A Gift for Samantha....



My finished calendar



My niece Samantha is turning 7 years old this month.  I can't believe how quickly the time passes.  She lives in Missouri and sadly, it's been nearly 2 years since I last saw her and it breaks my heart. So, for her birthday, and Christmas, I decided to create an Advent Calendar for her.  I had gotten two of them last year, thinking I would decorate one for each of my boys, but as I thought about that, I decided they could share.  After all, there are 24 boxes and how much candy does one need?  But, Samantha....she gets a calendar all of her own.  And I want to fill it with special items that are just for her, and that will have meaning beyond a chocolate bar.  What would you put inside it?  I'd love to know! 

The calendar is from Kaisercraft and is very simple to put together -- it's the decorating that takes time.  I spent a very frustrating 30 minutes trying to figure out just how I would assemble the boxes and decorate them, as the kit does not come with any instruction.  Alas, being at a Scrapbooking Crop has its advantages as a very wonderful woman, Michelle (A Time for Memories), was very willing to share how she had assembled a similiar project. And then I was off! Thank you Michelle!

If anyone out there needs help, I saved my template as it was a lifesaver, and made things so easy the 2nd time round!  Also, a few tips - don't paint this until you've assembled it, as I tried that first and the wood pieces swelled, making it very difficult to piece back together. 

I used a variety of items, but started with a Christmas Kit I had acquired last year from Little Red Scrapbook.  The paper is delicious for a little girl and was  very fun to work with -- it's Collage Press, Joyride Collection.  I decided to use pearls, ribbons, bling, but as far as I'm concerned, anything goes with these kits.  Each box is about 1.5" and so, anything that will fit on that size and allows for a label or number (as you may not want to create an Advent Calendar).  Make sure you plan your numbers appropriately as I ended up buying 3 packages of Thickers in order to do the numbers...a little expensive, but I just loved how they looked with the papers. 

After Samantha's project was complete, I moved on to our Advent Calendar and had some great fun with Webster's new line of paper and ribbon - Waiting for Santa.  I just loved it....so sweet.  Hope you enjoy it!

 Thank you for dropping by!  Please do leave comments!