Advent Calendar + Mini Album

Every year I wish I had time to make a Advent Calendar, but until this year it was that, a wish. But this year I saw something online that made me rush to my craft studio and make one way ahead of time.

This is, in fact, not really an advent calendar but and advent collector to make a mini album. Instead of each day getting something, my aim is to put something, whether be a photo, a thought or a brief résumé of what we did that day. At the end of the month, I will collect the tags, put a ring binder through and voila, I will have a mini album of the run to Christmas 2012! Next year a new batch of tags will be done and a new mini album will be finished. Well, that is the idea.

 

You will probably think that Advent calendars have 24 windows, not 25. Since I was born on Christmas Day, it would be rude not to have one tag on my birthday!

To make it I used one cheap frame from Ikea. It is rather large but it has a plastic backing rather than a glass one which is very useful if you want to drill holes through it.
It just so happens that the Tim Holtz Pocket Envelope die is perfect size to fit all 24 + 1 tags. Then I die cut the 25 tags using the Tim Holtz Tag &Ties die.

To decorate the envelopes I used a variety of dies. The numbers were die cut using Wordplay alphabet die and the hearts and labels are Pete Hughes framelits designs.

I am quite pleased with the finished result and I am hoping that I will keep it for years to come!