Hello and welcome to JustRite Stampers' Last Minute Gift Ideas Blog Hop! If you need some holiday gift ideas this month, this blog hop is for you! My project is an advent calendar made with three of JustRite's beautiful Christmas stamp sets, Times New Roman Font (alphabet & numbers), and Inchie Arts Inchie Square magnets on a re-purposed, painted cookie sheet! I've seen these the last few years and wanted to make one for my young girls, so this was MY last minute gift idea for them ... just a day late, not too bad! This would also make a great gift to perhaps give Grandma, to have at her house to keep little hands busy when they visit!
I started with a 15" x 14" cookie sheet, so I could use all of this beautiful 12" Webster's Pages paper. You'll want to spray paint your cookie sheet ... learn from my mistake and do NOT try painting it with acrylic paint! Even with a base coat of Gesso, it will flake off! Then adhere your 12" paper to the sheet, using ModPodge. I always give my ModPodged (decoupaged) projects a protective coating of the glue on top of the papers, too.
The whole patterned paper tree was cut out and adhered to the floral paper and then another sheet of the tree pattern was used to cut up and put on the Inchie Squares. All the butterflies were already on the patterned paper, I just added Star Dust Stickles for some pretty hoiday sparkle!
I found it easiest to use a 1-inch square paper punch and just punch out areas of the tree that I wanted to use for the tiles/stamp on. I started with the butterflies and then continued punching/cutting until I had 24 squares (and one round ... we'll get to that in a bit!). Three of the tiles are 1-1/2" ... what Inchie Arts calls Inchie + squares! All of the Inchie Squares I used were the Dark Cream color from the Neutral packs.
Here's a closer view of the top (click on any image to see it larger):
The way my calendar works is that it looks pretty even when the tiles are stored on the lower half, since the whole tree is already showing. Then as the month progresses, the tiles are placed on the tree, kind of like a puzzle.
The top "star", placed on the tree as the final tile indicating Christmas Day, was stamped directly on the Inchie Square using JustRite's snowflake from A Merry Little Christmas set! I colored it with Copic Atyou Spica Glitter pens (Turquoise, Peach, Blossom & Gold). Tile 2 is the gorgeous Cardinal from JustRite's Christmas Treasures set, on an Inchie Arts Inchie+ dark cream square. I cut out a rose and leaves from another piece of the patterned paper and adhered them over my stamped image, to help the tile blend in with the foliage. JustRite's Times New Roman font number was stamped with cream pigment ink.
Tiles 7 & 9 are Karen Lockhart's Itty Bitty Nest & Ornaments. The ornaments were stamped directly on the patterned paper and colored with Copic markers. The nest was stamped on another piece of paper, colored with Copics, cut out and placed on the tile to look like it is nested into the branches of the tree! Some of the tiles are just pieces of the tree or snowflakes in the sky, with numbers stamped on them and accented wtih Star Dust Stickles. I used JustRite's Times New Roman fonts in 50 & 25-point. Most were stamped with copper pigment ink, a few with dark chocolate ink.
Here's a closeup of the bottom half of the calendar, with the some of the tiles still stored:
I think my favorite "tile" is the #20 wreath I made for the lamp post! It is made with a border from JustRite's new Round Decorative Frames Borders! I stamped it with Memento Bamboo Leaves ink and then die cut it with Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Circle Nestabilities dies. I made it sturdy by die cutting another wreath from Craft-A-Board. I adhered the wreath to the Craft-A-Board and then used the mistletoe with bow from A Merry Little Christmas set to hang at the top. The number was stamped and then punched with 1/2" circle punch and adhered on top of the mistletoe.
Tile 19 is made with the candle center stamp from A Merry Little Christmas set. Tile 22 is Karen Lockhart's Itty Bitty Birds stamp. Tile 24 is the sweet snowlady from JustRite's Old Fashioned Christmas set. Here are all the Copic marker colors I used on this project:
Be sure to hop around and see all the great gift ideas the the other JustRite designers have to show you today, starting at the JustRite Blog, then on to Barb Schram, Becca Feeken, Debbie Olson, Heidi Blankenship, Kathy Jones, Kellie Fortin, Lauren Meader, Lisa Somerville, Michele Kovack, Michelle Wooderson, Sharon Harnist (<=you're here!), Sharon Johnson, and guests Angela Barkhouse and
Terre Fry.
Stamps: JustRite Stampers-Christmas Treasures, Old Fashioned Christmas, A Merry Little Christmas, 2" Decorative Frames Borders-Round, Times New Roman font set. Lockhart Stamp Company Itty Bittys-Birds, Nest & Ornaments
Paper: Webster's Pages Winter's Wings-Magical Tree & Season of White, Home For The Holidays-Christmas Sky
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa & Bamboo Leaves, Tsukineko Encore Metallic Copper, PTI Vintage Cream pigment ink, Copic markers (pictured above) & Spica Glitter Pens-Turquoise, Peach, Blossom, Gold, Silver
Accessories: Inchie Arts Inchie Squares-Neutrals (Dark Cream), Inchie + Squares & Inchie Magnets. Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Circle Nestabilities-Sm dies, Craft-A-Board, cookie sheet, spray paint, ModPodge, 1" square punch, PTI satin ribbon
