advent calendar creation

Christmas time is magical! Well, I want it to be magical. But sometimes in all the hubbub and business, shopping and partying, prepping and scheduling, we forget about why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. We get burnt out and exhausted from everything that we think needs to be done. And so I set about coming up with a way to gently remind myself, and my family, of the reason for the season. A good friend of mine made an advent calendar like this and posted it to facebook. I'm so glad that she did! I stole her idea and ran with it!

My first stop was the dollar store. They have six cup muffin tins for a buck! I thought about using mini muffin tins, but when I decided to put mini candy bars inside the tins, one for each of my family members (that's 4), mini wasn't going to cut it. So full size it is. And it's a good thing too! From a design standpoint, my Cricut had a hard enough time cutting the details at full size. I shudder to think about what I would have gone through trying to cut the images any smaller.

I used the basic cartridge, Printing 101 for the numbers set at a size 3. And I used two Christmas cartridges, Joys of the Season, and Christmas Cheer. I had to play with the size of each image. I still don't understand how to use my Cricut properly! So for me it was a bit of trial and error using sizes 1 1/2 - 3, depending on the image.

I used my trusty Stampin' Up paper (but I think that it's just a little too thick for the Cricut) and stuck with a traditional color scheme of Old Olive, Real Red. I used Soft Suede to make it feel a bit homey, and threw in pops of color when needed for an image. I even got out my glitter paper to give it a bit of sparkle. I really do think that glitter is the herpes of the crafting world. It's pretty much banned from my house! ; )

To adhere everything I used Tombow mulit purpose adhesive. Lots of tiny pieces made glue, not a tape runner, my tool of choice. I have to say that this project took me all day and then some! I was at it from breakfast until the wee hours of the next morning! But all the hard work and time was worth it, as I am in love with the results!

The back side of each muffin cover has a scripture reference and a short devotion. The idea is that each evening, the four of us will gather to take just a few minutes to read the Bible and remember all that God has done for us in giving us his son, Jesus. Just a short pause in what I know will be super busy days and nights! 

As I write this, it's now December 10. We started off with a bang, but we are already a few days behind! Ah well. The best laid plans... We'll catch up!

Merry Christmas and happy stamping!