Jax here, and in keeping pace with the department stores, it's the day before Halloween, and here I am to provide you with a little bit of Christmas inspiration.
Although I confess to occasionally cueing up the Christmas carols on my iPod in July (c'mon, how much of a waste is it to have all those songs reserved for a measly month each year?), my husband Evan has a strict rule that the Christmas season does not start in our house until December 1st. I did manage to sneak this little project by, though, on the argument that it needed to be ready for December 1st. Now I'm back on the strict no-Christmas until it's Christmas plan.
I picked up this Kaisercraft Advent Calendar last December, but it got lost in a sea of Christmas cards and tags, and lay neglected amongst my scrappy stuff for the next 10 months. My 6 year old is very into calendars (and candy!), so it wasn't an option not to complete this project before December 1st this year. So off to the Flying Unicorn store I went and stocked up on Graphic 45 Christmas papers and away I went.
I wanted a vintage look for my calendar to go with the gorgeous vintage prints of the Graphic 45 Christmas Past and Christmas Emporium papers. I started by appyling a basecoat of brown acrylic paint, and when that was dry applied a coat of Folk Art Crackle Medium, followed by vintage white acrylic paint. Look at that fantastic crackle!
I decorated each of the boxes with G45 Christmas Past papers and postage stamps I cut from the 8X8 paper pad, then embossed the dates with the scrumptious Stampendous Aged Embossing Powder in Ivory I love how much dimension those gold flecks add.
I trimmed the top with Petaloo Magnolia and Berries Vines and Sprays, Maya Road gold mesh and handmade poinsettias made with the Spellbinders Layered Poinsettia dies.
I used G45 paper from Christmas Past, sprayed with Dylusions in Postbox Red to give the poinsettias a deeper red, and trimmed the edges of each petal with Stampendous Aged Embossing Enamel in Scarlet.
I hope you'll forgive me for the early Christmas post, and I hope to see some of your Christmas creations as the holidays grow closer.