{Advent Family Activity Calendar Tree}

One of the blogs that I go to daily is Christmas With The Cricut .....they have amazing ideas over there....every day. 
One of them that I took and made my own is this advent calendar tree by Tammy...The tutorial on how to make the sour cream containers is here.  I can't remember if she goes more into detail on there or on her personal blog.  :-)

Here's my take on it!

I have one of those stacks of paper that has just Christmas papers in it.....it came in really handy this year when I finally decided to do a bunch of Christmas projects lol  I took an assortment of blues because that is what my house is done in.....any colors that you like would work well.

I decided to use dark blue and white for that tags....once again because I like blues and whites....also because I like snowflakes and I knew already that I wanted to use my snowflakes cuttlebug folder.  :-)  Tammy had used her Gypsy to make tags that had double numbers on them, but I don't have a Gypsy and I didn't have Design Studio at the time either (I'm going to try and make some for next year like that hehe) I also didn't have the same cart that she used for the letters......but if you look, most of the carts have letters, and I'm sure you can find something that would work.  :-)

First we decided that we were going to do family activites instead of candies.....for a couple reasons really.....(1) it's really hard to get four peices of candy into these cute sour cream containers lol  and (2) it would be pretty expensive to put four peices of candy into every one of these sour cream containers.  :-)  Besides, we really like the idea of teaching the boys that Christmas isn't just about candy and getting things.....it's about giving and doing things for family and doing things together as a family.  :-)

So yah!  I made a list of all the things that we wanted to do in the month of December....of course some were doubled, and some were really simple because we can't do something amazing and time consuming VERY SINGLE day.....I'm just not up for that lol  We did things like bake cookies, listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies, go on a walk around the neighborhood and look at Christmas lights....whatever works for your family.....and if you like the candy idea...by all means.....put candy in them!  :-D  That's always fun too!  :-D  Then I printed up a calendar for December of Calendar Creator (LOVE that program) and filled in all the dates since I was going to have to cordinate the numbers and the dates.....which also if you don't want to have to pay attention to this I would suggest the candy too.  I did candy for my Dad and sisters in Spokane and it was much faster because I didn't have to pay attention to this. lol 

For the tags I took the Base Camp cart becase I liked the stamp feature that it had and that I could cut the numbers out in the retangle feature also......and I figured out how many blue and how many white 'stamps' I needed and began cutting away.  Then I wrote down all the numbers and figured out how many of each white and blue I needed....and paid really close attention to the double numbers here......and cute away with those.  Then I got out my CuttleBug and my Snowflakes and Textile embossing folders.....I embossed the white withe the Snowflakes and the blue with the Textile.  I wish I had thought to take pictures of these....I'll get better at this I promise.....they were so pretty.  :-)  And then I glued them all together and punched a hole in the corner with my crop-a-dile from stampin up and tied a light blue ribbon through it to tie to the tree.  I got the tree at Dollar Tree for like $2....it was perfect for what I was using it for.....someday I'll get a nicer version for it, but it works for now.  :-) 

*I forgot to take pics of the other two that I did.  I made one if bright greens and cherry reds for my sisters and Dad that live in Spokane...it was mainly for Kara, but I hope they enjoyed it too.  :-)
And I also made one for my niece and nephew in California in dark red and cream colors because that's what my sister likes.  :-)

{Christmas Present for Tante}

Just to be on the safe side......Tante is you are for some reason reading this.....DON'T!!!

I don't really think that my Tante reads this blog......so I'm pretty sure that she won't see this before I

 give it to her for Christmas......but if for some reason you are reading this.........please don't scroll down and see your gift before I'm able to give it to you!  :-P

For all of yous others that would like to see what I have been up to.....I finally finished one of my Christmas projects and got a Christmas present done!  Yay Me!  :-D

Man!  It has been stressful for me!  I'm hoping that I have been able to clear my head enough and with enough time to get enough done before Christmas!!!  :-D

Well here it is!  I hope ya'll like it!  I know that it's not the greatest picture....a lot of times it's a hit or miss with me and my pictures!  lol  This one was taken with my phone again!  lol

Wish me LUCK!

I also have the church Christmas Program that I am playing a flute part in that I need to be practing for!!!  AAHHH!!!

*Edit to post:  I ended up finding an idea that I will post about for my Tante that I liked better and I gave this to My Seeter for Christmas!  And she LOVED IT!  :-D

{White Pumkpins}

Mr T & I were at Jo-Ann's looking at their scrapbook papers that they had one sale.  I didn't end up getting any.....sad....I know......but Mr T saw these......and I don't know if it's cuz I"ve been talking about wanting some white pumkpins or what really.....but they were 50% off so I got two of them.  And this is what I end up doing with them.  :-)  I know, I know it's hard to see really.....but this is the best pic I could get with my phone.....and they are in front of the tv lol  I took a sundae dish actually lol and turned it upside down and it was the perfect fit for the pumpkin and then I turned my huricanes upside down too and covered them!  They look so cute!  It kinda looks like the pumpkins are floating there!  lol  AND amazingly the kids don't really touch them!  Yay me!  :-D

{TV Cabinet}

When we PCSed back to WA the old table that we've used to put our tv on got a little 'man handled'. I was pretty disapointed since it was something that has been passed down through my family.....I'm pretty sure it was made by someone in my family. Very sad. I'm still able to
use it.....It's in my craft room now......but just not strong enough to hold a large tv anymore. So.....off on my mission I went to find something for us to put our tv on.....and I'll tell you I looked for a LONG time for something used to be able to use.....I was even willing to alter something....but at the same time I wasn't willing to spend $300 on something only to alter it. I had VERY specific things I wanted out of this piece of furniture........I actually ended up buying a new piece of furniture.....I know right!......that does not sound like me! Well it had glass doors on it.....and this IS what I thought would work for us.....but the PS3 that Hubby got for Christmas was a LOT hotter than I had thought it would be.....so we had to keep the doors open anytime it was on.....and because the doors had to be open so often they got loose and worn and the two on that side ended up coming off......SO after all that I had been thinking that I would take the glass off the doors and put pretty fabric in it's place! I've always got to talk Hubby into projects that I do like this. I have such a hard time describing the pictures that I see in my mind to him. lol
So this isn't the best picture....especially since Hubby needs to help me put the doors back on lol but it'll do for now. :-) And I'll see what I can do about digging up a 'before' pic.....I was just too excited to take a before pic lol I do tend to do that. Whenever I get in the mood to actually DO a project and the kids are letting me do it......I tend to just jump in there and DO it. lol

It's SOOOO pretty!!! :-D This is actually my FAVORITE fabric. :-D It's from the Shabby Chic line from Target. It was a table cloth that I had gotten years ago, but I hardly ever use it.....I hardly ever get to use table clothes......they just get dirty too quickly lol.....so I put it to good use where I get to see it every day. :-D

{Chore Charts}

These are the weekly chore charts that I made for the boys. They hung underneath our "Geiger Manor" board in our old house.....they have changed some now in this house....I will update a pic of how we do it here. :-) It is of course very similar.

I took a 12x12 peice of pattern paper...it's actually more of a texture look of a solid color. The colors I choose were actually the boys' favorite colors at the time. lol The shade I choose had more to do with what I had on hand. But still their color choice. :-) I took a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock that matched and used a coluzzle to trace the letters for each of their names on the top. I made a table on the computer that fit what I wanted for their chores. I do these weekly for them. I am able to write down the chores they are responsible and put a sticker or star for when they complete them. This seems to work well for our family.

{Geiger Manor}

This is our schedule & house rules. I put down two 12x12 pieces of pattern paper on a piece of poster board. On the left is our House Rules I typed them on the computer and printed them out then cut them with mini victorian decorative siccors, I think, by Provo Craft. I marked each one with a heart cut out on the cricut with the Stamped cartridge. I used Calandar Creator to make a schedule. It's a very 'open' schedule that has stuff like: Get up, Go to School, Snack, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Homework, Pick up, Bed Time. I find that this works best for me. I marked our meal times with a star also from the Stamped cartridge. On the top the title, which is what I call our home....Geiger Manor....I cut out using the Jasmine cricut cartridge. I also put our names on it....My husband and I one the left side, and our children's names on the right...We were even talking about a fourth at the time so I left a spot so that I could fit it right in. :-)

{Menu board}

At one of my trips to Jo-Anns (I was getting textile medium for the tshirts I made) I found a really cool material....it's peel and stick chalk board, it comes in green, black...AND BLUE!!! I was SO excited to see this is blue. lol And I knew EXACTLY what I could do with it! :-) I have this frame that use to have a mirror in it, but the mirror broke years ago....and my brother made it into a bulletin board for me when he was visiting me when I had Mr T...and he did a great job. BUT I've fallen in love with spray paint....lol....andI knew what I could do with this now. :-) Here is the before picture........

Before:

So before I get to my after picture I'll tell ya what I did. :-) I took apart the bulletin that my brother made for me....and I spray painted the frame part (this was my first spray paint job...I don't know why but spray paint has always intimidated me....but not anymore! lol) Then I took the peel and stick and put it on the piece of cardboard that my brother had already used for the bulletin board...it didn't quite cover the whole area, but I had some cardstock that was a real close match that I covered the area at the very top with...and you can hardly even tell. :-) I then took some wide ribbon from my stash and wrapped it around the frame and tied it. I put the backing back on and screwed the frame back together...then I took the ribbon and nailed it into the top of the door, wrapped it back down and tied a pretty bow. Now the boys don't have to ask what we're having for dinner! lol They can read it! :-) It's hanging on my pantry door in my kitchen.....doesn't it look pretty next to my pretty apron that my mommy got me? :-) I love it! :-D

After: