24 days, 100s of lit cacti, 36 abcs123s (teacher gifts), 12 pics on one card, 3 trees, and a partridge in a pear tree.

lol.  kidding 'bout the partridge.  at least right now.  gimme a little bit of time though and i'll produce one for you ; ) - yes that means a related christmas project!  it is daunting but i am determined to get it done by christmas!

so moving along . . .

Counting 24 Days

We have a tradition in the Jenkins' family that goes back to my husband's generation.  My MIL would countdown the days with an advent calendar with 24 little wrapped gifts tied to rings on the calendar.  On our 1st Christmas married, my MIL gave us a similar advent calendar made out of felt and rings.  Well after awhile, the weight of the presents and extended use caused my felt advent calendar to get pretty beat up and so I made myself a new, more sturdier one.  I have been using mine for the past 2 years.  Well my girlfriend Lisa came this weekend and saw mine and wanted to make one of her own to start the tradition in her own family.

Here's what it looks like . . .

Supplies:

• 1 12x24 flat board (you can buy these at Michael's)
• various papers (these are all from my stash of Basic Grey - Blitzen, Blush, Perhaps, Dasher, Periphery, and Figgy Pudding)
• lots of Mod Podge (we used the glittery kind)
• foam brush
• chalk ink in dark brown or chestnut roan
• various numbers and letters and poinsetta flowers (courtesy of the Slice) or you can use foam stamps and paint or ink
• paint in Santa Red
• 24 eye hooks
• drill
• chipboard border (Cherry Arte)
• paint in Autumn Brown

Instructions:

• Paint edges of the board with red paint.  Paint chipboard border brown.
• Cut one patterned paper 7 inches by 12 inches (this is the striped PP at the top)
• Cut two white solid papers (i used the Blanc from the Periphery line) to fit under the striped paper to cover the rest of the board.  Distress edges of the paper with chalk ink.
• Decoupage papers onto board

• Cut out numbers and letters or stamp them.  You need 1-24 and 24 days slightly larger.   I also cut out poinsetta flowers.  Cut out 24 patterned squares 2.5x2.5 inches.  Make sure to distress all edges with chalk ink.  I used my Slice to cut out everything.  The font I used is on the Basic Shapes 2 cartridge.

• Decoupage the patterned squares and letters and numbers onto the board

• Lisa didn't put her hooks in because she had to get it home on the plane but after everything is thoroughly dry.  Drill holes in the top center of each square.  Screw in the eye hooks and then you are done.

This is what mine looks like (i stamped my numbers and used large monograms for the letters) with the presents tied on . . .

i also used 7 Gypsies gaffer tape instead of the chipboard border.

The advent calendar goes along with this book . . .

each day there is a scripture, a hymn, and a short story.  we take turns as family reading the scriptures and stories and we sing the hymn together and then one family member takes a turn to open their gift.  I usually fill the calendar with stuff from the dollar spot and stuff like chapstick, candy, gum, new toothbrushes, journals, pencils, colored pens.

and here is a couple of pics of kids opening up their gifts.  My kids LOVE this tradition and get pretty into it.

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100s of Lit Cacti aka a tour of Ethel M's Cactus Gardens

During the holiday season, the Ethel M Chocolate Factory here in Las Vegas strings lights all over their cactus garden.  The Young Women from my ward went on Tuesday night and the rest of the family tagged along.  The best thing about the garden is it's totally free and Santa Claus is there on Fridays and Saturdays and you can take your own pictures.  We skipped the hot chocolate though because methinks $5 is a little steep.

Wanna see what we saw?

a pic of the kids  . . .

and Madi and her YW friends . . .

(in case you are wondering - NO FLASH, ISO 1600, all f/1.8)

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36 ABCs123s

and I now present this year's teacher gifts . . .

as you can tell from my daughter holding this, these things are pretty decent sized gallery-style framed art.  and they took a bit of time to create.  i took images that look like the letters of the alphabet and numbers and I did a high-contrast B/W conversion to each.  I built a grid template of 36 boxes on an 11x14 canvas (allowing for a 1/4 inch bleed all the way around) in Photoshop.  I then used the clipping mask technique to get all the B/W images cropped and sized perfectly.  Dragging, dropping, transforming, clipping, merging over and over 36 times.  I then added the text and had these printed at Sam's for about 2.50 each.  I then put them in these wide black gallery-style frames which happen to be only $10 each this week.  So total cost - $12.50.  A lot of work but pretty freakin' cool I think!

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12 Pics on one card

I had a client who wanted to include 12 images from her session on her card.  This proved to be quite the challenge as I again had to build the template to fit the images she selected.  I guess I will be having some great templates for future use though!

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3 Trees

one of my new decorations I made.  I found the project kit for these at Elle Design Cottage .

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OK.  I am thinking this post has gone a bit long (ok way long) but I have a lot of stuff to share and post.  It has definitely been quite busy around here!  Next up is my Christmas journal for Journal Your Christmas.  Quite a few people are also doing Ali Edward's December Daily project also.  You should really go to her blog and check out how her project is coming along.  I seriously love it!

Anyway, it's supah late - 2:30 - my battery to my laptop is about up - and I've got to go wrap presents before i head off to bed (or at least my kids' stuff).

Holy cow it's the weekend! 

TTYS~

Comments

[Cricket]

Wow! Look at all the stuff you've been busy with!!

I LOVE the teacher gifts you've created Chris, they are amazing!!!

Smiles,

[Maria]

Everything you've made is incredible! I'm a third grade teacher and would love to get the teacher's gift. It's obviously a lot of work and a work of heart. Beautiful!

[Jenn Schmerer]

Wow! Love everything- especially the teacher gift. You need to think about selling these for others to print and give- I would totally buy one!

[carol]

so WHERE did you find that big frame for $10??? gorgeous print too.

love the advent calendar. all those presents hanging off are too funny!

[Amy]

That is THE coolest teacher gift I have ever seen! The teachers will be fighting to get your kids in their classes next year. :)
I also love the photo of your kids, everything about it works great--the white, the candycanes, bright solid colors. . . awesome!

[Heather]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the teacher gift ABCs and 123s. Your kids teachers are lucky!

[jennifer]

what fun things you've been up to.

love your advent calendar. and your teachers gift is too cool. and i would love to know where you got the frame for 10 bucks too.