It sure was nice having a whole week
between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. I was actually able to
prep a little for advent and be ready to go December 1st. One of the
projects that I wanted to add to this year's list was an advent
calendar. We had been using mine that I grew up with and loved, but I
wanted something bigger that would eventually include all our kids and
be more interactive.
I
had pinned a ton of ideas over the year for advent calendars: ones
shaped like Christmas trees, made from felt, paper envelopes or brown
paper bags, etc. Then I stumbled upon this image a few weeks ago and
knew this was the one.
Buuuuut
it don't come with a tutorial. So I fished around and found a few more
images with the same modge-podged, saggy-pocket, rustic look.
I
bought a ten dollar 6 by 9 drop cloth {canvas tarp that painters use}
from Walmart and got to work. {This is waaaay bigger than you'll ever
need, but I want to make a tree skirt out of the same material.} All the
"extras" I already had in my craft stash: buttons, ribbon trims,
pom-poms, doilies, embroidery floss, fabric, felt, sewing machine,
sharpie, and paint.
I cut and hemmed a piece of the drop cloth to measure about 36 inches long by 31 inches wide.
We have a little wall between our kitchen and eating are where
our thankful tree was so I figured I'd hang this there too. So, I worked off the wall's size. I had several burlap squares leftover from
my bubble burlap wreath
project that I used for placement and pocket size. Then I just started
switching some of them out for fabric and felt squares. And that's where
the laborious, time-consuming part came in: decorating each pocket. Oh,
the hours spent! And the mess that my kitchen table withstood!
I
didn't plan ahead nor really tried to spend too much thought on any one
pocket. I wanted it to look slightly messy and non-uniformed.
Once
the pockets were decorated, I sewed each one in place. With the burlap
ones, I went over them twice just to make sure wee lil' hands wouldn't
tear them. I added three tab on top and stuck a wooden dowel through
them. The last thing I did was tie some ribbon to each dowel end and
hung it up!
Filling
them was fun! I've been wanting to purchase a nativity set that the
boys could role-play with for awhile. After some hunting, I decided on
the Little People's set which has a bazillion pieces {make sure to get
the one that has the shepherd!!}! I picked that up at Wally World along
with the drop cloth.
I
wrapped each nativity piece in some brown kraft paper and washi tape. I
mingled the pieces with some chocolate and "activities tags". The tags
are basically index cards that I added ribbon and tape to. I looked over
this list
and picked several that fit our family and the traditions we like to do
during this time of year: Christmas lights drive, bake cookies, watch a
Christmas movie, do a Christmas/winter related craft, have a picnic
next to the Christmas tree, and make this year's ornament. I also tried
to include a few "service"/acts of kindness type activities too. I was
really inspired by
this blogger's kindness project from a few years back. Hoping we can add more of these as the years go on and the kids are more capable!
I
half-jokingly told W that this advent better end up as a heirloom after
all the time I spent on it. It seriously took 3+ days to complete. Labor of love. But I
love how it turned out and know it'll get many more years use out of it in the
meantime. Our Christmas count-down has begun!
