Sunday, December 02, 2007

December 2: Advent Calendar

I used simple #5 shipping tags for the days and pressed on restaurant menu board numerals we have in abundance from our ten years as restaurant owners. I like the clean graphic look of these tags.

Next. I duct taped two insulation boards (15 by 48) together down the long center. The puppy got interested in the project at this point and things got a bit "difficult". I had a long dress made of this beige linen (which now looks quite grey) so I cut the back panel off and layered it with poly batting and stapled it all on, pulling tight so there wouldn't be any bagging or sagging. Then I used yellow head quilting pins (JoAnn's) to attach the tags to the board.

The idea here is to add an ornament each day. One I find in my house that I want to use or a new one that I make (I added glitter snow to a pine cone Riley and I found yesterday on our morning walk). It's possible that I will even buy an ornament for this calendar.

The little bell is an ornament I made 30 plus years ago with a neighbor. I found it in the bottom of the desk drawer last night. I have the extra beads and instructions in a worn brown paper bag that I have carried from house to house all these years. I told my husband that I will probably take it to the nursing home with me. Still pondering on those instructions. Which are not quite all there.

My daily horoscope is again right on the money.

Take another look at the big problems that you think are blocking your path toward progress, and you will see that they are actually just minor setbacks. Rather than keep you from moving forward, they are merely forcing you to devise a new way to navigate around them. They're doing you a favor -- they're reminding you that you need to utilize your creativity a lot more often when you are dealing with problems. There are multiple ways to solve any issue, so why don't you find a unique one?

I felt wonderful making the Pottery Barn calendar. It was good to be doing something. And it changed the emotional texture of the rest of the day. Today my task is a monochromatic collage from the "creative advent calendar" my daughter put together for me. Each little daily envelope has a creative suggestion inside for something to do that day. This is a very good thing. Would be a good product to sell.

2 comments:

Samantha said...

The numbers DO look good. I had something completely dif in my head and wasn't expecting how it turned out. I've got the silver reindeer for you and a couple other ornaments for you to "preview" to see if you want to use them.

Deborah Boschert said...

Brilliant. I love it. It's a perfect execution of a really fresh idea. I watched a show on HGTV last week where two couples competed to re-do a room to "match" a designer's room -- at a fraction of the cost, of course. This is the same idea. It's a nice new way to enjoy your ornaments too. Rather than just slapping them up hodge podge on a tree. (Not that there is anything wrong with that -- in fact, if you want to see a hodge-podge tree, you can come right over to my living room.)