The holidays have arrived faster than I realized…and I am running late getting my nephew’s advent calendar together.  The fact that I have zero holiday wrapping paper isn’t a problem because I am going to make my own.  But I needed to get this mailed out yesterday…so I need to get lots of wrapping paper created in a hurry.  And I need to wrap all 24 gifts pronto!

Why 24? A tradition in our family is to open a small gift each day of December until Christmas.  For my car and truck loving nephew, I am wrapping an inexpensive car or truck for each day for him.  One could even call these cheap.  He’s preschool age, so the numbers on each gift will also allow him to get a little practice counting too.

The solution to all my obstacles?  Gelli Printing®!  And as a bonus it let me create 2 coordinating looks without any extra work!

Watch Gelli printing an advent calendar and gift wrap on YouTube.

Want to know more about Gelli printing®?  I’ve got all sorts of getting started information here.

Why was this so quick? I used just one stencil and just one color of paint but it created 2 coordinating  looks.  There was no thinking involved here…it was all about speed. As a bonus, I was able to use up some of the red paint that I have but I so rarely use.

This could be a lot of wrapping of odd shapes so instead of tape, I am going to sew them each in a paper pouch.   I don’t know a lot about sewing but I can sew an almost straight line.  I cut the pages to create pouches or bags to hold each vehicle and painted the number (1 to 24) so my nephew will know which one to open each day.

Then it was time to hit the sewing machine to seal these all up. Now that they are all ready, I am off to the post office to get these in the mail to him and start on the next holiday task that I am behind on…hope you are farther along on your holiday to do list than I am!

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free. Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!

Coming and Going Stencil

Gelli Plate

Rubber Brayer

Amsterdam Paints

InLinkz.com

It’s Tuesday and that means a new Let’s Play link party for all of us to share what we’ve been creating!  What play have I been up to?  I’ve been making a plan and then not following it.  The plan came about while I was checking out the all the fun stuff shared in last week’s Let’s Play link party.  A great big thank you to everyone for the inspiration!

I gathered my supplies that fit just perfectly into my plan that was crystal clear in my head.  It was going to be lots of yellow and orange, with all 4 of those birds, and just a hint of stenciling.  In the video, you’ll see that I didn’t follow that plan…but I did have fun playing!

Watch I had a plan for my art journal page but didn’t follow it on YouTube.

Thank you to everyone who shared their play last week!  Here is the art that inspired my art journal play.  Click on any of the images to visit their photos, blog, or Instagram.

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!

Go Your Own Way Arrows

Gelatos

archival ink pad

Urban Insiders Circle

Acrylic Inks

PPA

Art Journal

Mini Blade

Heavy Body Paint

InLinkz.com

Link up etiquette  

• If you see something you like, leave a comment on their photo or blog post and show some love – let them know they inspired you! 
• Share your recent play (any form of creativity is welcome) that hasn’t been linked up to a Let’s Play before
• Add a link back to to this post so that others can find it, be sparked, and join the fun!
• Opens each Tuesday at 6am EST

Not sure how to find a URL or link up? Check out this page of Let’s Play FAQs.

Want to put the button your blog? Just copy all of the the code from under the button.

<div align="center"><a href="https://acolorfuljourney.com/?p=16827" rel="nofollow" title="Let's Play!"><img src="https://acolorfuljourney.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/lets-play-200.jpg" alt="Let's Play!" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

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