Stamps Ahead

Okay, so I got motivated to do a few layouts recently, here is one of them.  I recently received mail from New York via FedEx and I excitedly followed its route to Australia.  This layout was fun to put together, lots of primary colour to play with.  I have distressed my papers with mist, the arrows were from punch and then I used the negative space to use on the background paper.   Washi tape and some word bubble dies complete the look.   I hope you enjoy looking at this layout. Now to get back to finishing the other layouts I have started.  Catch you soon, Margaret

The final part of making my sister's advent calender was to complete a layout for my records.  I have used some of the paper and embellishments that I used to create her advent calender.  Of course, she has not yet opened all the envelopes but she is liking all the little gifts and especially the sayings I have put in each day. I have printed out the sayings and put into the bag on my layout.

Making these mini calenders with the offcuts of paper not used on recently made Advent Calender. Making them as an alternative Christmas card for friends. The calender blocks are 'wonky' as that is how them came from manufacturer - doesn't worry me at all.  Not long now until 2014.

Advent Calendar 2013 for my sister This is an advent calender I have made this week for my sister - I am delivering it today to her home and it is a surprise for her. I have made each day from Stampin'Up! (r) Designer Series paper or used their Tag a Bag Gift Bags. The envelopes are made using Envelope Punch Board (of course, with the exception of the Sour Cream container for Day 9).  I have used a variety of embellishments (some not SU) to decorate each day. I did not have numbers that I liked so I searched the internet and found this free download of numbers which just matched the paper perfectly. Each day has a little gift inside (I spent no more than $3 on each gift and the hunt was on to find small items that I knew would mean something to her) and a Christmas saying I sourced from the Internet.  One bag has chocolate - I was very restrained - wasn't I !!! Here is a close up of several of the bags and they will go in a box I got from a discount store - wall space ...

Many years ago - too many years ago to mention here - I attended my first patchwork class and the first block that I made was Grandmothers Flower Garden.  The pattern was used by Persian and Indian quilters for centuries before the Crusaders took it by to Europe - now I don't go back as far as the Crusades just in case you were wondering!! I became enthralled with patchwork after this first lesson and many years later I became a patchwork teacher and the first block I would teach, of course, was Grandmothers Flower Garden. Students would start off by creating their own hexagons with a compass.  Years later there became available templates you could buy already in the shape of hexagons. Example of a quilt using hexagons.  You can just imagine Grandmother walking  the green path around the flower beds or maybe my maternal grandmother walking the strawberry patch eating the strawberries on her way around the garden. http://www.patternsfromhistory.com/colonial_reviv...