Silhouette Advent Calendar Ideas

Good Tuesday morning friends!
Have you seen Silhouette's new advent calendar?  If not, you should check out all of the fun designs that my fellow design team members and I had on the Silhouette blog yesterday.  

For mine, I decided to use a combination of boxes and library pockets.  A very good friend suggested I make the calendar with a "pay it forward" theme, to go along with the idea of bringing "Joy To The World".  Thank you Kristin!  Each little box holds candy, and then each of the library pockets holds a note that suggests how my family can "pay it forward" that day.  

Instead of the traditional numbers, I added cute shapes from the Silhouette store to each of the pockets and added some thick candy-striped twine around the edge of my frame.

 

 Shapes from the Silhouette store:

 Box, Library Pocket with Card, Scallop Square, Holly Leaves, Christmas Tree #1, Christmas Tree #2, Snowflake, Cute Mittens, Ornaments, Joy, Snowman, Nativity Scene

Visit the Silhouette blog for more advent calendar ideas!

Also, be sure to visit the Artsy Albums shop to check out the latest Christmas mini album kit.  It comes with a free mini ornament kit to hang a tiny album on your tree :)

Christmas Mini Album Kit

Lori Whitlock December Blog Hop + Giveaway

Before checking out the fun Blog Hop we are doing with Lori Whitlock, just a reminder that today is Cyber Monday at Artsy Albums -- great deals on kits and Free Shipping in the US with Coupon Code SHIPFREE :)

Welcome to Artsy Albums and your next stop on Lori Whitlock's December Blog Hop!  If you're starting here, be sure to head over to Lori's site to start from the beginning!  You won't want to miss the cute Christmas ideas at each stop!
Be sure to come back ... I have a GIVEAWAY that you won't want to miss :)
For my project, I created a cute little gift bag.  I have always thought this little Snowman poem was cute, so I incorporated it into my gift, with some yummy yogurt covered raisins.

 The Poem 

(author unknown)

"I heard that you were naughty,

So here's the inside scoop.

All you get for Christmas,

Is this bag of Snowman poop".

Lori Whitlock Shapes:
3d Scallop Tie Treat Bag
Santa Snowman
5 Tag Charms
Snowflake

Lori is also having an awesome sale on her website...

And I'm doing a GIVEAWAY here on my site:
One winner will be announced on Facebook and here on my blog on Thursday, 12/5. 
A $10 download card to the Silhouette store 

Enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to leave a comment below so I know that you've entered my giveaway!! 

Wow! So much fun stuff! Now on to the rest of the blog hop!

Lori
Brigit Mann
Christine Ousley
Corri Garza
Mendi Yoshikawa
Natalie Graham
Traci Penrod >>> YOU ARE HERE
Chrissy Guido >>> NEXT STOP
Ashley Cook
Lorrie Nunemaker
Mary Moseley
Smitha Katti
Stephanie Chavers

Thanks for hopping by!

New Christmas Mini Album Kit For Sale + Free Ornament Album

Hi friends!
Please find the details for our latest mini album kit below -- I LOVE this one (it comes with a FREE mini album ornament kit too!!)  Christmas cuteness at it's best!

A CHRISTMAS STORY MINI ALBUM

Available as a DIY kit or Pre-made

Purchase Now

Christmas Projects, Sales, & Free Shipping!

Hi everyone!
Lots to share today:
First, a reminder -- Big savings and free shipping at Artsy Albums through Monday!  Scroll down to our Thanksgiving post for details!

Next, I'm sharing two fun Christmas projects -- 

Here's a super cute and very easy scrapbook layout that I created for the Silhouette blog today.   Have you ever designed a page with a Silhouette layout kit?  Well, you know me, I'm all about the kits!  They can save you lots of time by letting someone else be creative, but still allowing you the fun of putting it all together.  And of course, with all kits, you have the creative freedom to change it up or add your own details.

For this project, I used one of Nichole Calmes' (PPbN Designs) adorable layout kits.  All of the pieces are in the file, and she also gives you a link to instructions that have the shapes color-coded for you.  I love how this page about Rian's first Christmas turned out ... and the kit made it so easy!

For my second project, I created a mini album for the Frosted Designs blog using papers by Echo Park, called Reflections Christmas.  You can visit the Frosted Designs store to purchase all of the supplies I used on this mini. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Now be sure to scroll down to yesterday's post to check out our Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
I have so much to be thankful for that I couldn't possibly list it all here -- family, friends, faith, good health, the freedom to own my own business...and all of you!  Thank you so much to all of my Artsy Albums friends!!  I am truly thankful for you!

I will be spending time with family this holiday weekend, but I want to let you know about all of the special deals I'm offering as my way of saying thank you to you!

1.  Free shipping today through Monday (US only) (international customers please contact me for discount shipping information).  Use coupon code SHIPFREE at checkout.

2.  All page kits are on sale!

Two-page kits are just $8.00

Six-page kits have also been discounted!

3.  All Halloween kits are 40% off!

4.  Select kits 50% off!

...and that's not all!

Please visit the shop at www.artsyalbums.etsy.com to view all sale items and get FREE SHIPPING this weekend!

Christmas Planner Album with Lori Whitlock and Bella Blvd

Happy Monday everyone!

I have a fun project idea posted over on Lori Whitlock's blog today.  Visit her site for all of the links to the Silhouette cutting files and digital planning sheets that I used on this project.

I created a planner to help me keep all of my Christmas details in one place -- travel plans, gift lists, Christmas card ideas, menu plans, etc.  Then, after Christmas, it will be a great little album for remembering Christmas 2013.  I cut the album using my CAMEO, and downloaded the planning and calendar pages from Jessica Sprague's site.  The paper is "Christmas Countdown" by Bella Blvd.

The countdown is on!  Are you ready?
Visit Lori Whitlock's blog for links to all of the files you'll need to create your Christmas planner!

Thursday Sketch at Silhouette

It's Thursday Sketch Day over at Silhouette!  This one is simple, but has so many possibilities!  When Jeana sent me this sketch, I immediately starting thinking about the fun cutting files that I could incorporate into each block...visit the Silhouette blog to see how I created this fun page about Maisy's First Christmas :)

A Christmas Mini Using Echo Park's Tis the Season

Good Friday morning friends,
It's super busy in the Penrod house these days!  We are on the final countdown to my son's wedding -- only 8 more days!  We're so very excited for him and his sweet fiancé, and I promise I'll share pictures after the big day.

Until then, I wanted to share a mini album that I created for the Silhouette blog.  I used Echo Park's Tis the Season collection and some wonderful silver shimmer card stock from Bazzill.  Each piece of the album (designed by Lori Whitlock) was cut out with my CAMEO machine which made assembly fast and easy!

Visit the Silhouette blog to see a few more photos of this mini! 
Have an awesome weekend,

Two Fun Projects Using Echo Park Reflections Christmas

Hi everyone!  Lots to share with you today!

First, I have a fun Christmas layout posted over on the Silhouette blog today so I hope you'll hop over there and check out the recent changes to the blog -- you'll love how you can click on specific categories for home decor, scrapbook projects, tutorials, and more!  This week, we are teaming up with Hero Arts for some fun projects.  For this layout I used some brand new Hero Arts Silhouette tree shapes, along with a few of their matching stamps.

Next, we have a really fun challenge for you over at Frosted Designs.  Perfect for the holiday season, we are challenging you to create a "gift" project.  It can be a gift-card holder, box, bag, gift tag, or layout about a gift!  I decided to alter an Altoid tin to create a fun little gift card box.  The great thing about this project, is that if you have a Silhouette, all of the pieces are available in this fun cutting file by Lori Whitlock and can also be found in the Silhouette store.  The pieces cut out perfectly, even around the little metal hinge on the tin box.  The paper by Echo Park (Reflections Christmas) is available in the Frosted Designs store!

Finally, we have a winner from this week's Blog Hop Giveaway!  Congrats to Anita Mulcahey!  I'll be sending you an email Anita :)
 
I'm so glad you all stopped by today!  Please be sure to follow Artsy Albums on Facebook to stay up-to-date with our latest kits, fun tutorials, coupons and giveaways!

Silhouette Sketch Pen Tutorial

Good morning friends!

Today I posted a fun tutorial over on Lori Whitlock's blog.  It will give you a few tips on using your Silhouette Sketch pens.  If you haven't tried these, you really should!  They are fun and super easy to work with -- just replace your Silhouette blade with the pen!  Simple!  

My tutorial will walk you through sketching an offset like the one you see around this Christmas tree, and adding a sentiment or personalization to your card or project.  Head over to Lori's blog to get all of the details :)