the gathering season

Well it's here. It's offically the gathering season. That special time of year when I start to gather up all the little gifts for the kid's advent calendar. Tis' the season that I love so much.  I'm constantly on the hunt for small, inexpensive tokens to fill each day in December.  Sometimes it's sweets. Other times I find little trinkets like a yo-yo or lip balm.

Every door in our advent calendar contains a little note. A cryptic messages as to where the children might find their treasure.

This year I am using my Girl's Loft kit to make each gift special.

Do you have an advent calendar in your family?  Here's some ideas of small gifts you can get to fill the days:

yo-yo

lip balm

stickers

cocoa mix

chocolate gold coins (gelt)

christmas socks

silly putty

ornaments

books

Cracker Jacks

Pez

movie tickets

character band-aids (my kids love these)

trading cards

gum

animal crackers

friendship bracelets

fun pencils

Hot Wheels

Crayola tub tints

bouncy ball

candy canes

bottled soda

kazoo

nightlight

sprinkles and cookie cutters

card game

craft kit

Christmas DVD

dreidel

marbles

gingerbread house kit

bubble bath

Check the dollar bins and Target and Michael's.  They always have a bunch of fun stuff. Also, coupons for ice cream go over well in our house.

You got some ideas? Let's hear them! Like I said before, I'm on the hunt.

I also used my Girl's Loft kit to create a paper Santa to stand sentry at the advent calendar.  We have some sneaky kids in this family.


The November kit is full of The Girls' Paperie "Tinsel & Twig" line.  If you buy a kit and you would like to make your own paper Santa, email me and I'll send you the pattern.

toil and trouble

My good friend Margie Romney-Aslett is a designer who has her own line of products for paper crafting.  She also has a kit club that she runs with her daughters.  Every month The Girl's Loft sends out a kit full to the brim with fun crafting supplies.  The kit for October featured Margie's Halloween line "Toil and Trouble".  The girls sent me a kit to play with because they think I'm the shiz. That's what I like to think anyway.  I finally found a couple of hours when the babies were sleeping to dig into my goodies.

I made candy cones. Okay, they may not be original, but hey, who doesn't love a candy cone?  And candy cones made with Toil and Trouble products? Uh. That's a yes. Any day of the year.

And now, as if this post isn't festive enough, I get to give away an October Girl's Loft kit for you, yes you, if you be the winner.  Believe you me, it's a package of fun.

You can see all that the kit contains here.

You can enter to win said kit by leaving a comment.

You can have a second entry by tweeting this exact comment- @suaviloquy I really want to win @thegirlsloft kit because it rocks and so do you.

I really do love being Queen of this domain. Everyone should be the Queen somewhere.

As Queen I decree that a winner shall be chosen on Monday, October the twenty-fifth in the two hundredth and tenth year of our Lord.  Let it be written. Let it be done.

vintage hip christmas

Do you know Margie Romney-Aslett?

You should.

She and her two daughters, Megan and Brooke, are the brains and brawn behind The Girls Loft. If you are into scrapbooking or crafting in general, you must check out the site and also take a look at the new e-book they just released with Ella Publishing.

I got a sneak peek at the book a little bit ago and let me tell ya, it's chock full of really great ideas for the holidays. If you need a little decoration inspiration it's just the ticket.

AND it's only $5.99.

AND you can get 25% off this week if you enter this code: CRAFTY09.

Go here and get your copy!



Seriously.

Just get it.