Advent Calendar Extravaganza with Taheerah Atchia

   

Advent Calendar Extravaganza is -the- festive event of the season! This ‘hop with a twist’ was dreamed up by Taheerah Atchia and features surprise destinations each day! Joining in the fun with Taheerah are ONE HUNDRED special guests - each serving up some fantastic Christmas inspiration! Just like an Advent Calendar, you’ll never know where you’re going to be visiting next until you ‘open the door’!

And that’s not all! With 25 *amazing* sponsors taking part as guests as well, your crafty wish list is bound to get a boost with a chance to win a prize EVERY SINGLE DAY!!

Join in the fun every day at taheerah-atchia.com to see what special surprises await behind the door!

 

   

 This card was created for a specific purpose, as you'll see a bit later. I loaded up my watercolor brush with some green ink and, starting at the top of a piece of scrap paper, swiped it back and forth until I ran out of color. Then I loaded up my brush with some pink ink and did the same starting at the bottom, until the two colors met in the middle. Once the paper was dry, I stamped Winnie & Walter's house from This Awesome House on top and cut around the image. 
   

 
The banner is from the same set, embossed in white on charcoal paper. I added the shading lines with a white gel pen and then embossed the sentiment from the new Sentimental: Winter set. Love how it fits in the banner! I still thought it looked a little plain on top so I added the Merry die from In a Word: Merry Cutaway to pick up the pink on the bottom of the house AND the pink on the inside of the card. 

So, why did I make this particular card?

Well, the house stamp is the perfect image to go with the village of chipboard Christmas houses I created for our nieces and nephews in Texas.

 
They are made with a thick doll house die from the now-out-of-business Top Dog Dies. I thought they would be cute sitting underneath the Christmas tree, on the mantel, or even in bookcase.



Going through my Christmas paper "collection" was so fun to find patterned papers for all the different parts of the house. I tried not to repeat any papers across the group of houses. Sometimes I'd alter a patterned paper by coloring it with a copic marker, like the shutters here which were originally the white and red zig-zag paper on this next house:



The roof of each house has a grouping of die cut berries, pine branches, and sometimes a strip of this cute snowflake trim.


 
This roof is covered with layers of scalloped lace to mimic the look of shingles.


  
 This roof has a bit of snow that's collected on top. Love the peppermint chimney (because who doesn't want one of those?!)


 
Each house is personalized with their first initial on the door. This door also has a crystal doorknob.
  

 
I covered the back with another patterned paper and added a chipboard stand covered in paper. The stand, conveniently enough, is the perfect spot for a greeting! For those detail oriented folks, you may notice that this was LAST year's present.
 

 

All the different backs.

  

 
Here they all are, wrapped up with an initial on each tag. If you're sending presents to far away family or friends this year don't forget decorating the box itself! These boxes were quick to pretty up with the w&w Winter Woodland set. Might as well make a good first impression : )

It’s not a party without a prize - and with prizes every day there are several chances to win! Today’s prize is generously supplied by Winnie & Walter so you’ll definitely want to win! Simply leave a comment on this post - then head back to taheerah-atchia.com and leave a comment there too! You must leave a comment on Taheerah’s blog as well as mine in order to be eligible to win! Don’t forget to grab the other surprise destinations from Taheerah’s blog and head over to them to leave comments there as well to improve your odds even more! You have until 23:59 EST on 31st December 2016 to enter.

Don’t forget Advent Calendar Extravaganza runs from 1st-25th December inclusive so make sure you visit taheerah-atchia.com every day for fabulous inspiration and amazing prizes every single time! Merry Christmas!

Thanks for looking!
-Kelly