Countdown to Christmas

Last year I made a lovely countdown to Christmas for the kids to open each day.  Mocha ate the first one.  I had to make some replacements on the fly and they just weren't exactly what I wanted. So I started over this year with a new concept.


 

This year I added some new items that are experiences rather than toys or candy.  I also found some fun items in the dollar spot at Target like headphone cord keepers and computer screen cleaners.

  

I was afraid the kids wouldn't be into the countdown this year.  Lizzy learned the tooth fairy is mom and Simon has known for a while.  Lizzy was every bit excited about the countdown as she has been in previous years.



Simon was even jazzed to open his day.  They drew watching the How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Grinchie treats.



Lizzy especially loved her Grinch float.

Christmas Texas Style

Sadly Felicia's Scrapbooks has closed.  My final class was Texas Christmas cards.  I liked this one so much that it became our Holiday party invitation.  I pulled out the Deadbeat Designs Texas Christmas tree.  It's embossed in gold on vellum.  The background behind the card is stamped sheet music.  I used some baker's twine to hold it all together.




 

Supplies:
Stamps: Deadbeat Designs (Texmas Tree) Hero Arts (music background)
Ink: Versamark, Distress (fired brick)
Paper: Papertrey Ink (vellum, pure poppy, vintage cream)
Other: Baker's Twine, Ranger (gold embossing powder)

On the second day of December...

I still have Halloween to share.  Sad.  I know.  However I really liked how these Halloween cards turned out this year.  I promise it is the last of my bleated Halloween. I used Distress stains, some glitter card stock and a couple of cool Sizzix dies.

This card was created with fired brick and wild honey distress stains.  I put them directly on the paper.  I finished by cutting the bats from the Sizzix bat strip die.

 
 
I used ink on this card and sponged it on the entire surface.  I used the technique of flicking water on it to finish the background.  The die cuts all came from the Halloween Silhouettes die.  The glitter paper made it a little tricky to cut out all those details but they turned out really great.




My last card was made with concord grape and faded jeans distress stains.  I stamped the clouds in versa mark and heat embossed with clear before I added the distress stain.  I really like using the stains with embossing resist.  I also finished the background with perfect pearls mist in pearl.

 

I have some Christmas cards to share and my countdown to Christmas for this year.  So far Mocha has not been able to eat it but we'll see.  She's a crafty little dog.