Count Down to Christmas Calendar

 

I have spent the day making advent calendars for my grandchildren. Rather rushed but once I got into it calm took over and I enjoyed playing around with my ideas.  Two sets of grandchildren are visiting this weekend so I needed to get the calendars finished for them to take home.

 

 

Years ago I saw a Count Down to Christmas calendar, made up of a front and back  cover with numbers to turn over each day, 24 down to 1.  Couldn't remember exactly what it was like but think my idea works quite well.

 

I made 3 stand up bases, attached my calendar backs and fronts to them, printed 3 sets of numbers and words from the computer and  digi images of children (from The Digi Stamp Boutique).  The images were coloured with Pro-markers and  colour added with distress inks,  glitter was added  to give a little sparkle. 

 

 

Each calendar was put together then bound with the Bind it All Machine.  I am pleased with the results, hope the kids enjoy using them!  

The Craft Barn Calendar Challenge Week 5 - Paper Tape

 

The challenge this week is to use paper tape, not something I have used so far but the DT ideas last week helped.  I decided to use tissue paper to make my tape and go with April as my theme. 

I started with the background which I stamped with embossing ink and embossed with clear powder using Stampers Anonymous Papillon background stamp.  I then coloured the background with Dylusions ink spray (sunshine yellow), when dry I ironed the embossing off to give a muted effect.  The tissue paper strips were stamped in brown Stazon with the eggs from 7Gypsies Conservatory set and the bird was a freeby with a magazine.  I had difficulty colouring the tissue so used some old paint matching strips which I stuck the egg tape to for colour, the bird tape was left plain so the backing wold show through. The strips and the calendar, stamped with the bird, were attached to the backing to finish.

 The stamped egg tape was stuck to a green and a blue paint matching strip

The calendar was stamped with the bird and edged with pro-markers in blue and green

A very busy week this week visitors at the weekend (2 sons and 3 grandchildren staying over) so this had to be done quickly.

The Craft Barn Calendar Challenge Week 4 - Doodles

Doodling is something I haven't done for years, not since I was at school doodling on the front of text books or folders.  I know it is very popular at the moment so have been thinking of trying it on my cards.  For this week's challenge I decided to do the February page of the calendar.  I sat down to watch TV and started doodling, I had red, white and black in mind and hearts came to mind for February. 

I did enjoy sitting relaxing and just "doodling" but didn't like the doodle with a white background, it was a little too bright for me.  I masked the doodle and coloured the background with Ranger distress ink in tattered rose, still didn't like it so spritzed with perfect pearls and also some bleach and added a few kisses.

 I used red and black pro-markers to colour the doodle and a pencil to add a smudgy effect round the calendar.

Just like to say thank you to all who have left comments when taking a look at my calendar pages.  I have only entered two challenges previously and am thoroughly enjoying the Craft Barn Calendar Challenge and picking up tips and techniques along the way.

 

Charisma Cardz Challenge - Clean & Simple

This week's Charisma Cardz Challenge is clean and simple, I think this card fits the bill.

Plain and simple, a white linen card with the greeting printed centrally before I attached the picture.  Just love baby cards, the bibs and rompers are a digital image by Karen Middleton purchased from www.cuddlybuddly.com.  The image was coloured with pro-markers and mounted on lemon card, I then added some stitching for added detail.

Calendar Challenge No 3 White/Yellow/Green

Another week, another challenge, I needed to get this one out of the way as I have guests here this weekend and must sort out the housework.  I would rather be crafting that changing beds!!

White, yellow and green made me think of Spring so I picked March when the bulbs come up.  Didn't have a daffodil stamp so used a tulip.  The hare stamp was a freeby with Craft Stamper, I have used it on some cards for men and thought of "Mad March Hares" for the calendar.
 

 

 

For this page I used Lyra aquacolour crayons, I scribbled the colours onto a stamp block, spritzed with water and stamped it onto watercolour card then stamped the tulip in brown.  Thought I would add some more tulips and the hares.  Going with the Spring theme I put the date on the calendar for the first day of Spring, the words Spring Has Sprung and Mad March Hares came as an afterthought.

20th March first day of Spring next year

We know Spring is here when the bulbs start to come up

Will try get on line to look at the Craft Barn Blog later this week to see all the lovely calendar pages entered for the callenge.

The Craft Barn Calendar Challenge Number 2 "Bright Colours"

What a lovely challenge for a miserable dark week.  I usually work with muted tones and lots of white space, this challenge had me scouring my craft room for the brightest materials I could find.

November is the month for fireworks and Carnival time here in Somerset, and this is what was in my mind when I started. 

Inspiration came when I came across some old wax crayons the grandchildren no longer use, the colours were bright and I had fun using them.

I picked green, yellow, orange and pink and added patches of the colours across my card.  I then covered it with paper and warmed it with an iron.  While the card was warm I added more colour.  This melted the crayon to give a smoother coverage.  When the wax cooled I stamped a mix of swirls and stars using Stazon ink and added texture with paint and crackle glaze. 

 My calendar is a little note book for important dates

 

 

Craft Barn Calendar Challenge Number 1 "Vellum"

Calendar for October, just love this spooky month.

 Thought I would go with the yearly calendar, a page for each month.  October is autumn colours and Halloween, who can resist a little bit of spooky.  The backing card was coloured with Ranger Distress Inks and the images were stamped onto torn green vellum and over onto the coloured card with black Stazon ink, I added some white Stazon just for interest.  Really enjoyed this looking forward to the next calendar challenge.

 Bottom Left and Top Right detail of calendar