Author: Sylvia

Back in October my 3 year old granddaughter asked me where the North Pole was, because she said that her mommy had sent a letter to Santa, telling him how good she was. My daughter had told her that at the North Pole all the presents were collected by Father Christmas and delivered to all the children.

I ordered the Beary Christmas DSP with this in mind, because I think the paper depicts what the North Pole would look like. I decided to make her a scene of the North Pole and how it would look with all the presents for the children.

I decided to make it 3D, I cut all the animals in forward and reverse images from the paper, I covered them in packing tape for stability, and then added some cotton wool to the insides then glued the little figures together.

• 

• 

• 

After stuffing the little animals, I sealed them up, with glue. I then inserted a piece of cocktail stick into the bottom part of the little animals and then I glued them into a bit of plastic sheeting that you get in packaging, they are ready to place in your scenery.

I needed to make a box to put the animals in, you will need Night of navy cardstock, or your choice of cardstock 1 x 12″ x 12″, you will also need another piece of cardstick measuring 4 1/2″ x 12″.

Score the 12″ x 12″ piece on three sides ONLY at 4″, on the 4 1/2″ x 12″ piece of cardstock score on the 4 1/2″ side at 4″, on the 12″ side score at 4″ and 8″.

Add glue to the tabs and match the score lines with the main 12″x12″ piece the stick together, fold and burnish on all sides.

Cut away the sections as shown, then cut along the score line at the top where the dashed line is.

To make the lid you will need a piece of cardstock measuring 6 1/8″ x 10 1/8″ scored at 1″ all the way around, trim the cardstock as shown.

Its time for decoration I added cotton wool to the box base and then glued the animals inside, I hope you decide to make one I loved making mine and seeing the smile on my granddaughters face was priceless.

• 

• 

• 

• 

After making an advent calendar for my grandchildren I made one for my husband, using Night Divine bundle and O Holy Night DSP.

I saw the tutorial online and thought that the design would be ideal for the Night Divine Suite. In each draw I put chocolate a candy cane and a scripture for everyday of December.

I love the fact that you can enjoy the scenery and on the reverse side you have the advent calendar. I hope you love it as much as I do. I will link the tutorial below. Enjoy

After the last few years, I wasn’t particularly excited about Christmas, but I thought by trying to do something crafty I might feel more in the mood.

My grandchildren wanted me to do an advent calendar for them, a hand made one, not shop bought.

The one that I made for my grandchildren uses the Merry Bold and Bright DSP, the, labels were punched out of DSP and the numbers were cut out of a retired, alphabet die set, using some of the More Dazzle DSP. I put a little chocolate for each day.
I know it maybe too late to make one now, I was just sharing, maybe you could make one for yourself next year. Here is the tutorial I used.

In celebration of Jamaica, Independence Day, I did a spread in my notebook to document, my grandfather and grandmother and my mother . My grandfather and grandmother are on the right side of the spread, and my mother, who is 91 now is on the left side of the spread.

My grandfather came to England in the 1950s. The early 50s I think around 1950 or 51 and he worked in Westminster in London as a toilet attendant where he would clean the toilets, and assist the public using the toilets. He lived in one bedroom in a shared house, and for the five years he was here in England, he sent for the majority of his children and then they dispersed throughout the UK and America. All in all that was about six of his 14 children that he sent for in that five-year period and set them up, and then he left and then went to Miami to work in the sugarcane fields for another five years, and then he returned to Jamaica , when I was 12 years old, my mum took me to Jamaica to meet my grandfather and my grandmother and my extended family living out there

When I met my grandfather, the first thing he did was take me to a field surrounding the house where I saw a little orange tree and with a wooden ladder next to the tree. My Grandfather said that was for me to climb up and pick an orange and he said to me that he didn’t have any money to give us or even have any expensive gifts to give us but he said each time a grandchild was born, he would plant a tree and as the tree grew, he would think of us and he planted a tree for every grandchild that was born. It wasn’t till I was a grown adult that I saw the significance of what he said and how much he meant to me that even though he didn’t see us on a daily basis, the connection with Trees was enough and was a comfort to him.

Journalling is a great way to document precious memories, or even just a daily journal to document about things that we do in our lives and it’s just nice to take your time and maybe put a picture or photo, in your journal then use your stamps and your inks to just bring those memories to life. I hope you enjoy looking at the spread and I hope to add some more soon . These are the supplies I used.

This is the second card that I will be teaching in my card class, hope you like it. Still using the Cheerful Daises bundle. The rest of class cards will follow this week .

I decided to do an in person card class for the first time for my small team, I wanted to showcase the Cheerful Daises Bundle, I love the stamps and dies and the DSP is beautiful.

I have made four cards for my class, and to get myself disciplined and get back to blogging . I will upload one card per day online, so I can get my groove back. The class will take place at the end of August. I hope you like them, if you would like to order any of the products, you can use my host code. Z37Z7BBC