HOW long until Christmas???

...Well, if you make this lil' cutie, you'll know EXACTLY how many days until the Big Man in Red comes down the chimney...

Voila! The Lil' Cutie Advent Book, AKA

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN PROJECT #4!!!

What you will need:
*A mini (wallet-sized) magnetic closure photo album (I got mine at TCSTSNBN for $1).

*Two sheets of holiday-themed patterned paper (I used Cosmo Cricket)

*One sheet of punch-out cardstock elements (again, Cosmo Cricket)

*One sheet of rub-ons

*Number stickers (I used Heidi Swapp metallic chipboard letters)

*Ribbon scraps

*Adhesive (I used my Cheetah from Xyron with permanent adhesive. For the smaller areas, I used a regular tape runner or the Xyron sticker maker).

*Trimmer

*Stapler

1. Measure your little book OPEN. Make note of the measurements. (When measuring for a project, I always write the numbers down. I have no head for numbers. This may beg the question why on earth I chose to work in finance upon leaving grad school, for which I have no good answer other than it seemed like a good idea at the time. I suffered through 365 days on Governor William Weld's budget staff, servicing the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Then I quit and moved back to California. Please note that the Bay State's fiscal situation got WORSE upon my departure, making me wonder if I actually know more about numbers than I give myself credit for. Hmmm. Something to ponder the next time I'm stuck in an elevator with no reading material).

2. Cut a piece of your choice of patterned paper about a half-inch larger all the way around.

3. Miter the corners on each end. (At CHA, one of the Make-and-Take ladies asked the assembled class of store owners to miter the corners on their altered book project. They all looked at her with blank expressions. When she explained what she meant, they acted like she had just asked them to remove their own brains with a runcible spoon.)

4. Cut a small slot in the paper at the end with the magnetic flap. Adhere.

5. For the magnetic flap closure, measure and cut a small piece of patterned paper just long enough to cover the flap. If you are anal, you can trim and round the ends. Adhere.

6. Cut two pieces of coordinating cardstock or patterned paper to fit in the front and back covers. Adhere.

7. Do a little test run. Close the book up and make sure the magnet holds through the cardstock. If it doesn't, I'm not sure what to tell you. So just cross your fingers and hope that it works. At this point you may decide to add a couple of staples to hold the cardstock on the tab. I did.

8. Take your leftover patterned paper and your sheet of punch-outs, and create 24 tags or small squares of paper that will fit in the holders on each page. Also punch out the file labels and anything else that looks like it may be useful. This is a great way to use up a bunch of old leftover cardstock and patterned paper from Christmases past.

9. Pile everything up and take a picture, just for fun.

10. Using the file labels, stickers, tabs, and rub-on numbers, label each page appropriately. You can do the count-down thing (starting with 24 and working backwards) or the count-up. I did the count-up so the page will correspond to the day of the month (one less thing for me to think about).

11. On each of the little tags or squares of paper, write a Christmas-related activity. Some of our family's favorite traditions: Go to the Christmas parade. Put up the lights. Take Christmas cookies to the fire station. Go caroling. Read "The Night Before Christmas." Mail letters to Santa. Do a good deed. Watch "Jingle All the Way" (my favorite Christmas movie of all time). Visit Santa. Buy Mom a bottle of Jack Daniels (just kidding).

12. Insert the tags in their proper spots. Close the book and put the "24" numbers on the cover.

13. Finish by embellishing the cover with other little items like rhinestones (of course!), etc.

Variations: This would also be a terrific "12 Days of Christmas" book for a special someone with giftcards on each of 12 days (or 24 days, if you are really generous. And if you are, I will gladly be your best friend). This would also make a great keepsake album for future years if you developed 24 wallet-sized photos of the year's Christmas season. Fun!

Comments

[Shannon]

AHHHHHH!!! Could you be any cuter???

[melita]

This is fabulous Lain!! SOOO CUTE!!!

[Emy]

"Buy Mom a bottle of Jack Daniels (just kidding)."

Is it wrong that I read that and thought "she'd better be kidding, because a good single-malt scotch would be so much better!" ;)

[moki]

ack! This one is my favorite so far! Who knew a mini album project could make my heart swoon!

[Etta]

Wait a minute! I thought I was your best friend? You mean I have to buy you TWELVE gift cards? :)

[Sue in Grapevine]

TCSTSNBN = ???
I'm thinking it means Michael's & that the 1st 3 letters = "the chain store"

Extremely cute project, by the way.

[Mary c]

First of all, I am adding 'Buy Mary a bottle of Tobin James Made in the Shade' which if you haven't had any, you are missing out. Google it and get yourself some.
This is absolutely ADORABLE.
???? Do you adhere your paper to the book when CLOSED? You said measure open but when I adhere the paper to a book that is OPEN, it STAYS OPEN. It took me a good 5 or 6 projects to realize why this was happening. Okay, I am a slow learner. Just wondering if you have some handy technique that works better.

[Nicole]

Just when I think you can't get any cuter! I must make this! I'll be haunting the stores looking for a cute magnetic album.

[Christel]

Way to cute!! Another one I have to do. But instead of Jack Daniels or a single malt whiskey, let's make it interesting, I will take a bottle of Goldschlager please. If I am gonna get drunk I wanna do it with style!!!!

[Becky]

Another fantastic christmas project! I have loved all of the projects so far, especially the small photo album transformed into a coupon keeper - the Christmas Project #7. I have tried to find it again to get the details but it seems to have disappeared. Where did it go? Looking forward to your remaining creations. Thanks!

[Kelly Jo]

Lain~ This is adorable! Another fun project with perfect instructions!