Gearing Up For Christmas

I cannot believe Christmas is only a few weeks away. I am slowly getting back into crafting, beginning with a bunch of Christmas cards I plan to share over the next week. But for today I want to share an advent calendar I made last year. This is a project I made using a file collection by Jen Adkins over at Paperthreads (Countdown to Christmas).


Here is my completed Countdown to Christmas project. It took me over a week to complete, but it was so worth it! I am so very happy with how this turned out. And I can use it for years and years to come. The base of the project is a cookie sheet and all of the little elements are magnets. As you remove each piece, you can simply attach it to the backside of the cookie sheet.




I used 2 different patterned papers for the base of the cookie sheet. The paper is attached using decoupage paste. I made it into a grid using some green ribbon. I printed the numbers out twice, once in red and once in green. Then I used a circle punch to punch out the numbers. I glued these down in alternating colors inside the squares of my grid. The title is cut from some sparkly vinyl I had.




When I glued the paper to the cookie sheet, I let it hang over the edges. To clean this up and make it look more finished, I went around the whole cookie sheet with some striped Christmas ribbon I picked up at Joann's.




I had so much fun decorating all the different elements. I used markers to go around the outside edges of all the pieces and to add details. Lots of Stickles were used to add color and sparkle. I used some colored rhinestones for the man's eyes and a metal star charm for his hat.




I used markers to add details like the girl's eyes and nose and the snowman's mouth. More Stickles were used. I used rhinestones for the snowman's eyes and silver circles to decorate the one tree. The other tree has a star charm on top.




I used a white gel pen for the gingerbread people. The penguin, Santa, the hat and the stocking all have sparkly fluff added to the white parts. I used some googly eyes on the reindeer. Santa's eyes and the center of the snowflake are rhinestones. The bottom layer of the snowflake was cut from holographic paper.




I hope you enjoyed seeing my advent calendar. My plan is to start blogging regularly again so please come back and visit.

Challenges:
*Scrapalicious USA (Christmas Project Challenge)


Thanks for stopping by!