Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Morning! The house is filled with the smells of yummy food cooking in the oven, the kids are chilling on the couch watching cartoons, the sun is shining on freshly fallen snow, and we are cozied up together in a warm house . . . Life is beautiful! :D :D :D

I just wanted to say how thankful I am today. Thankful for friends and family, for the beauty of this earth, for the spirit of Christ that is in all things. For the joy of creating and making something and the friends and fun I have found through this hobby. For health, safety, and life. :D My heart is full today! :D

And since Christmas is on our doorstep, I thought I would a couple of Christmas projects to my blog today. :)

Growing up, my mom had a felt Christmas Countdown Calendar that she would hang on the back of a door in our home. It was a happy Christmas tree decorated with gold ric rack and colorful beads lovingly stitched to it. Below the tree was 24 pockets that contained felt ornaments (with more colorful seed beads stitched to them) that we could attach to the tree to countdown the days to Christmas.

My siblings and I fought over that tree . . . we would wake up early just so WE could be the ones to place the next ornament on the tree. My mom didn't like that we were "fighting" over this countdown because . . . you know . . . the whole "good will towards men" attitude wasn't being fostered. LOL! Finally, she solved this little problem by making another Countdown Calendar. This one was Mary riding a donkey with Joseph by her side. Each day we moved Mary closer to Bethlehem. We loved that calendar, too!

To this day I LOVE Countdown Calendars! I can't get enough of them! The excitement of seeing the progression towards a special day still makes my heart skip a beat.

And just in case you share this same infatuation with countdowns, I thought that today I would share with you two Countdown Calendars that I made using My Mind's Eye papers.

M&M Countdown
This first one was created using a bead organizer from the craft store. How awesome that it comes with 24 little containers to fill with goodies! PERFECT! The containers are quite small, so you would need to choose small candies to go inside. Or how about including a clue to a hiding place of a treat or even a slip of paper listing a family Christmas activity you are going to do for that day. This one can be used in several ways. :)


The black numbers and title were created using my Wishblade, but you could just as easily use stickers that you have on hand. :)








Christmas Bead Countdown
The idea behind this countdown is that a bead is moved across the wire arch for each day until Christmas. By the time Christmas is here the gold star will be ready to place on the top of the tree. :) I used a wooden shape that I found in the Dollar Section bins at Michael's last year. The base is a oval wooden plaque. The wire and wooden beads are also found at Michael's. I simply spraypainted the pieces red and green, then added decorated them with paper. :)






For more ideas for Countdown Calendars that I have made check out these links.
Christmas Cookie Sheet Countdown
Halloween Countdown (this one could easily be adapted for Christmas)

I hope you enjoyed these projects! After today, I will be spending the rest of my weekend decorating our house for Christmas and spending time with my family . . . so you may not just see me until next week.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday!

Hugs,
Jana

12 Days of Christmas

Have you popped over to the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog lately? Right now we are having a 12 Days of Christmas Event full of inspirational ideas . . . Come check it out!



Today is the Fifth Day of Christmas and you know what my true love gave to me? . . . Not Five Golden Rings . . . but Five Golden NAPKIN rings! Hehehe!



I am hosting this year's holiday dinner and I thought it would be a lot of fun to create my own coordinating napkin rings.



I used a heavy cardboard tube and covered it with embossed and misted cardstocks. I used the Cuttlebug VICTORIA and DISTRESSED STRIPES folders. To finish them off I added a red and green checked ribbon with a large red jewel brad. I love the way they turned out!

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I've also been using my Cuttlebug embossing folders to create some cute gift bags. This folder is called Mistletoe Kisses and is only available at Oh, My Crafts! What I love about this folder is that it is 5 X 7 . . . a little bit larger than the regular A2 folders.



I used the Mistletoe Kisses folder to emboss some kraft paper sacks. I then decorated the bag with patterned papers and topped it off with a ribbon. Fast, cute and EASY!!! My daughter is filling them with bath gels, lip gloss and candy to give to her friends.

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My son wanted to give candy bars to his friends for Christmas, but I wanted to find a cute way to dress them up. I did a search on 2 Peas in a Bucket and found this adorable Snowman Candy Bar idea.

HERE IS THE PATTERN.

Didn't they turn out adorable?!! Gotta love quick gift ideas this point in the game, right?! :D :D :D



How are your Christmas crafts and goodies coming along?

Talk to you soon!
Jana

RAK Winner and More!

I just want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who posts such sweet things to me here on my blog. Seriously, it makes my day every single time I get a little message! Thanks for all the warm fuzzies! You gals are the best! MMmmmmmmmmWAH! ;)


And the winner of the Adornit Christmas Pattern Book is . . .










bruinbr! WOOHOO!


Email me your address at jana.eubank@gmail.com and I'll get your book sent out to you ASAP! :)


Today I took some pictures of the Cookie Sheet Christmas Countdown Calendars I'm giving my family this year. I think I'm safe posting this here because none of them even know I have a blog! LOL! I was going to give these to them at Thanksgiving, but . . . life took over and I didn't get them all done. Why does life seem to always do that?!


I did it a little different than the ones I've seen. I put the #'s on the actual cookie sheet instead of on the magnets. I knew my kids would want to choose their magnet instead of having to fish through them all to find the specific day. They came together pretty easily thanks to a bunch of charms I ordered from Oriental Trading and bags of buttons from Michael's. The other things I picked up here and there from frugalities.com. For the title I used the Dollar Tree "Thickers" which helped keep the cost down. I'm hoping my siblings' families like them. :)




Here's one last picture for you. Today we went to check on the house and I realized that I haven't posted a picture of the progress for awhile. The framing is coming along nicely. It should be done by the end of the year. (Doesn't that sound funny to say? I mean, I know it's December, but it never sinks in that it's the end of the year, too!) Poor framers . . . working in the snow. They are troopers!

Well, that's it for tonight! Talk to you in a few days! :)

Jana