Every year, an Advent Calendar is on my list of "to makes".
Every year I put it off. This year I finally did it!
I may be late but I did it! And next year I won't have to put it on my "to make" list!
The hardest part was starting! So, I decided to start with the top half of my felt that is more decorative.
I have seen this advent calendar floating around blogland, and I loved the tree.
A little bit realistic, a little whimsy. It was perfect.
So much so I sat staring at my computer screen with paper and slowly sketched it out.
Once sketched out, I used the papers as my pattern, alternating light green and dark green.
As for the countdown part, I just could not make up my mind.
My mother has a countdown that you move the stuffed mouse everyday,and thought I would make that.
Then I loved all the calendars with the pockets for treats, or notes.
But I also loved the ones with ornaments to hang too.
In the end I just went with it, making mine so that it can grow with us and be used in different ways each year if we want to. I started by looking at my moms, and hers had 4 rows with 6 pockets per row.
So, thats what I did! Using strips of white felt (3"tall x 18"wide) I sewed them down creating pockets.
Then I needed to decide what to use as ornaments, or countdown markers.
Joann's sent me a lovely box of goodies to Celebrate the season with them, and they lovingly sent the perfect amount of buttons! 18 red, and green traditional buttons and 6 gingerbread men buttons. It couldn't have been more perfect!
To make my advent ornaments, I pulled out my jewelry making supplies!
This couldn't have been any easier!
Using earring hooks, and eye pins.
And in no time I had 24 perfect sized ornaments!
Look how cute they look in their pockets!
Now to all together!
Even though I didn't get to use it this year, I will have it for years to come!
Plus if I don't want to hang the ornaments everyday, I can put them all on and either use a clothespin to countdown the days ( decorated in some way of course) or put notes/activities/candy in each day for the kids!
Again I can't thank Joann's Fabric and Craft Stores enough, for challenging me to Celebrate the Season! It has kept me on my toes, and added some wonderful holiday treasures that I plan to use for years to come!
I love that tree, very cute!!! I like your design too. My older son really enjoys matching up each day number on ours to the day of the month we're on. It has helped him grasp the concept of a calendar a little better. He also loves counting the days remaining until Christmas and we get to do a little math lesson each day ("... so what's 25 minus 18?").
ReplyDeleteYou're going to love getting this out each year. I was so relieved when I did mine and now I find that I start getting excited to put ours up starting at around Halloween. I wait until the 30th of November though, no matter how hard it is. :)