Hello everybody! And welcome to Day 25 of Advent Calendar Extravaganza!! Merry Christmas!!
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I’ve always loved the concept of Advent Calendars. There’s something special and magical about those little treats hidden behind those little doors – and the idea of a secret little something to be unwrapped every day really is a wonderful way to build the excitement towards Christmas, not to mention a fun tradition as well!
As the years roll by some of these types of tradition can be lost when we grow up, and it seems a real shame to lose some of that magic and wonder. And really there’s no reason at all why something such as an Advent Calendar can’t be revamped and repackaged for grown-ups, crafty grown-ups… grown-ups like you and me!
So one day in November a couple of years ago I dreamed up a fun idea for a event. I didn’t know if it would work, or if anyone would be interested. I approached some crafty friends, and others recruited themselves – everyone loved the idea! Behind the scenes I worked hard to put together something rather different and very special. After much organising, coordinating and planning, I’m really thrilled to finally bring to you a very special, very fun, very festive series! It was *hugely* popular, and so, by popular demand, I just had to bring it back again this year!
Eek! How fun does that sound?! 25 full days of surprises, inspiration and prizes!!
In case you’re wondering just how it’s going to work, here’s a quick video that explains how to find those special links!
I’m so excited to be bringing you this event! I really hope you’re going to enjoy it as much as I am!!
Let’s get on with Day 25, shall we?!
I’ve got some of my very favourite designers lined up today to continue the fun! Just click on the door to reveal today’s surprise destinations and prize! Tip: you will need to do this from the blog itself, not from a feed reader or e-mail!
The door is a bit different this year (curse of moving over to WordPress!). So, now you’ve opened it, please use the image below to find your secret links! As you see, there aren’t any text links, but tap or click on all the decorations/presents in the image below and you will find your secret destinations! *wink*
Exciting right?! Isn’t it fun to not know what’s in store at the other end of those links?! Make sure you click each one to reveal the surprise and leave comments at the destinations to win!
And speaking of winning…
Today’s sponsor is Papertrey Ink! What can I possibly say about the industry giant that started me on this creative path and made me a part of the crafty community?! Papertrey Ink were my ‘gateway drug’ – the first company that got me started on stamping. I’ve been a huge fan of the timeless designs and fun products for so many years now. Their creative founder, Nichole Heady, is someone I am honoured to call a friend, and I was beyond thrilled when I approached her about sponsoring this event and she said yes! Nichole has just recently stepped down from Papertrey to pursue other opportunities, but their legacy, their amazing products, and their fantastic designs and Design Team will live on and continue with the Papertrey name! I am so thrilled to have them sponsor the event this year!
Papertrey Ink are generously sponsoring a $75 gift certificate to their store! With an amazing array of products you’re really going to be spoilt for choice spending it!
Now that you know what you can win, I’m sure you’re eager to head off to all those secret destinations to check them out! But before you go, some inspiration from me:
I’m finishing up this event with a modern take on a classic looking, folksy tree! I am kinda crazy about this colour combo, I have to say!
I used the tree and accompanying images from the O’Tannenbaum set to create my scene. I started by stamping the reverse of the stars stamp with a blush ink (misted a little with water before stamping), then stamped the branches/trunk with Cocoa Bean ink.
I stamped the branches with silver ink, then gold, then silver, then gold! This made a wonderful platinum effect – a great tip if you don’t have any platinum ink! I stamped the little stars, the star topper, the pot and the ‘snow’ (a baubles stamp from the same set) all with Versafine Ink. The sentiment is from the Pen & Ink Christmas set and finished off the look so well! I edged my card panel with white ink then heat embossed a little white embossing powder on it before adhering to my card base. I love how this turned out!
It’s not a party without a prize – and with prizes every day there are several chances to win! Today’s prize is generously supplied by Papertrey Ink so you’ll definitely want to get your hands on it! Simply leave a comment on this post to enter! Don’t forget to grab the other surprise destinations from behind the door, and head over to them to leave comments there as well to improve your odds even more! You have until 7am EST on Sunday 31st December to leave all your comments! /
Don’t forget the Advent Calendar Extravaganza runs from 1st-25th December inclusive so make sure you visit taheerah-atchia.com every day for fabulous inspiration and amazing prizes every single time! Merry Christmas!
Before we close, I just want to take a few moments and thank you all for visiting here each day. I hope you’ve loved Advent Calendar Extravaganza (certainly from your comments it seems that way!). To say this event is a huge undertaking is actually an understatement – there’s so much behind the scenes work you don’t see, and so so *so* many hours that I pour into making this a celebration to remember. I hope you’ve been able to enjoy the festivities and that it’s made your holiday season a little brighter.
I also want to take the time to thank each one of the awesome sponsors and amazing guests that have helped make this event what it is. It simply wouldn’t be the same without them, and they have been so inspirational and generous with their time and their contributions. I hope you’ll take the time to show them as much love as you have me – they all deserve it.
Don’t forget you still have until the 31st of December to get all your comments in, so be sure to visit all the secret links and play along. Fit it all in during your holiday season, and I’ll be ready to draw winners in the New Year to get 2018 off to a good start!!
And finally, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!! Thank you all so much for stopping by!! I hope you’ll still visit here between now and next year’s event too!!
Supplies
Such a cute Christmas tree. I love PTI and so glad to see them being part of this event. Thanks!
Beautiful card. Love the gray so pretty and elegant! Gorgeous job.
This card is so pretty! I am going to enjoy taking m y time through your blog this week and peeking at all of the parojects
Taheerah, your card is so lovely, love the pink around the boughs of the tree, what a great idea. It looks great!
I would love to win this, the snowflake dies would be t the top of my order! My goodness they are amazingly pretty!
As for the Extravaganza, it is so awesome. Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into this. I KNOW the bulk of your work is the behind the scenes work and I am sure I am not the only one who appreciates it. So Thank YOU?!
Have an amazing holiday season Taheerah, relax and enjoy it!
Such a pretty card.
Thanks you for doing the advent! As an adult I don’t do an advent calendar but this crafty one with prizes has been fun! I look forward to it every year. Happy holidays.
Another gorgeous card….your colors are glorious. Thank you for 25 days of stunning inspiration. Looking forward to all the new ideas coming in 2018.
Merry Christmas! Beautiful card, as always this was a super fun blog hop
A lovely modern card with vintage touches. I love all the different inks you used to create a beautiful effect. And great tips on inking and embossing the edges in white. Nice touch. Very winter-y. Happy Holidays!
This is just stunning. Another wonderful 25 Days.
A beautiful card to end this beautiful Advent Journey !
Amazing how many inspiration you, and all the guests and sponsors gave us.
THANK YOU !
Merry Christmas to all of you !
Warm greetings from Belgium.
Awesome card, love it!
And thanks so much for this event, I had a blast!
Merry Christmas! Another great card. Thanks for a fun advent!
A very pretty card – love the colors!! Merry Christmas to you. Thanks for organizing this event each year; gives me lots of inspiration.
wow.. what a great card.. I love the technique of stamping the colors together to get platinum.. BUT for me I’d never be able to get them lined up right. As this is the last day, Id like to thank you for organizing this HUGE event. This had to take up so much of your time and truly, it has been amazing! What fun for us crafty adults too to have a daily adventure. Just amazing what you’ve done.. Thank you so very much.
This is awesome! Love the card!
What a sweet card! That little tree is just darling! Thank you Taheerah for all the time and energy you’ve put into this amazing event. It truly has been fun to follow along, even though I came in quite late to the party. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
I love the modern design and the non-traditional colors. Thanks for another great advent calendar-extravaganza; I really enjoyed it and looked forward each day to the inspiration!
Great card with a whimsical touch of pink. You gotta love it.
Thanks for all your work on bringing this Advent Calendar to life! You have chosen many of my favorite designers and stamp companies, as well as some new-to-me ones. Merry Christmas and a craft-full New Year!
Beautiful beautiful card. Thanks for sharing, and happy holidays!
Beautiful card, but even more than that, just a wonderful 25 days of inspiration and holiday cheer. Thank you for all the hard work that must have gone into preparing this every day. I hope your holidays are filled with lots of love, laughter and crafting. I’m already looking forward to next year.
simple and clean are my favourite cards!
Merry Christmas Taheerah!
Your card is beautiful! That is one of my favorite sets from Papertrey. Love the colors, so classy looking.
Merry Christmas, Taheerah! I so appreciate all the work you put into this event — I look forward to it all year. I especially love that you always manage to include a few unknown companies to me (well, *I* love it; my wallet, not so much. lol) I know after a day or two of rest, you’ll be busy planning for next year’s event. Thank you again for all your work and inspiration.
Love this “Charlie Brown” holiday tree! Very Cute.
Loved the advent calendar format with all the surprised each day.
All the cards are full of inspiration and link to sites that keep the
crafting fires aflame.
Very pretty card!!!
Cute card! I love the softer colors.
I know I’ve said out before but this is one of my favorite cards. they just keep getting better and better! Love all your cards. Thanks again of having the Advent Calendar this year! Looking forward to 2018. Merry Christmas to you Taheerah!
What a beautiful card in which to finish this year’s advent calendar event. This event has been something I looked forward to this holiday season after the fun and inspiration I experienced during last year’s event. Thank you so very much for hosting this wonderful activity for all of us! Merry Christmas!
I love your soft tree! Great colors.
Awesome!
Thanks for putting together this amazing event. I have loved every single day! Glad it is open till the 31st since there are days I missed. I am playing catch up now. I love your inspiration card today since I am a huge fan of Papertrey Ink. Love the whimsical look of the tree and the gorgeous color combo. A truly stylish card!
Love this card and the whole event has just been fabulous. The projects and inspiring creativity have been the true prizes!
Love the simplicity and style of this card.
Hello! I am new to this and hope that I am doing it right. Your card is so beautiful!
Wow! Your Advent Calendar Extravaganza has been SUPER fun! I can’t imagine how many hours you spent preparing this for us! Thank You.
This card is so elegant, with its sophisticated color combo and neat details. So pretty!
Unique and quite delightful! Love the platinum tip and your tree is gorgeous!
I want to thank you again for all the time and energy you put into this event every year! I was lucky enough to discover this event the first year you did it and have participated each year! I know you have probably lost lots of sleep in order to pull everything together to make this event run smoothly and making each year more amazing than the last one!
I would love to be able to help you out for next year’s event so if you need someone else to help you with anything get in touch with me and I will be there with bells on!
I am sad that this year’s event is over other than finding out who won but am looking forward to next year’s event! Thank you again for all you do! It is very much appreciated!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Awesome card.
Would you believe, I am ALREADY scooping out Christmas Stamps for NEXT YEAR???? LOL I have been thinking PTI would be the company for next year too! 😉 (They were THIS YEAR!) I ADORE this set with the Christmas Trees, O’ Tannenbaum. You’ve dolled up the “Charlie Brown Tree” of the set! AND it looks WONDERFUL!!! 😉 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀
Truely elegant card! Beautiful color combination
I love the beautiful tree card! It is so simple and elegant.
Wildly cheering to discover that you had a 25th day for us…and oh, what a gorgeous card you’ve created to created as a finale to the absolute best Advent Calendar EVER! Your tree is stunning; love the colour combination and the tip on how to create platinum. Although I’m being repetitive: thank you so much for investing time, energy, creativity and an abundance of behind-the-scenes organization to bring this event to us! The gift of YOU warms my heart!
Hugs~c
Thanks for a wonderful event. I had lots of fun. Merry Christmas.
Great card.
Love the pink around the tree.
Simple but so pretty.
thanks for having the hop.
I hate to see it end – I know you are heaving a
sigh of relief. It’s been amazing.
Merry Christmas.
What a beautiful card to end another wonderful ACE! Thank you for all the time and effort that it obviously took for you to pull off such an undertaking! May your Christmas Day be merry and blessed!
Merry Christmas!! Your card is so soft & pretty! I didn’t know Nichole stepped down, I have been a big fan of PTI for a long tie as well, but my wallet could never keep up with my wishlist which just kept growing and growing with every fabulous release, which got discouraging so I didn’t check in as often, especially when releases switched to every other month. I wish her well.
Beautiful card. It looks like it came off the shelf at a boutique. I mean that in a good way,lol.
Beautiful card! I love the scripty font and sentiment. Thanks for another fun advent hop—Happy Christmas!
Soooooooo cute! Love this “non-traditional” color palette. PTI is the company that really got me into card making. Love their stamps and dies! Merry Christmas!