Friday, July 10, 2009

My favorite Advent Calendar so far

I have really loved this week of Advent Calendars. I hope that you were able to draw inspiration from our ideas and come up with something that you will love for years and years to come. There is plenty of time to get going on your own.

I think I just try to make up excuses for additional Advent Calendars. My husband was even giving me suggestions on the Calendars when I was making the fabric chain. I love that when he gets excited about something that I'm making;)


I thought I would share my favorite Advent Calendar so far. This is the one I made a few years ago. I started with the ornaments.


I talked with my husband about what images meant Christmas to us. A white dove, a Church, a snowflake, Jesus in a manger, peppermint candy, a gingerbread man, a train (we have two boys after all!), a Nisse (the little Santa-looking dude...it is a Danish thing.), a Danish flag, a snowman, a bell, an ornament, a package, a tree, a sleigh, etc...

Then I went through all my kid's Christmas coloring books, my cookie cutters and Googled the specific images to get inspiration. I wanted them to be big enough for my kids to really handle. They ended up quite big. Then I made the wonky tree and the pockets to fit the ornaments. I put it up at the end of my hall and see it all day every day at Christmas time. I love that it is a little bit wonky and hangs off kilter.
I don't want to bore you with all 24 ornaments, but I thought I'd share my favorite ones. I made them mostly with felt but there are lots of extra embellishments.
These were mostly sewn by hand, but some were done on my sewing machine. I used large eyelets at the top of the ornaments to put some embroidery thread through to hang them. (This did make my snowman look like a cyclops though.)

My kids get so excited to put a new ornament on the calendar. They peek in the pockets all day long and even rearrange them in the pockets.


It is how we start our day at Christmas time. I love that there isn't candy involved. I host a cookie exchange every year and we end up with dozens of cookies. I like that this goes on my wall and doesn't take up any counter space. I love that it reminds me of my childhood. And I really love how my children love this.

If you end up making an Advent Calendar using one of our tutorials, we would love to see them up in our little flickr group.

I really hope that you have gotten some good ideas from our week of Advent Calendars. What better time to start than now?



Remember, this is part of a whole week of advent calendars. Be sure to check out #1 which is a magnetic tin advent , #2 which is a framed button ornament advent, #3 which is a fabric candy or activity advent, and #4 which is a fabric or paper chain advent.

Anjeanette

~~~~~~~~

Katrina here,

I just wanted to say that I LOVE these ornaments. My favorites are the ones that have beading on them!! Makes me want to get out my felt and make some ornaments. When I was little (something like 4 years old) I remember sewing felt ornaments for a craft fair with my mother. We made items like camels and some other shapes but for some reason I only remember the camels. We stitched them up and stuffed them. My mother still has some of them that she hangs on her tree every year. My parents kept nearly all the ornaments we ever made.

Heartfelt and Handmade Holidays

14 comments:

Deb said...

I have an advent like this that my mom made while I was little. A few of the ornaments are missing though - these would be some great replacements! I love that there are buttons on the tree to loop the hangers over. So much easier than those teeny tiny safety pins!

Made In The South said...

Your calendar is soo cute. How creative.

Amy said...

Okay, I have decide that I have to learn how to sew. There are just way too many cute things to do that require it. It is my birthday tomorrow. I think I should ask for a sewing machine. I did know how to use it once. Is it like riding a bike? Maybe I just need to find out.

Made In The South said...

Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your blog and I shared ya'lls great blog with my readers. So please drop in and see the shout out...

Tara said...

Wow that is adorable!!! hummmm...going to have to start that like right now if i'm gonna try and pull that off before December!!!

Laurel @ Ducks in a Row said...

I just found your blog and I can not wait to make some of these things.

Unknown said...

How sweet is this!!! You girls rock I tell ya! Makes me long for cooler days and coco..hehe~

Suz said...

Visiting from SITS. great projects

the monkeys' mama said...

definitely bookmarking this for Christmas. So neat!

twinkle teaches said...

Peppermints, trains, gingerbread men--all cute! :)
tina

babalisme said...

Christmas in July?! Couldn't be any better!! Thank you so much for sharing

MammaDucky said...

Y'all, this is wonderful! This is my favorite one! I think if I start now, and do an ornament or two per weekend with the kids it will be done just in time! Thanks for the great idea!

Katie Lewis said...

I love these ornaments! I made some felt, blanket-stitched ornaments last year as gifts, but these have inspired me with some wonderful new ideas! I am envisioning a whole nativity set of felt ornaments. Oh, and I really love the beads on the snowflakes. So pretty! Thanks for sharing!

Meredith said...

Wow! I have been looking up Advent calendars for years waiting to be inspired. Yours are lovely! The "paper" chain one and this ornament one are my favorites. It is so tough to find Advent calendars that are festive and meaningful without requiring cheap candy or plastic toys as a big part of the design. Thanks for sharing your great ideas.