{dec 1}

Happy December! For the past 2 years I have done December daily albums inspired by Ali Edwards. Well it's time to start another one! In previous years I have just taken pictures throughout the month and gathered supplies to make the album at a later date. Sadly I still need to journal in last years. :( So to help me along this year I have decided to try and do a post everyday about our advent activities. I will work on the album along the way too, but I will print all the pics at the end and just add them in. This way I will have the stories documented each day and compiling the album should be simple!

This morning the first thing Little Bit did was head to the advent calendar to pull out the first card. It said "open your new ornament and hang it on the tree".

Well she got 2 new ornaments... One is a Hello Kitty she saw at Target in the dollar section and loved. The other is Tinkerbell. I wanted to get her a Disney ornament as a memory of our trip to Disney this year.

She picked out the perfect spot for both of them on the tree!

Now she can't wait for tomorrow to see what the next card says... ;)

advent calendar...

I wanted to start an advent calendar with Little Bit last year but I just didn't get around to it. Since she has been more interested in the days and knowing when things are going to happen, I decided to get one ready for this year. Plus she is so excited about the holidays, I thought it would be a perfect way for her to countdown to Christmas...and do something fun everyday along the way.

This one was my inspiration and I took off from there. I started out with a placemat from the Dollar Tree. Then I cut 5 rows of felt 2 inches high by 11.5 inches or so....however long a standard piece of felt is! ;) I sewed them on, making pockets evenly spaced apart...about every 2 1/4 inches.

I found a felt bag with a tree on it in the dollar section at Target. It was just hot glued on, so I peeled it off and stitched it on the placemat. I then hand stitched on a few buttons to "spruce" it up. ;)

Next I attached some red rick rack to the top so I could have some way to hang it.

For the numbers, I just bought a pack of number stickers at Michaels and stuck them on the front of each pocket.

I wanted to have an activity or event that we could do together each day. So I used some scrapbook paper and cut little cards to fit in each pocket. Then I wrote something on the back of each one.

A few examples are....watch a Christmas parade, wrap gifts, make a gingerbread house, put together a Christmas puzzle, play Christmas music and dance to it, donate unused toys to goodwill, make cut out cookies, watch a Christmas movie with popcorn, paint our nails, read the Christmas story, etc...

Here she is all hung up and ready to go tomorrow! Little Bit can't wait to see what the first card says!!!

{shoebox} doll house

Little Bit just loves dolls and making little "houses" for them wherever she can find. So I decided to make her an actual "house" that she could play with her new little Christmas dolls in. {When I say new, I mean new to her....I bought them at Target on clearance last year and just got them out for her to play with!}

I started with a sturdy shoebox and some scrapbook paper.


I found some paper that looked like wallpaper and cut it to size. Then I used some white for the ceiling and some brown for the floor.


Next I made a window and some wall art! ;) I used some pictures of Little Bit with 2 of her aunts and a couple of decorative punches for the wall art.


Here it is all decked out with her dolls! I cut 2 little pieces of felt for blankets and she grabbed some pom poms for pillows. Then we turned a votive holder upside down for a table. Little Bit had the idea to put the lid on top for the roof....she is quite a creative girl! ;)

{title} page...

Here is the 1st page of my 2010 album. I always like to do a family picture and have the year on there somewhere....
I got this kit at Archivers! Love to get to that store whenever I can manage! ;)

Love how this ribbon flower turned out! The kit came with a giant glue dot {gluber} and I just pleated the ribbon all the way around the gluber to get this look. Then I added the button to the center.