find time for some crafty goodness this week. :)