Make & Take: Advent Calendar/Holiday Journal
By Erica Hernandez
|
OK guys, don't let the photo of the supplies freak you out...all you really need is a small album, the journal pages, some business sized envelopes and then whatever bits and pieces and scraps you have around that you want to put to use! The chocolate is a necessity though...did you KNOW they had cherry filled hershey kisses??
I always *want* to do an advent calendar for the boys. And I always *want* to do some type of journal over the holiday season. I never do though (because I'm lazy :D) Now, I have no excuses. And it really didn't take that long. This is a twist on your typical advent calendar...a journal with an ornament for each day of your Christmas countdown. Ready?
OK, first off, decorate your cover. I love the American Crafts albums just plain - all my layouts are in them. For this one though, I just added a handcut title, a couple of poinsettias and a sprinkling of green and red stars from the KI color lab set. To create the title, use Word or your photo editing program to format the title font and size. Change to an outline and print backwards on a sheet of plain white paper (you can print directly onto the back of the paper you are using for the title as well but I've simply got in the habit of using plain white paper as it runs through my printer better and makes it easier to follow the lines if you are cutting from a dark or heavily patterned paper.) Once I print, I just use a glue stick (fancy, huh?) to stick the template to the back of the red cardstock. When you're cutting out your title, cut out the insides of the letters first, then the outside curves and finally the straight edges. (image 2) I know Shannon Montez has a great tutorial for handcutting in a past garden if you'd like more instruction! For the stars, I used small glue dots to adhere and for the Poinsettias, I poked a couple of holes through the cover with a small piercing tool and attached the flowers with brads. (image 3)
Next up, the inside journal pages. I created a simple lined design with the numbers 1-25 down the right edge. If you'd lke to use the same template, I've made the jpeg available for download here. To personalize it a bit more, I used the Glitter Greetings digital kit to add different words to the bottom right corner of each page. Print 13 times on white cardstock, cut following the lightly printed guidelines, and punch holes using the page protectors included with the album as a guide. I used fabric hole reinforcers as well to strengthen up the pages (especially with the weight of the ornaments we'll be adding later.) Next, cut 13 business sized envelopes in half and attach to the back of the journal pages. I just used plain old tape and spaced them out randomly on the page backs so the ornaments would be distributed across the album. (image 4)
OK, so our album is all put together. Now the fun part. Make 25 ornaments. It might sound time consuming but NONE of the ornaments I did took more than 5 minutes - most took 2 or 3. I did all of them in about an hour. I think if my kids were a bit older, I'd just stick the makings of an ornament in the album for each day and have my kids actually put the ornaments together each day of the countdown! I've included some group shots of the ornaments I did just to give you an idea how easy these are. I made them quick and easy since the plan is for these to go on the small tree I'm using specifically for the boys.
(image 5) These are just ornaments for each of our initials. To make them, I used the Gin X open chipboard circles. I covered them with the KI Christmas paper and backed them with a transparency. Stick the initial onto the transparency in the middle of the circle and tie on a ribbon. SO simple.
(image 6) I'll just go clockwise on these starting from the top left. The two photo ornaments are Scenic Route chipboard frames back with a photo. I just punched a small hole in the corner and threaded twine through to hang! The family ornament is an MM tin frame backed with chipboard. A ribbon and small jeweled brad finished it off. Zack's fame is an MM sheer frame attached to KI paper and tied off with a ribbon. The chipboard circles are finished off with BasicGrey rub-ons and MM jeweled brads (so easy and I love how they turned out!) The small epoxy ornaments are each made with two Foofala epoxies stuck together. Punch a hole, add twine and you're done! The rectangular chipboard piece has an SEI iron-on and KI ribbon. Finally, the wreath - Gin X chipboard circle and AC felt flowers attached with brads.
(image 7) The EASIEST set of all. I took the KI chipboard holiday shapes. I punched a hole. I threaded through ribbon/used a brad to attach ribbon. Done.
Drop one ornament into each of the envelopes in your journal and call it a day. (Image 8) Use the numbers down the right edge to indicate the day of the countdown - circle the number, cross it out, or notch the page as I've done (image 9.) My plan for my journal is to record our daily activities...events we attend, gifts we purchase, family recipes that we make, movies we watch, songs we listen to. I plan on storing receipts in the envelopes once the ornaments are removed. This won't be a problem as I never start shopping before December (back to that lazy/procrastinator thing :p)
One more thing that I did. My kids are little; this journal isn't really going to mean much to them other than getting to hang the ornament on their tree each day. So, as a visual cue to the actual "countdown," I made a simple paper chain comprised on 25 links. On the back of each link, I wrote an activity for the day. (Image 10) Reminders to mail cards and packages...deadlines for online shopping and wrapping...family activities like watching holiday movies, baking and going to the donation center. You don't have to stick hard and fast to the prompts but it's just a way to infuse a little of the holiday spirit into each day. The boys are already excited about it - I should have hid it until the first :) (Image 11) I'll stick each link into the envelope for the corresponding day as we remove them.
So go! Do it! Have fun :)
|
