Elf on the shelf

 This is our first official year trying out Elf on the Shelf. I was excited to make up a Christmas countdown for our first day to introduce our elf and to kick off the month of December. I put together a print and decided to add a little to it to make it a bit more festive with our elf.  I  love Christmas time and think the fun antics of our elf Noel will make the start to each day during December more enjoyable for our children.

Mini Calendar Gift Idea

I couldn't wait to show you this fun framed mini calendar!  I love a project that is simple to put together.  I  love making and receiving useful personalized gifts!  So when I came across this darling calendar kit from Boutique Cute Dolls I just had to make some mini 3×3 calendars to give as gifts this Christmas. You can never have enough calendars around the house.  I love curvy frames and chipboard.  For this tutorial I made one of each.  The chipboard obviously is less expensive to purchase.  I thought it would be great for adding magnets to the back of the chipboard and hanging on the fridge. The wood frame  would be nice to display on a desk or counter, nightstand etc.  Really anywhere that you need to have quick access to the calendar.

 The items I used  for this project were a chipboard and a wooden frame.  I chose an opening with a 3×3 size.  The calendar file shows a 6×6 size.  I shrunk mine down to fit the frames.  I painted the wood an antique white color with a sponge brush.  While the paint was drying  I printed the file out  on card stock and cut them out.

 The items you need for this project are your choice of chipboard and a wooden frame.  I chose an opening with a 3×3 size.  The calendar file shows a 6×6 size.  I shrunk mine down to fit the frames.  I painted the wood an antique white color with a sponge brush.  While the paint was drying  I printed the file out  on card stock and cut them out.   So what do you think?  Are you ready to download the 2014 calendar file and make some for Christmas gifts?  I just could not pass up on making one for my kitchen counter too! Such a fun and simple way to share a great gift!

Thanksgiving and Gratitude

The month of November is upon us. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving later this month. I enjoy this wonderful holiday spent enjoying the company of family as well as taking time to remember our many blessings.  I feel like Thanksgiving is often overlooked between the fun of Halloween and the joy of Christmas.  So this year I decided that as a family we would make more of an effort to focus on all of the blessings we have been given.  I still have young children at home that would enjoy this project.

As I was brainstorming some ideas to accomplish this goal. I decided that each day during the month of November that we would add a "thankful leaf" to our tree.  I thought of this idea back in early October as I was looking around at a wood craft shop.  I was delighted to find a craft kit called the Thankful Tree.

Included in the kit was a wooden tree, heart cutouts and some vinyl lettering.  I printed out a 12x12 pattern paper from Boutique Cute dolls blessings kit along with some leaves. I thought the colors of the paper were lovely and would be perfect for a fall tree. I painted the tree trunk brown and the two hearts an off white color.  Then I traced the paper to fit the tree and glued it to the back of the wood.  I printed and cut out the leaves with items our family is grateful for. 

This was such a fun project to create.  I am excited to display and fill up this tree with all of our blessings and  the many things we are grateful for.  I am so blessed with a wonderful husband, beautiful children and cherished parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  Family means the world to me. As well as good friends. I hope you enjoyed this project and you will also take the time this month to appreciate your many blessings!