Happy Thanksgiving! Let the Countdown to Christmas Begin!

 

Welcome to all of you, and Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!  I am so thankful for my husband, our son, our extended families, wonderful friends (including all of you!), for our comfortable home, delicious food on the table, and yes, I'm thankful for my beloved hobbies!  Thanksgiving Day gratitude extends from our home to yours!    

Today's project is a fun one that started with a few pieces of thin chipboard, the kind that comes as a backing for 12 x 12 card stock. Depending on how you want to use it, this could be either a calendar or a countdown.  I used several pieces of 12 x 12 card stock to cover a couple of 11.25 x 5 inch pieces of the chipboard, and then added a folding bottom to hold it all together.  

Here's what it looks like from the side.  

I chose a combination of designer papers that harmonize with the colors in our home, and for the most part they work well with the colors of the various decorative cards for each of the holidays.  I used Tim Holtz dies for both sizes of rectangles and for the numbers, and lots of Stamp Simply stamps for the colorful embellishments.  

There's a beautiful Fall leaf for Fall/Thanksgiving...  

...a traditional tree for Christmas Day...

...a patriotic star for the Fourth of July, and I'm only just getting started!  If you take a look through our stamp sets you'll find images and dies for celebrating most of the major holidays, birthdays, special occasions, each of the seasons and so much more.  It will be so much fun to personalize the assortment of cards for events that happen for each month of the year. 

I did not add the months to my calendar/countdown, but it would be easy to make an additional set of cards numbered 1 through 12, or to stamp, print or handwrite the names of the months to hang from one or more of the rings if you'd like to include them. 

One thing I also plan to do is to purchase smaller binder rings.  These large ones were in my stash so I am using them until I can find smaller ones.  So far I have not been able to find them locally, but I received word last night where I might find some, so I'll have more to say on that later maybe!  

Supplies:

• Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Countdown
• Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Collector
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - The American Eagle Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Give Thanks Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - O Christmas Tree Bundle
• Craft Consortium Beach Hut 6x6
• Craft Consortium Brick Textures 6x6 (4th of July bkg)
• Carta Bella Welcome Autumn 6x6 (Fall leaf bkg)
• Studio Light Sending Joy 6x6 (Christmas tree bkg)

Stamp Simply Store

When December arrives I'll be starting a couple of Advent daily spins (using spindles and wheels), and I'll be flipping the dates on my little calendar to help me keep track as I open each little package of surprise/mystery fluff!  On Christmas Day I'll start a 12 Days spin that will carry me through to Epiphany.

I love that quiet week between Christmas and New Year's and will enjoy the stillness of that post-holiday hush, but for now I'm looking forward to the hustle and bustle of the season!

Again, Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy the holiday season!  May you and yours be blessed!