12 Days, Day 11 and Advent calendar Day Twenty three

I have a confession to make. I'm not here. In fact, I'm not anywhere near a computer. I'm on auto pilot, or at least my blog is today. Those of you who follow my blog know I was planning an out-of-town trip on Thanksgiving, which I missed because I chose to complete the second 12 Days of Christmas swap. So for the next three days, I am spending time with my friend Scott and his family at his parents home. Yes, there will be pictures! And yes, I opened these gifts before I left, so I could post them to my blog and you wouldn't be left hanging.


I could barely wait to show this fun package I got from Jackie Smith. This is simply adorable. One of the things that was important in this swap was the packaging, and Jackie came through with the absolute cutest gift wrap. It's a fabric pouch she sewed to hold our gifts. I may not even bind mine if I can keep them all in this beauty. She made one for each person and placed her art square in the number of their day. She stamped and sewed each person's name to the top. Unfortunately, I can't show you mine, because I took one of the players whose place I took in the swap. But I'm simply delighted just to get one of these lovely beauties. Jackie said she found the fabric online and I am truly in love with it.


And her eleven pipers were piping away, too. Can you see the red thread she used as a frame to compliment the red TARTAN fabric she used as an accent? Yes, I'm deferring to my UK friends who have taught me this is NOT PLAID, but tartan. This is one stunning art square.


And today is day 23 of the little jewelry boxes Advent Calendar.


I nearly stood on head after I opened the box to get this piece. In case you can't tell, this box is purple velvet.


In bright light, the copper colored polymer clay shimmered gold.

I made these pieces from molds I made myself. I first heated my hot glue gun and added a stick of "multiple temperature" glue. When the glue gun was hot, I inked a stamp with pigment ink, then poured a puddle blob of hot glue. As quickly as possible, I stamped HARD into the blob of molten glue. I left the stamp in the hot glue until it had cooled and turned from clear to translucent. At that point, I removed the stamp and had made a mold for polymer clay. If you have used enough hot glue, you will have a substantial mold. I use one short stick (about 4" long) for each mold. As the stamp buries into the glue, the glue forms a nice wall around the stamp. I've never tried this with UNmounted stamps and never with clear, either. These are (believe it or not) from Stampin' Up. They were a hostess gift and the set was discontinued, but offered to hostesses during the month in which I had my one and only party. I think the set is called "Key to my Heart." I've never used more than three stamps in the set.

Today's blog pick is Jackie, whose art square gift I opened today. I met Jackie on the only Yahoo group at the time that featured altered books. It wasn't long until I wanted a more intimate relationship and formed ABC (Altered Book Club) , a Yahoo group. Jackie and I became fast friends and I have loved and admired her art since the first time I saw it. Just look at her blog banner and you'll be hooked! So be sure to visit Jackie Smith's blog today.