Our Advent Calendar...and some ideas

I thought I had published this post a few days ago, but for some reason it didn't post. Whoops.

I *finally* finished up our advent calendar on December 2nd. A day late. But it was totally worth all that hard work to see it hanging up in the (otherwise undecorated) living room.

I used this tutorial, with just a few size modifications.



As promised, here is the list I've come up with to fill our calendar with lots of good cheer this Christmas season:

Every day: I bought a 100 piece Christmas Ravensburger puzzle and assembled it and then disassemble it in sets and put several pieces in each stocking. Each day she can add to her puzzle - and it will be complete on Christmas Eve. It's a good visual for her since she still doesn't totally understand the concept of time.

Activities: I'm not assigning days to these until I'm sure what's going on that day. Most of them are things that we would have done anyway, but it's fun for her to look forward to something.

Sleepover at Nana's
Sleepover at Nona's. (yes, she has a Nana and a Nona)
Go see the Christmas lights on the boardwalk
Christmas shopping at the dollar store (I plan to give her 10 $1 bills to buy gifts for her cousins and her brother)
Shopping for toys for tots or Angel tree
Decorate the house for Christmas
Put up the tree
Bake Christmas cookies with Gramma
Make special Christmas cards for grandparents
Paper cone Christmas tree craft
Watch TV Christmas specials (love DVR for this!)
Cousins Christmas party
Visit "Walk through Bethlehem" (live nativity)
Aunt Hannah sleepover
Christmas cookies for Sunday School teachers
Wrap Christmas gifts
Visit Santa
Christmas caroling

That's 18 activities, which should be plenty. Sunday is a pretty full day around here, so those days will just be a piece of candy and the daily puzzle pieces. Some days just won't work for any activities and those days will be a gift:

New Christmas movie
New Christmas book
Colored pencils and a Christmas coloring book

I'm hanging on to all the activities/gifts to decide on until the night before. I planned on decorating the house as one of our first activities, but Maddie was sick this week, so I used the new Christmas movie (Elf!) and the TV Christmas specials since she wasn't up for anything else.

That's it! One thing that this calendar has really made me do is get organized for this month! When you sit down and realize how much you actually want to accomplish in one month, it becomes apparent that you must plan ahead to fit it all in! This is the first year since we've been married that I'm not working at all - (if you don't count sewing and crocheting into the wee hours), and I'm SO excited about the prospect of a whole month of uninterrupted Christmas merriment!



Molly

All about Advent... and a calendar round-up

Last year, one of my facebook friends made an incredibly awesome Advent Calendar and I was totally inspired. Honestly, I really wasn't even sure what Advent was, we never celebrated it when I was a child, but all I knew was that she made a really cool looking calendar with pockets and I wanted in on the fun! Of course, it was too late in the season to make one last year, but I've been eagerly anticipating the start of this Christmas season so that our little family could participate.

But, first things first. What is Advent?

Quite simply, Advent is a countdown to Christmas. It's traditionally a time for Christians to reflect on the birth of Christ and to prepare for his coming. Advent is taken from the latin word "adventus" which literally means "coming". Advent actually begins the 4th Sunday before Christmas, but Advent calendars begin on December 1st.

The Advent Calendar is simply a physical way to countdown the 24 days of December leading up to Christmas and there are literally a hundred different ways you can do it. There is no right or wrong way and it can be a simple or elaborate as you want it to be. In most cases, the calendar contains 24 vessels of some sort - one for each day of December. Pockets, drawers, cones, stockings, envelopes, tins...you get the idea. Alternatively, the advent calendar could be something that is added too every day until it is finally completed on the 24th. An example of that kind of calendar would be a mini tree that gets an ornament each day.

The web is chock full of amazing homemade calendars and fabulous ideas for celebrating advent and there are plenty of other calendar round-ups, but here are some interesting ones that I thought were worth sharing.

Make an Advent Calendar:

This is about the cutest thing I've ever seen - A felt garland of bulb lights. You've got to click over and check it out. If we had a mantel, I'd totally go that route.



I'm really leaning toward making something similar to this for our calendar this year. Love, love it.





This activity advent calendar requires a minimal amount of sewing and is totally functional AND adorable.




Here is a basic quilted calendar with pockets - there are so many variations to this calendar!



Another cute non-quilted hanging calendar with pockets. Love the linen look!



No sew, easy advent calendar ideas:No sew, easy advent calendar ideas:

Paper Chain - It doesn't get much simpler than that! We used to make a paper chain to countdown to birthdays and other exciting events when I was little. This would be a great way to get the kids involved in making the calendar - have them decorate paper to be cut into strips and linked together. As a twist, write an activity (or the first clue for a scavenger hunt!) on the inside of each chain. Each day as the links are removed, the child can find out what fun activity is planned for the day.



Paper Origami Boxes - This is a particularly cute little paper calendar.



Paper Cones - Okay, this is adorable. You could just as easily make this into a garland for the mantel or staircase.



Buy a Calendar or Kit*:

These are all from Etsy, because 1) Etsy is awesome and 2) supporting local, home-based businesses is so vital at Christmas time!

This one is PDF file that walks you through printing little paper boxes that can be arranged anyway you want:

Here's another DIY kit that is SUPER cute. This one has a pocket with a ornament that signifies a different part of the Christmas story that can be hung on the tree each day.

This one is another garland version with little distressed tags for each day of Advent.

Another garland with a pennant look. This DIY kit includes Bible verses paraphrasing the Christmas story for each day.

*Note: I found all these calendars just by browsing on Etsy, I've never ordered from these sellers and thus can't personally recommend them - I just think their stuff is super cute. ;)

I think I've finally decided on plan for our advent calendar this year - I have fabric ordered and list started for activities and gifts for Madeline. But I think I'll save all that for another post - this is getting lengthy! Look for that post next week.

Dresden Plate fun...

Since I've begun dabbling in quilting, I've been dying to try out the dresden plate block. It's so very vintage, but can still be modern and fun with the right fabric choices. (side note, the more I sew, the more I realize how much it really, really is all about the fabric)

I made this little table topper for my sister's birthday - she just did a little kitchen revamp and I tried to tie in a lot of the colors she chose.



I intended to just quilt an outline around the flower, but I got carried away and ended up carrying the zig zagging pattern all the way to the edges of the topper. I kind of love it.



My "to-do" list is a mile long, but I'm still hoping to make a Christmas version of this for my table.

Doesn't it look cute on my sister's corner table?



Molly

Little Bo Peep and Her Sheep

It's been a busy summer. And a busy beginning of fall (can someone please tell me how it can possibly be November?). Anyway, that's my excuse for being so absent. But November seems like a good place to get back in the swing of things in bloggy land. Also, yesterday was Halloween...and that's my weak segue into sharing pictures of my cutie pies in their costumes.

Meet Little Bo Peep and her sheep. They make a cute pair, no?



I know that my days of dressing them in coordinating costumes are numbered, so I figured I would take advantage while Maddie can still be easily persuaded. She was honestly excited that her brother was going to be her little sheep.

Will was a little angel and didn't fuss at all about wearing a hood and hooves.




Madeline had SUCH a good time trick or treating (this was her first year), that I have a feeling that I'm going to be hearing about it for weeks to come.

Her costume is a doctored up version of The Precious Dress, which you know I just love. I've lost count of how many times I've used it, but you can see a couple versions here. I also borrowed some ideas from the Cinderella dress you can find over here. I searched high and low, but I couldn't find a tutorial for exactly what I wanted for her bonnet, so I just winged it. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, even though I was totally improvising as I went.

Maddie's eyes lit up when she looked at herself in the mirror after trying on her costume - and that always makes those hours behind the sewing machine worth it. As a bonus for Mommy, this dress will also double as her Plow Days dress for next spring.



Will's lamb costume is a Tom Arma costume I scored off of ebay on the cheap. Love that!

I really have been busy in the past few months doing all sorts of crafty things, including a complete bedroom set for Will, so I have plenty to share - just need to carve out the time for blogging! Wiping noses and filling bellies always comes first, you know. ;)

Molly

Messenger Bags for the girls

Last week my littlest sister and my niece came over to make bags with me. My sister Louisa was just 7 months old when my oldest sister got married and 10 months later - my niece Siera was born. They are the best of friends and completely inseparable. And now they have matching bags.



My sister Katie helped them pick out and order the material. I was a little unsure of working with the nylon canvas, but it worked out beautifully.



We even had some excitement when Louisa lost her 13th tooth in the middle of constructing the bags.



I will admit that even though we intended for the girls to help sew the bags, I ended up doing all the sewing. The girls did help cut the pieces out and then spent the rest of the day refereeing the other kids with my sister and watching Toy Story 3. And they even mananged to NOT cry uncontrollably at the end like I did. Anyway.

Let me tell you how fabulous this tutorial is. Clear directions, helpful pictures. This was my second time using the pattern and I have another bag cut out for a birthday gift. One of these days I'll get to make one for me!



Molly