Merry Christmas!

To all my friends in Blog-land, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I have a confession to make - I didn't send ANY Christmas Cards out this year.  Not a single one.  I'm hoping to make up for it next year!

Here is the traditional Santa Photo to share with you:

AND

I have exciting news - 

On Boxing Day, we are all going on a

to

 How exciting!  We are going on the trip of a lifetime to the USA as a family, for six weeks!

So you see why I haven't been able to do much crafting for Christmas - too busy packing, planning the trip, doing 50,000 loads of washing,  anxiously watching the AUD exchange rate, re-packing, and keeping four excited kids amused since they finished school 3 weeks ago.

I will be back when the kids go back to school, with the usual scheduled programming.  I will try to do a few blog posts while I'm away - mainly to show off my kids and I having fun!

Have a wonderful Christmas, and see you next year!

Two weeks till Christmas

Does that strike fear in your heart? Or are you smug and satisfied with the knowledge that you have done everything already? I am no where near ready, and for the first time in many years I might not actually get around to mailing cards out this year!!!

Shocking, I know.

I have been busy making teacher gifts as you know, and here is what the Kindy teachers got this year: an elegant box made from acetate die cut with the Fancy Favor Die and embossed with the Big Shot (seriously, what would I do without it?) with about half a dozen hand made gift tags inside. The tags were made from the leftover tags that were cut out when I made my Advent calendar - thrifty, no?

Advent, Summer Mini, December Frenzy....Phew!

Hello!  What a crazy, busy, fun time of year!  Tomorrow is the last day of school for two of my kids (one finished school last Friday, and one has one day next week to go), and I've been up to my elbows in teacher presents, end of year patents, and the like.  I'm sure it has been the same for you.

Today our new Summer Mini and the December Frenzy launched - WOW!

Here are the details of the December Frenzy:

Or you can see more HERE.

The Summer Mini is gorgeous - hard to pick a favourite new product!  Plenty of lovely new stuff for Christmas, including glimmer paper (I've used it below).

Here is the Summer Mini, You can read it online HERE.

One of my favourite Christmas traditions is an Advent calendar.  in the past we've had Lego calendars, and those chocolate ones you buy at Target (the chocolate always starts to melt in our Summer heat before Christmas Day), and this year I was inspired to make one myself.

Here it is, and the instructions:

Two Tags Advent Calendar

Paper
•Whisper White card stock
• Real Red card stock:
•Lucky Limeade Cardstock
*1/2 sheet Red Glimmer Paper (121790,  $8.95 for two 12"x 12" sheets, Summer Mini Catalogue)
Stampin’ Up! Accessories
• Big Shot
•Two Tags Bigz Die (115954, $39.95)
• Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Medium Sizzlets Die (115951, $139.95)
• Scallop Circle Punch (119854, $33.95)
3.5cm circle punch (119860, $30.95)
Extra Large Oval Punch (119859, $33.95)
• 2-Way Glue pen
• Stampin’ Dimensionals
•White Bakers Twine (124262 $4.95) Summer Mini Catalogue
Cherry Cobbler 3.2cm Striped Grosgrain (I used Real Red, but it has retired)
Sticky Strip
SNAIL adhesive
2  small elastic hair bands

My Notes

1. Using the Big Shot, die cut 48 of the wide tags from the Two Tags die (I was able to cut three sheets of cardstock at a time, which helped speed up the process). 
2. Assemble by merely adhering two tags together to form a triangle shaped box. 
3.  Decorate each triangle box as desired - I alternated real red and lucky limeade cardstock with mine.  For the numbers, die cut red glimmer paper with the numbers medium sizzlets (you may wish to roll through the Big Shot twice to ensure a clean cut). 
4. Using a long piece of striped grosgrain ribbon (hemp twine would also work) attach a small hair elastic to both ends using a small strip of Sticky Strip.  This will make it easy to hang your Advent Calendar. 
5. Using Baker's twine, attach each box to the striped grosgrain as shown.
6.  Don't forget to put some treats in each box!  I put four small sweets in a small plastic bag, tied with red ribbon, as I have four children - you could put anything you like!