So Sad!!

My favorite site to visit on the web, my internet home, is in jeopardy of closing. ScrapGoods owners are taking a break and we don't know the future of the club :( Can I seriously cry!!! So my friends, if you have started a blog and want on my list, please leave a comment so I can add you to my links!!! I can't imagine not checking in with you all every day (multiple times!).
~Aleta

Make Your Own Advent Calendar

Every single day my daughter asks 'How many more sleeps 'til Christmas?' So I decided to make an Advent calendar with the girls to help them countdown. We even put M&Ms in it so they get a little treat every day! I told some of you I would put instructions on how to make it... there are TONS of examples on the web, and a Tutorial from SCS. But here is how the girls and I did ours.

SUPPLIES:
Mini Muffin tin
Red spray paint (or any color you want)
Cardstock in christmas colors
Patterned paper (if you want)
Asst stickers and diecuts or stamped images
Xryron magnet/laminate cartridge
Circle cutter
hammer and nail
large eyelets (optional)
Ribbon

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Measure the diameter of the muffin holes on your tin. Make sure its the mini muffin tin with 24 spots (for the 24 days until Christmas). Using the nail and hammer, punch two holes to hang your ribbon from. I used a hammer and masonry nail because I couldn't find anything else that would punch the metal. So use whatever you can to get a hole in the dang thing.

2. Spray paint your muffin tin with whichever color you have chosen. Please spray paint and let dry outside so you don't get sick from the fumes!

3. While the tin is drying, cut out 24 circles that are the same diameter (or a bit bigger) than your muffin holes. You can cut from cardstock or patterned paper, whichever you decide. My holes were a little smaller than 2.25 inches so I wanted a 2.25 inch circle. Of course of all the punches and diecut machines I have (Cricut, Sizzix, Cuttlebug) I couldn't find a 2.25" circle, so I got my CM Circle Cutter out and handcut 26 green circles! Yes, I know that was two more than I needed, but I messed up a few :P

4. Cut smaller circles out of contrasting cardstock or patterned paper. For my second white circle I used a 1.75" circle punch. You could even cut a scalloped circle, or a square, or any other shape you wanted. This will be the base for your numbers or images.

5. Glue the two circles together with the smaller one matted on the large one. If you are going to stamp on the circles, this would be the time to do it.

6. Next, I ran all 24 circles through my Xryon 510 using the magnetic/laminate cartridge. This cartridge puts a magnet on one the back and laminates the top. If you don't have this machine... stop right now, you cannot finish this project. LOL! JUST KIDDING!!!! You can buy magnet pieces or sheets to glue your circles on. The muffin tin is metal, so magnets would be best, but you could even put velcro on the pieces and the tin to get it to adhere.

7. I hand cut the circles (again) and had a laminated magnet. Next was the girls favorite part.

8. I got all my Jolee's and other 3D stickers out, and diecuts and some buttons (the gingerbread people) and let the girls go to town. I used my Ultimate glue to glue them on, even though they were stickers so they wouldn't fall off. This stuff is the best... I need to order more!! I seriously love it, it is like superglue, but it dries totally clear, so you can even glue down clear buttons and transparencies and such! Okay, enough plugging the glue... lol.

If you don't have, or don't want stickers and diecuts, you could put numbers on the circles instead for the countdown. Or (as long as its not laminated yet) you could stamp and color in images. Be creative, its your countdown!

9. Set large eyelets in the holes you punched in the tin in step one. I just glued mine in as I couldn't get them to set without smashing the eyelet. You could skip this step if you want.

10. String ribbon through the holes (and/or eyelets) and tie. I strung through and tied knots, and then tied bows with the same ribbon and sewed the bows on the knot so they face out and aren't twisted. VOILA! Hang your calendar on the wall and have fun counting down!

The magnets aren't the strongest, so we could only get about 10 M&Ms in the tins so the tops wouldn't fall off, but the girls now get a treat every morning until Christmas (what was I thinking!!! 24 days of chocolate!!)

My Disney Book

Just trying to get some more LOs done for my Disney album. Some of these may have been posted before or look familiar because of the LOs I did for my mom's Disney book. Enjoy!

Getting Organized!

Pretty soon I will have to give up my scraproom :( My in-laws are coming to visit for Christmas and then after that, the third bedroom will be turned into a room for my youngest DD. She will be 18 months... so probably about time she gets her own room (and out of Mommy and Daddy's!) So I've been trying to (slowly) get organized... here is what I've done this last week:

Cleaned up my desk area (for those of you who don't know me... Yes, this IS clean!)

I noticed that I tend to look for things based on color... so I bought some plastic containers for my ribbon and sorted by color. The containers are about half the size of a shoebox. Found some neat ribbons I had forgotten about!

I bought these drawers at Ikea this weekend. Just sorted all my flowers by color and I have six drawers left over. I'm going to alter these too... one of these days! :DAll the different drawers of flowers. From top left: Teal, Burgandy, Yellow, Green, Orange, Pink, Purple, Blue, Brown, White/Cream, Black/Grey, and Red! These drawers are pretty big too. Each drawer probably has about 200 flowers in it - except for the Black and Grey one. Um, I DO NOT need more flowers!!!


And these are the Ikea shelves that were given to us that I need to move into the bedroom so I can start putting stuff on them.
I also bought 12 glass bottles for my buttons and brads, but I haven't started on that yet. I wanna cry I still have SO MUCH to do. I have way too much stuff (SHHHH... don't tell my husband I said that!)

ADDED 15 Nov:
Also bought 12 glass bottles for my buttons at Ikea. Then I realized I have more brads than buttons, so I put brads in them last night. No joke, I spent 2.5 hours digging out all the packages of brads everywhere and sorting by color!!! I had so many brads not even opened! And I considered not opening them, but then figured they would get tucked away and not used again. So I ripped open about 6 new packages of brads, all the brads we get in swaps and for extras. EVERYTHING! And put them in jars!

Purple, Green, Pink and Blue were my fullest jars. Seriously, I must have about 300 of these EACH! I came to the conclusion last night that I DO NOT! need to buy anything else for a long long long time...

Tagged Again :D

This one is from Tara

Ten things I did this weekend:
1. Drove to the Netherlands - YAY!
2. Scrapped all weekend long with Marinka
3. Played with a Silhouette - so awesome!
4. Saw the North Sea
5. Met up with Petra
6. Played with Alcohol inks - and acquired a set - thanks Marinka!
7. Talked to Sierra and Ruby on the phone
8. Ate marzipan for the first time
9. Shopped at an indoor mall for the first time since moving to Germany
10. Went to Ikea - so in love with that store!

9 things on my agenda this week:
1. Pay for my table at the craft fair
2. buy a screwdriver
3. post office
4. clean my kitchen
5. try to get caught up on laundry
6. finish making items for craft fair
7. put together my Ikea drawers
8. scrap
9. dye my hair.... thinking red/auburn

8 shows I watched last week:
1. Are you smarter than a 5th grader
2. Shark
3. NCIS
4. CSI
5. Mickey Mouse (and everything else on the Disney Channel)
6. Jay Leno
7. Friends
8. My Wife and Kids

7 things I cooked last week:
1. Chicken Enchiladas
2. Macaroni and cheese
3. Chicken Nuggets
4. Baked Beans
5. Waffles
6. Eggs
7. Oatmeal

6 things I read this week:
1. CK Dec issue
2. Simple Scrapbooks Nov issue
3. Scrapbooks Etc Oct issue
4. ScrapGoods Message Board
5. Creative Express Message Board
6. Splitcoast Stampers Message Board
(I know... I'm obsessed!!!)

5 Reasons to be happy today:
1. I got to see Sierra and Ruby!
2. I made it home safely (although with a rather long detour)
3. I have lots of Ikea stuff for my scrappy room
4. I can sleep in my own bed
5. I have euro left over from my trip

4 things I need to buy:
1. a screwdriver
2. a table at the craft fair
3. stamps
4. secret santa stuff

3 people I saw this weekend:
1. Marinka
2. Petra
3. Marinka's gorgeous family!

2 things I am thankful for right now:
1. I am thankful I made it home today
2. My family loves me

One Final Thought:
I need to go to bed!

Anatomy of a Card

I am in the process of making cards for the Arts and Crafts Bazaar at Ramstein Nov 17-18th. I figured I could try to get some extra cash for the holidays by selling the things I love to make out of my surplus of stash!!! I'm trying real hard to dwindle down my ever-growing scrappy supplies, much to Dustin's chagrin, it is not working. Oh well!

So I have a favorite card that I've made many times because I really just like it. Nothing fancy, its just fun and elegant. Because it is my favorite card, I decided I would make 12 to offer for sale at the Bazaar. The anatomy of my card follows:

I got my stamps and ink out and started to stamp the images. Remember, I wanted to make 12 cards. So I get a piece of white cardstock out and proceed to stamp 12 images of my 'CosmoBella' Oops... I can only fit 10 on the paper. No worries, I'll just make 10 cards :D

Upon further inspection of the images I notice that I must have gotten too hurried and wasn't taking my time to not get blurry or over stamped images. Happens quite frequently actually... maybe I should slow down and pay more attention to my stamps.
See the blurry or faded parts the arrows are pointing to in the above picture. This was the case on 3 of my 10 images. Not bad odds really. And not a problem, I'll just make 7 cards (for all of you who are challenged, 10-3 = 7 ) LOL!


Then I proceed to color in my images. I love to use the Stampin' Up Watercolor Crayons with a paint brush. I just dip my brush in water, drag it across the crayon, and apply to my image. After CosmoBella was all colored in, I took a Gelly Roll glitter pen to her drink, belt and sandals. Now, the following image is kind of hard to see, but inside the black circle, I got a splash of green paint on her shirt.
Being the perfectionist I am, and the fact that I want to SELL these cards, I scrap this Bella as its smudged. Okay, no problem, I can still make 6 cards. Good thing I didn't cut card bases for 12 cards - LOL! So I cut the card bases and layers and stamp 'Celebrate' on the Bling Bazzill. One of them came out smudged (I really need to pay more attention :eyeroll:)

See the shadow? That would be overstamping. Oh well, just another card for my stash box!

So finally I get all the cards assembled. Woohoo! I have 5 cards to sell... from the 12 I started out making! JEEZ! I must be having an off day. I made 12 Christmas cards last night and only messed up 1, so I came out with 11!

Here is the final product. My CosmoBella "celebrate' -ing. Don't know why, but I just really like this card. Maybe because it has scallops, or bling bazzill (shimmery cardstock), or the fact that I get to color Bella in and coloring is soothing! Either way, I hope these cards sell at the Bazaar or an awful lot of you will be getting card packages for Christmas!!