December 1st

It's time! Time to start the advent calendar! It's been a tradition at our house every year since Christopher's second Christmas. And at 14, he still loves it! I mean, who wouldn't enjoy getting a chocolate truffle before breakfast?!?! Only in December!

This year I created our advent set using a kit from Fun Stampers Journey. Isn't it adorable?

The kit contains everything you need to make the perfect advent calendar! I customized ours by adding some stamped snowflakes and Star-Dom and Doily die cuts.

Right now this set is 30% off...perfect for getting a jump start on next year's calendar! Or gifting the tradition to another family! 

Fun Stampers Journey Supplies:

Journey Advent Box Bundle BD-0087

Snow Burst SS-0144

Journey Blooms Holiday Set DI-0048

Star-Dom DI-0052

Doily DI-0105

Whip Cream IP-0009

Specialty Paper Pearled Celebrations CS-0119

Pomegranate Splash CS-0027

Whip Cream CS-0040

Top Dog Dies Advent Calendar

Hello! Hope you had a splendid weekend! If you enjoyed my Advent calendar share from Friday, you just might like this one too. Made from the adorable Thumb Notch Box die from Top Dog Dies, you can use these tiny boxes to count down the days before Christmas by filling them with candies small ornaments and holiday activities.

Each little box is topped with a pretty snowflake made with another one of my favorite Top Dog Dies, The Snowflake Trio Set. Then I numbered each box, wrapped them with colorful washi from Doodlebug Design and added a little Doodle Twine bow.

Cute? By the way, those candies are to die for! They're dark chocolate covered almonds from Whole Foods. They're a staple at our house! Whenever I get a sweet tooth attack, a couple of these save the day! ;)

Speaking of little chocolate candies...I bet these boxes would make adorable packaging for homemade truffles! :)

What would you make with them?

Advent Calendar

Ahhh...to be a kid at Christmas time! Remember visits to Santa Claus and the daily anticipation of the Advent calendar? Recently I created one of these calendars with a little metal mailbox tin and Doodlebug Design's Home for the Holidays collection. 

Wrapped up in each paper roll is an activity, money or goody coupon! I can't wait until December 1st! It'll be great fun to see how excited Christopher is to open one of these each morning!

If you don't do Advent calendars or already have one, this tin could be used to deliver goodies to your neighbor or tucked under the tree with a special gift inside!

Hope you enjoyed today's project! T.G.I.F!

The First Day of December

It's here, the first day of December! What a whirlwind of a day too! Dan-O took the day off so we could take care of a little business this morning and then play Santa and shop for Christopher. The Lego store got the bucks this year! After a couple hours of shopping we were quite hungry and headed over to P.F. Chang's for a bite. Then it was time for me to get a little eyebrow treatment, make a hair appointment and head over to Archiver's for a few scrapbooking supplies. Whew! By this time is was about 4:00 p.m. so we headed back home to meet Christopher as he got off the school bus.

December first in the Martin household is an important day for Christopher since he gets to open the first drawer of our Advent calendar. Ever since his first Christmas, at six months of age, we've loaded this little wooden chest of drawers with goodies. It's the only month of the year that Christopher bounds out of bed and down the stairs to see what's in the drawer! We used to tuck little ornaments and money in addition to candy in the drawers, but discovered early on that chocolate was the prefered find! Here's a picture of the candy wrappers shortly after Christopher checked the drawer!

Today I also got a Christmas present, quite by accident! When Dan and I returned from our shopping excursion we found a rather large box at the front door. Dan and I both looked at each other and said, "I didn't order anything, did you?" The box was addressed to me so I assumed that I either ordered something and forgot about it or perhaps a family member sent us a gift. So I opened the box to find that it was a gift for me from Dan-O himself! It's my first piece from the Department 56 Christmas Village I wished to start collecting this year! Surprise! So we set it up and it's so very pretty! Thanks Dan!

Well, that's our first day of December. I hope you will join me each day for a look into the events leading up to Christmas. I'd like to share some crafts, recipes, our decorated home, family traditions and events we participate in during the holidays. :)