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I know, I know…….it’s not Christmas yet.* Or really even time to start the Christmas decor.* Because Thanksgiving is first.* And there’s still more autumn weather to enjoy.*

(Both of which I enjoy.* Oh my word, I can hardly wait to slice into some pumpkin pie.)*

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But, in case you want to get a head start on Christmas, gather some supplies, and take advantage of a good deal going on right now……….you may want to take a peek at this.

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Remember the new Silhouette CAMEO that came out last week?* (And if they ran out of stock before you were able to get one…….word on the street is that another big shipment is on its way.* Silhouette just isn’t sure on an exact day.* Before Christmas though.* But they sold out so fast, they had to hurry and put their little Silhouette Elves to work, to create more.* So no worries……I’ll let you know when more are available.* And maybe, hopefully, cross your fingers, they’ll offer another promo for you guys.* Yay.)

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Anyway, Silhouette sent me a great little Advent Calendar Shadowbox to try out. And oh my, I had my little Silhouette humming along while it did all the work, and I sat back and listened to Christmas music and then taped the boxes after they were cut for me.* Nope, no tired hands from using scissors.* (Only a small hankering for Christmas to hurry and get here.)

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And let me be honest…….I’m not much of a scrapbooker.* But I loved loved loved this project.* All I needed was the Silhouette, some paper, and some ribbon.* Done.* I didn’t have to pull out a whole warehouse of supplies to create this little beauty.* Yay!* And I know that some use their Silhouette exclusively for scrapbooking and card making.* But I’ve only used mine for home decor, clothing, and other items (take a look here).* But now I see why scrapbookers probably adore this machines as much as I do for other reasons.* (I think I’ll be making more paper cutouts with my Silhouette……it was just way too easy.)

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Anyway, the wood shadowbox has 25 little compartments, perfect for 25 little unique box shapes.



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Use any color scheme, any type of embellishments, and decorate them just how you like them.* (I used the Silhouette to cut out my numbers and letters too.)* And just look at that great detail that was all cut for me!



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And then admire your little boxes.* Because they didn’t take you much work at all.



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My little boxes will be filled with a little Christmas trinket of some sort, a little quote or Christmas scripture, and a small treat.



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Each night leading up to Christmas, a box will be pulled, the quote/scripture read, the treat gobbled up, and the trinket for the day will be hung on the tree by one of my little ones……creating a little mini Christmas tree for the kids to enjoy.* (And you know, this tree can be re-arranged and changed up all they want.)

I know my kiddos will love hanging an ornament on “their” tree every night.







Each little box looks like a present…….of course they’ll be thrilled!









And just in case you’re unsure how the Silhouette makes all these little boxes…..let me show you a few things.* (Oh, and since the CAMEO has the wider cutting space, you can use a full 12 x 12 inch scrapbook piece of paper.* Pretty cool.* But if you have the original Silhouette, just use more narrow paper [or cut yours down smaller].)



To cut, you simply lay a piece of paper down on the sticky mat face up and feed it into your Silhouette machine.* Your Silhouette will use the image that you selected in your computer program and cut it out, in the position you told it to.* (I actually filled up my paper with more cut outs…..this one was just an example to share.)** Then as you peel up the negative space, the sticky mat holds onto the box shapes.







If there was any sort of design cut out of your boxes, the sticky mat will hold onto those as you peel up the box cut outs.* Easy.







Also, the Silhouette makes little perforation cuts, making folding simple too.







So fold along each perforated line, tape (double sided to hide it) or glue it together, and you’re done.







I loved the ease of it.* I can’t wait for the night of November 30th.







And just so you know, with your shadow box purchase, you also receive the free downloads to make a whole different variety of box cutouts for your shadow box.* These are little drawers.* So no lids are involved.* But just as cute.

image source

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Just think……you can use the box all year round for all sorts of reasons.* And you can use the box downloads to place goodies inside and give away as gifts.* Ooooh, cute.

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And yes, Silhouette is offering a darn good discount right now for their Advent Calendars.*



They are taking $10 off the total if you use the discount code ‘makeit’ at check out.* So instead of $39.99, you can receive one for $29.99.*



Your $29.99 purchase would include:

• The 15″ (and almost 4 inches deep) wood shadowbox
• a download card redeemable for 25 boxes (with lids) and 25 drawers from the Silhouette Online store.* Each box and drawer template is downloaded into your Silhouette Library and is pre-sized and numbered for your shadowbox

**Use ‘makeit‘ at checkout to receive your discount.

Promo lasts until November 11th, 2011.



And if you make one, let me know how it turns out.* After you make each box and set it in its slot…….you’ll be so excited, I’m sure of it.* So share!







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