2 Our Advent calendar...

So last year I put this advent calendar together, but because I wasn't really on the ball we didn't get to use it until this year. I got muslin pieces of fabric about 8in. long by 3in. wide. I curved one of the sides about two inches from the top, then stitched one side up to the other with the extra flap hanging over. I added a button hole and a number on the envelope and wha-la...there it is!


Inside each envelope is a polaroid picture of what our activity is for the day. The kids are loving looking for each number on the tree and finding out what activity we'll be doing that day!


I thought I'd share my advent list with you, just in case you want some inspiration!! :)

• Check out Christmas books from the library and read them around the Christmas tree before bed
• hang up outside Christmas lights
• attend our ward party
• celebrate Jeremy's birthday (this one isn't really Christmas-y...but we wanted Jeremy's day to still feel special despite all the hoopla of Christmas)
• sip hot cocoa with a candy cane in it and tell favorite memories of past Christmases
• stuff our Christmas cards into envelopes and get them ready to send
• write letters to Santa
• play reindeer games
• build a snowman in the front yard
• color in a Christmas coloring book together
• make a Christmas card holder for all the cards from our friends
• have a picnic dinner by the light of the Christmas tree
• build gingerbread houses
• finger paint in red and green
• learn a new Christmas song
• build a snow hill in the backyard and go sledding
• attend a Christmas concert or performance (this is Bryleigh's Tavaci concert)
• take goodies to our friends
• read and discuss the Christmas story
• drive around town looking at Christmas lights
• work on our talents for our family Christmas party
• get all of our P365 photos together to print
• write out our family goals for next year
• over the river and thru the woods...

I'd love to see your advent calendars!! :)

2 Homemade Christmas

I love our Christmas tree!! Most everything on it is homemade. Last year, that was my big project for Christmas. I started at Halloween and worked until we put up our tree. But I love how it turned out! It's so colorful...and homemade!

Here's a picture of the tree. You can see the felt garland, polaroid picture frames, the felt ornaments and some of the perler bead snowflakes.


Here's a close-up of one of the snowflakes. I think I made like 16 of these, and another 6 or so candy cane ones. The kids LOVED helping out with these...choosing the colors and helping put the beads on! You can also see the fabric ball up in the corner. We made those at a ward activity...they are just fabric pieces folded around a styrofoam ball. Super fun and easy! You can also see the felt garland pretty well here too. I just cut out a couple hundred circles out of 6 different colors of felt. I free handed them...I wasn't too particular with them looking perfect. Then I just fed them through my sewing machine, leaving a little bit of thread in between each one. It's my favorite thing!


Up close of one of my favorite ornaments. These were so fun to make! I loved picking different colors and cutting them into different shapes. I just sewed a little bit of twine into the top...and there you have it, instant ornament!


And then a close-up of the polaroid pictures. I just took a 3x5 plain notecard, printed and cut out pictures of our family (sized at 2.5x2.5) and sewed it onto the card. Then I just trimmed off the very bottom so that it looked like a polaroid. Punched a little hole at the top and added some yarn. I love these so much, I need to make some updated ones too!