Doodlebug Advent Calendar

Merry Almost-Christmas!!!  I'm so excited!!!

It's finally been snowing here more, and though it's not enough yet to go sledding, it's still enough to get you excited for a white Christmas.  It's freezing, though.  Wouldn't it be cool if it could be 70 degrees and snowy?  

I've been wanting to make this Advent Calendar since I got my Silhouette for Christmas last year.  This was last year's advent calendar sold by Silhouette, and it's great because the boxes are big enough for decent size treats (for those of us with a sweet tooth) or even little gifts.  I made the boxes with white paper because I didn't want to use up all my cute patterned paper where you wouldn't see it, but then I covered the fronts with patterned paper and punched the tab with a 3/4" circle punch.

Even if you can't get one of these Silhouette advent calendars, there are lots of different companies that sell ready-to-embellish advent calendars of all shapes and sizes, some that look a lot like this one.  Just pick one up and then pick up the North Pole collection from Doodlebug, lots of letter stickers, twine, pearls, jewels, and go to town!

I guess this is a lesson in embellishment.  When embellishing something like this I like to stick to a color palette of 3-4 main colors.  That way it won't look more busy than it already will :)  In this case: red, green, white, and grey.

Then just think of ways to add interest by adding the following:
Twine
Jewels
Pearls
Buttons
Brads
Glitter
Stickers
Die Cuts
Number and/or letter stickers
and my favorite thing in the world:  Dimensional foam adhesive

Just make sure you're spreading out your colors evenly, and add texture with crushed velvet number stickers and twine, dimension with dimensional adhesives, and voila!

An advent calendar your kids will go nuts over!

-Tiffany

Closing one door and opening another... Doodlebug Design Team announcement and final Imaginisce Design Team projects

Lots of sick kids around here lately. I don't understand why the happiest time of the year also has to be the time when the kids pass their illnesses back and forth and are hacking and coughing constantly.  One of these years I'd love a Christmas with no coughs, sneezes, runny noses, fevers....just happy healthy little kids.

Onto some brighter news....

Doodlebug announced it's 2013 Design Team yesterday and I'm thrilled to say that they've invited me back for another year of colorful happy crafting fun!  I'm so so so excited!  They're such a great company to design for.

Here's the new Doodlebug Design Team family.  I can't wait to get to know everyone.

Amanda Coleman  Idaho

Blog: http://popperandmimi.blogspot.com 

Amy Chappell Utah – Sewing Specialist

Blog: www.amerooniedesigns.blogspot.com

Jodi Wilton  Canada

Blog: http://luvalotland.blogspot.ca/

Kathy Martin North Carolina – Card Specialist

Blog: http://www.card-blanc.blogspot.com

Melinda Spinks  Australia

Blog: www.thescrapfarm.blogspot.com

Monique Liedtke   Netherlands

Blog: http://moniquesscrapbook.blogspot.com

Sherry Cartwright  Texas

Blog: www.itsawondramouslife.blogspot.com

Shellye McDaniel  Texas

Blog: www.thepaperedcottage.blogspot.com

Stephanie Buice   Alabama 

Blog: http://mybitsofsunshine.blogspot.com

Tamara Tripodi California

Blog: www.happylifecraftywife.blogspot.com

Tiffany Hood Utah- That's ME! :)

Blog: http://www.rhinestonesandribbon.blogspot.com

Tya Smith Utah

Blog: www.simplytya.blogspot.com

Wendy Sue Anderson  Utah

Blog: www.wendysueanderson.blogspot.com

Also today my last Imaginisce Design Team projects are up on their blog.

Imaginisce is also a wonderful company full of great people.  Cari has been a fantastic coordinator, and it's been a great year.  I decided not to reapply to this team, just thought I'd try some new things this year, but I wish them all the best and I'm excited to see who their new team will be.

They'll be announcing their new Design Team on the blog TOMORROW- so stop by.

They'll have lots of fun with the new collections.  I got to play with them recently to help make projects for CHA and their catalog and they've definitely got some cuteness coming out.

We were asked to create Christmas cards.  I think Imaginisce's die cuts make cards to easy.
This cute ribbon is from May Arts.  They've been providing the designers with ribbon all year long.
I have so much I literally don't know what to do with it all (not that I'm complaining ;)

Santa here is a chipboard sticker.  I popped up everything with dimensional foam adhesive (like I always do, right?) and the card bases are ones I've had in my stash for a few years from DCWV.

It's kinda sad to think that the year with the team will be over soon, but when you get a feeling that you need to try something new, you go with it, right?  Who knows what's around the corner.

I feel so fortunate to have been able to design for all the companies that I've applied for and I can't wait to dive in and get started with more crafty cuteness in 2013, and a big thanks to you all for visiting my blog and for your nice comments.

See the new Imaginisce Design Team announcement TOMORROW on the Imaginisce blog HERE.

Tiffany

Pebbles "Look Who's 2" Layout

Here's one of the layouts I created for my Pebbles Design Team application.  I'm in love with it.

Not only is this collection adorable, but my daughter's pretty darn cute, too! :)

I love the bright happy letter stickers and the felt embellishments, and the pinwheels! Swoon.

This layout features the Hip Hip Hooray! collection by Pebbles as well as some older felt stickers and twine from the New Additions collection.  I also did a ton of machine stitching to add texture.

My altered item I submitted for the design team will be published in March in a Mini Album magazine for Northridge Publishing, so I can't show you that, but I'll show you my other layout and my card soon.

-Tiffany

Pebbles "Whip It Up Wednesday" Quick Super Easy Cards

Pebbles "Whip It Up Wednesday" is all about creating quick cute projects.

I can't think of anything faster than these cute little love notes.

What's even better is that they only use the 6x6 Seen & Noted paper pad, and the Seen & Noted Accent and Phrase Cards, some cardstock for the card base, and some twine.  You could whip up lots of these in no time at all.

I simply popped the cards out from the pack, wrapped them with twine, and then adhered them to the front of the card using dimensional foam adhesive.  Easy peasy!!

See more cuteness on over at the Pebbles Blog.

Tiffany

Pebbles Thank You Cards and Imaginisce Iron-On Motifs

Are you wondering where I've been? ;)

I've been on a long Thanksgiving vacation-of-sorts.

We had Thanksgiving at our home this year for the first time ever.  Ever.

It was a lot of work but totally worth it and wonderful.  I'd do it again.

After that, we've been enjoying time together as a family, and I've had quite the break from DT assignments. It just happened that nothing was due for a while.

But now back to work.

Here are the two assignments that were posted for Pebbles and Imaginisce while I was gone.

Pebbles had us create projects with "Gratitude" as the theme.

I thought it was a good opportunity to create more Thank You cards, as I never seem to have enough of them.  I used the Walnut Grove collection, and I'm seriously beginning to run out of it since I've used it so much.  It's such a beautiful and versatile collection.

And here's one of my very last projects for the Imaginisce Design Team.

Applications are all in and they're choosing their new Design Team soon.  I've decided not to continue on with Imaginisce next year, but the company and the people and the coordinator, Cari, have been fantastic to work with.  They're such a great company.

I have been playing with next year's collections, though.  I was asked once again to create projects for their Winter catalog and for Winter CHA. 

Wish I could show you my projects, but they're under wraps for now. :)

I'll show you after CHA is over, after the new stuff's been revealed.

For this project we were asked to create something using their Iron-On Motifs.  This studded design is a pre-made Motif you iron on using their Mini Iron.  The paper is from the new Love You More collection, which is available now.  It's my favorite collection to date (though two of the new collections coming out might fight for that title :)

Can't wait to get back into the swing of things and start creating more fun projects.

I've got more Pebbles and Doodlebug coming up soon.

-Tiffany