PaperFections

Christmas Countdown

 

Can you believe it?  Just 25 days until Christmas!  To help the time pass . . . okay, honestly I made this for my 6 and 9 year girls, so they could turn the blocks each day and not have to keep asking ME how many more days until Christmas <insert evil grin>!

I found this wooden calendar at my local scrapbook store.  If I find out who makes it, I'll edit this post with the manufacturer.

EDIT: Many thanks to another Sharon, who sent a link to an online source where she just purchased one of these:  http://www.walnuthollow.com/27208calendardeskorganizer.aspx

It is approximately 4.25" tall and 4.75" wide.  I chose this soft green patterned paper from Cosmo Cricket's Be Good line to cover it.  I wanted something on the neutral side, that didn't scream "Christmas" because I plan on using it for other occasions, as well -- Easter, the last day of school, birthdays, etc., just by changing out the insert and tag on the front.

I started by painting the wood with cream acrylic paint and then distressing it, by sponging Ranger's Tea Dye Distress Ink on the edges and also on the wood blocks.  The paper was adhered with Beacon's Zip Dry Paper Glue (love that stuff!) and the edges sanded. 

The large red "Dear Santa" insert that's standing up in the back of the calendar is inserted in the slot that's intended to hold a pad of paper (included with the calendar).

Here's the insert, pulled out, so you can see what I'm talking about:

I made the 8.25" x 4" insert using a journaling card from the Be Good paper crafting kit.  I adhered it, along with some more Be Good patterned paper, to Craft-a-Board to make it the height I needed.

The custom tag I added was created with JustRite Stampers' Harmony Classic Oval II stamp ensemble ("Believe" center and the flower border) and Times New Roman 25-pt font.  I did my cutting job on the oval "Believe" stamp again, so I could customize it with my girls' name!  Here's the wooden stamp block with the letters added and ready to stamp.  The purple rubber is the Times New Roman font.

 

You can see where I trimmed away the green rubber from around "Believe", exposing the footings where you can then place custom text.

I inked the star border and "Believe" with VersaMagic Red Brick chalk ink and the girls' names with VersaMagic Oasis Green -- these colors matched the papers perfectly.  After stamping onto Neenah Classic Natural White cardstock, I cut out the oval image with Spellbinders largest Classic Oval Nestabilities die in the small set and inked the edges with Ranger's Antique Linen Distress Ink.  The sage mat was cut from more Be Good paper and the largest of the large set of Classic Oval Nestabilities.

 

The "Days 'til Christmas" tag was created with JustRite's Times New Roman font again, and JustRite's Harmony Rectangle Stamper.  First, I chose the tag die (Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio) that would fit the space and then customized my text to fit within it:

 

After stamping the text, I inked the die before cutting and embossing with it:

 

The cutting and embossing process transfers the ink to the cardstock.  This technique is known as Reverse Stenciling.

I hope you enjoyed this project and that it sparks your creativity to do something similar!  I'll be sure to show you the next holiday or occasion that I alter this calendar again.

Giveaway Winner!

Thank you all for taking the time over your Thanksgiving holiday to enter for the chance to win the Taylored Expressions Season's Sweetings stamp set and bag full of Copic product.  I really enjoyed reading what all you are thankful for and your family traditions -- so heart warming!  I also wanted each of you to know how much I am thankful for you and appreciate you stopping by and leaving comments over the past two years -- I always read every comment and they are very encouraging to me!

HOUSEKEEPING:  So how do you like how I've dressed my blog for the winter?  I have so much fun playing with new digital banners!  I just wanted to remind you (or let you know, if you are new here) that you can find some more pages of topics listed over on the left top sidebar of my blog.  There is a Papercrafting Blog List page -- if you don't see your blog link listed there and would like for me to add it, please leave a comment on that page with your name and web address and I'll be happy to add you.

So our winner, chosen by Random.Org is . . . .

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

60

Timestamp: 2008-11-29 16:53:57 UTC

Who is:

So stinkin cute. My kids do the same thing with acting out stuff.
My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is spending time with my family. Also the stuffing doesn't hurt either. :)
Happy Thanksgiving
Susan

Posted by: Susannk | November 26, 2008 at 05:25 PM

Hum, a fan of stuffing -- that's my absolute favorite food of Thanksgiving, Susan!  Please send me your mailing address and I'll get your goodies out to ASAP!  Be sure to check out the winner of Lori's giveaway, too.

I hope to be back tomorrow with another JustRite project to share!

JustRite Christmas Blocks

Once the turkey leftovers are in the fridge, it's officially the start of the Christmas season, right?!!  So I've got a Christmas project to share with you today . . . Be Merry!

 

I've been having fun with these 1-inch wood blocks I picked up at Michael's.  Lockhart Stamp Company's Itty Bitty collection of images fit perfectly on them and I paired the images with JustRite's classic Times New Roman font.  The largest 95-point size font fit perfectly on the 1-inch blocks.  It was easy to stamp out the letters with Memento's Rich Cocoa ink onto patterned paper and then use a 1-inch paper punch to punch them out and adhere them to the wood blocks.  The other sides of the blocks were covered with coordinating papers.

Here's a closeup of the Lockhart stamped images.  They were stamped onto Neenah Natural White cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with Copic markers:

 

I liked the vintage/distressed look I achieved with the JustRite monogram font and Memento ink on the patterned papers.  I further distressed the blocks by sponging ink on the edges.  The "tray" the blocks are sitting on started out as an unpainted wooden oval frame, also from Michael's:

 

I just painted the edges with cream acrylic paint, covered it with patterned paper, and covered the cardboard insert with Prism Blush Red Dark cardstock.

PSA: In the spirit of early Christmas shopping bargains, JustRite is having a "Buy One For Me, Get One Free" sale on selected product through this Sunday.  So you could order together with another stamping friend and each get some JustRite sets you've been wanting, basically at half price!  You can check out all the details HERE.  Some of the sets include monograms, like the Times New Roman font I used on this project!

Supplies: JustRite Times New Roman font set + Harmony Rectangle Stamper, Lockhart Stamp Company Itty Bitty Ornaments + Three Packages, My Mind's Eye Be Merry papers, Prism Blush Red Dark cardstock, Memento Tuxedo Black + Rich Cocoa inks, Copic markers, Michael's wooden blocks + wooden oval frame.

I'll be back a little bit later Saturday morning to announce the winner of my Taylored Expressions and Copic giveaway!  So you'll still have the chance to enter on the post two below this one, before I close the comments early in the morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The big meal was cooked earlier today and shared with family.  Our Dallas Cowboys won the traditional Thanksgiving Day game (while I napped!) . . . good times and good memories.  I hope you all enjoyed the day remembering what you are thankful for and shared it with those you love . . . I know I did!

My girls wanted to make some art for me to share with you all today . . . I hope you don't mind!  I think this one is self-explanatory (gobble-gobble):

 

This one is a large harvest moon, fall tree, and pumpkin:

 

And this is what dear hubby is doing now:

   

Looks like I have my work cut out for me tomorrow!

A few reminders:

- Taylored Expressions is having a sale this weekend:  Use coupon code THANKFUL4U (all caps, no spaces) upon checkout to receive FREE SHIPPING on orders over $40 (before tax and shipping) through Sunday the 30th.  Please feel free to pass on this code to your friends -- the more the merrier!  Happy Shopping!  There's also a sale on THESE JustRite products at Taylored Expressions -- Buy One, Get One Free (on selected product).  So you can shop for friends or family and keep one for yourself . . . my kind of shopping!

- Don't forget to sign up for the Taylored Expressions cupcake stamp set, Season's Sweetings, and Copic product giveaway listed in my post after this one . . . you have until Friday evening to enter for a chance to win!

I'll be back on Friday with some JustRite inspiration . . . Happy Thanksgiving!