Tag Archives: advent calendar

It’s the Final Countdown…to Christmas

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Every year, from Halloween to New Year, life is a whirlwind of activities, events and marathon eating on repeat.  With a kid, our schedules are even more packed.  You parents know what I’m talking about.  Our kids have more active social lives than we do.  I have a backlog of things that I want to share, but unfortunately, I just don’t have time right now.

Over the last month, I was away for a week because we surprised our daughter with a trip to Disney World.  That was an awesome experience by the way.  After we returned, I had to get ready for Thanksgiving festivities.  In between all the craziness, I was cranking out a huge project every moment I could spare.  And by huge, I mean physically, and also the magnitude of the details involved and time spent on it.

I wanted to make my daughter an Advent calendar.  Not just any Advent calendar that’s slapped together in an hour.  If I was going to put my time, effort, and money into this project, then it was going to be beautiful and freaking heirloom material.  Go big or go home.  And f’ing big I went.

Most people with lives would not spend 12748 hours on this project.  As my husband can tell you, I spent nearly every free moment cutting, sewing, and gluing.  Want dinner?  Eat some peanuts and string cheese.  Laundry?  Yeah…I’ve already done 6 loads since yesterday, and I probably have 2 more left.  This project can be made a lot faster if you skip most of the sewing, and just hot glue everything together.  Also, if you are not interested in a huge 4’x3′ calendar, the ornaments themselves would give your Christmas tree a really sweet and homey touch.  Most of the ornaments are only one sided though.  If I had 2 more weeks than I would have made them double sided.

Use very sharp scissors.  My scissors were recently sharpened before I started this project.  Now, my scissors are in desperate need of another sharpening.  I could tell when they started to dull because they would snip off more than I intended, and the cuts were not as clean.

You can find step by step instructions on how to make the calendar here.  The ornaments are split into part 1 and part 2.  Scroll down and you can see closeups of the ornaments since it is hard to see the details on the tree photo.

Before December 1st

On December 25th

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Nativity scene on the tree trunk

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Bell

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Candle

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Candy Cane

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Church

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Cup

Dove

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Drum

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Gingerbread Man

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Santa Hat

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Heart

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Holly

Lamb

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Mitten

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Ornament

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Poinsettia

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Present

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Reindeer

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Sleigh

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Snowflake

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Snowman

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Star

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Stocking

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Christmas Tree

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Wreath

O Christmas Tree

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These are the steps I took to make the banner and tree of the Advent calendar.  I actually did not mean for the calendar to be so large.  But, by the time I realized how big the finished product would be, it was too late to go back.  The entire banner is approximately 4’x3′.  You can certainly scale it down if you don’t have the wall space for this monstrosity.  Go here and here to see how to make the ornaments.

I got a yard of green felt from Joann’s.  A yard is 3 feet.  The width of the felt is 72″, so I had a lot of green felt.

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I folded the piece in half.

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I cut a triangle.  Here, my scissors are at their peak performance.

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Bam, huge ass tree.

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Some time lapsed between the tree cutting and the next step, for it is now night.  I cut out 24 pieces of paper that measured 4″x4″.  The plan was for each ornament to be smaller than 4″x4″.  I laid them out on the tree to make sure there would be enough space for everything.

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I trimmed the tree until it resembled a gigantic pile of green poop.

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I found these cute snowflake buttons at the store.  They will serve as knobs for the ornament loops.

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I used pins to first figure out where I wanted the buttons placed.

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Here is the tree after I sewed on the buttons.  I also used green DMC pearl cotton thread to whipstitch the tree.  I wanted a thicker thread so the stitches would stand out, and it also took a lot less time than messing with regular thread.  I was originally going to paint numbers on the calendar using stencils.  But after a few failed practice runs on scraps, I decided that it was too risky, and I would probably screw up.  And then I would be super pissed off and probably tear the tree apart with my bare hands and teeth.

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For the tree trunk, I used two entire sheets of brown felt, and whipstitched the sides with brown DMC pearl cotton thread.  I forgot to take a picture, but I sewed pieces of velcro onto both sheets of felt.  It’s hard to explain here, but keep scrolling, and you’ll see why.

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These are the pieces of the Virgin Mary.

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Here are the pieces of the baby Jesus.

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Here are the pieces of Joseph.

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I know the stitches on the velcro look like shit.  I hate sewing velcro, the thread always gets caught in the teeth of the velcro.  Anyways, the velcro part won’t be seen anyways, so whatever.  So the plan is to glue the nativity scene onto one sheet of felt.  The other sheet will cover up the scene until December 25th.

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I have here a yard of white felt and two yards of a holiday theme cotton fabric.  I cut them down to the size I wanted.

I got two dowels that were 48″ long and 3/4″ round.  My husband helped me trim the dowels and drilled a hole into each end of one of the dowels.  They need to be big enough to thread a ribbon through.

My husband bought me a sewing machine for Mother’s Day, but I haven’t made the time to learn how to use it yet.  He on the other hand, knows how to use a sewing machine, thanks to home ec class back in the day.  He helped me sew the felt and holiday fabric together.  He folded the ends of the banner and sewed across the fold to make a hole to insert the dowels.

I had my husband sew a strip of white felt across the back of the banner.  This will be a pouch to hold the ornaments.  Aha, genius huh?

At this point, I stopped taking pictures because it was really late and I just wanted to hurry and finish the blasted project.  I used hot glue to first glue the tree trunk that had the nativity scene.  Then I hot glued the tree in place.  BUT make sure the bottom of the tree covers up the top of the trunk where the ugly velcro stitches are.  Also leave the bottom of the tree unglued so you have access to the velcro and can do the big reveal on the 25th.

I threaded a red ribbon through the holes in the dowels and knotted the ends.  I also hot glued strips of holiday ribbon across the banner.

Aaaaah!  It is done.

Rockin’ Around the Advent Tree

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Here is part 1 of the instructions on how to make the tree ornaments for the Advent calendar.  Part 2 can be found here.  Most of them were pretty straightforward and simple to make.  Like I mentioned before, most of my time was spent on the sewing.  I really need to learn how to use my sewing machine.

BELL

Scissors, red ribbon, thin gold ribbon, 2 yellow felt bell shapes, gold balloon sequin, gold thread, hot glue

Cut 5″ of the thin gold ribbon and tie it into a loop. Glue the loop to the top of the bell. Whip stitch the bottoms of each bell. Hot glue the balloon sequin to one of the bells.

Whip stitch the rest of the bell together. Hot glue the bottom of the bell together.

Make a bow with the red ribbon and glue the ribbon to the bell. I decided to add more sparkles to the bell.

CANDY CANE

Thin gold ribbon, white and red ribbon, 2 white candy cane shapes, white thread, scissors, hot glue

I glued the gold loop to the top of the candy cane. Then I whip stitched the two candy canes together.

Glue the red and white ribbon around the candy cane.

CHURCH

Gold ribbon, brown thread, gold thread, 5″ thin gold loop, brown pipe cleaner twisted into a cross, dark brown door shape, star sequin, 2 light brown church shapes, scissors, hot glue

Glue the pipe cleaner cross and the gold loop to the top of the church. Use the gold thread to whip stitch the 2 church shapes together.

Whip stitch the door with the brown thread, then glue the door to the church. Glue gold ribbon to the roofs of the church. The star sequin was too big to fit on the church, so I got a smaller circle sequin instead.

CUP

Gold ribbon, white thread, 2 cup shapes, 2 cup handle shapes, thin gold ribbon, flower sequins, scissors, hot glue

Whip stitch the 2 cup handles. Whipstitch the cups together, but leave the top unsewn. Also leave 2 holes to insert the handle.

Glue the gold loop to the top corner of the cup. Glue the handle into the holes.

Glue the gold ribbon across the top of the cup, then glue the tops shut. Glue the flower sequins to the cup.

DOVE

Thin gold ribbon, 4 wing shapes, 2 body shapes, 2 beads for eyes, rhinestones, gold thread, hot glue, scissors

Sew an eye on each side of the body.  Glue the gold ribbon to the body, whipstitch the body shapes together, and whipstitch the wings.

Hot glue one wing to each side of the body.  This is a two-sided ornament.

Hot glue the rhinestones to the wings.

DRUM

Thin gold ribbon, scissors, brown thread, blue thread, 2 drum shapes, blue felt strip, white drum top, sequins, hot glue

I whip stitched the drum top and the blue strip, then I glued them to the drum. I glued the gold loop to the corned of the drum.

I threaded the thin gold thread through the drum.

Make the M shape with the gold thread, and tie off the ends.

Finish by whip stitching both drum pieces together. Then glue the sequins to the ends of the gold thread.

GINGERBREAD MAN

Hot glue, brown thread, white ribbon, thin gold ribbon, scissors, 2 gingerbread shapes, 2 white beads, red felt mouth shape, 2 green flower beads

Glue the gold loop to the top of the gingerbread man. Sew on the white bead eyes, glue the mouth shape, and sew on the flower beads.

Sew the 2 gingerbread man shapes together. Glue the white ribbon to his arms, legs, and waist.

SANTA HAT

Red Santa hat shapes, red thread, white ribbon, white pompom, thin gold ribbon, scissors, hot glue

Glue the gold loop to the top of the hat. Whip stitch the 2 hat pieces together, but leave the bottom open.

Glue the white ribbon across the bottom of the hat, and glue the pompom to the hat tip. Glue the bottom of the hat shut.

HEART

Rhinestones, silver thread, 2 heart shapes, hot glue, thin gold ribbon, scissors

Glue the gold loop to the top of the heart. Whip stitch the 2 hearts together.

I decided to add a smaller pink heart. No whip stitch necessary since the edges will be covered with rhinestones

I glued the rhinestones around the pink heart, and in the center.

HOLLY

Gold ribbon, scissors, green thread, hot glue, holly shapes, red sequins, thin gold ribbon

I glued the ends of a little piece of gold ribbon together.

I tied a piece of thin gold ribbon around the middle of the ribbon.

Easy gold bow.

Whip stitch the holly leaves together.

I decided to add a third leaf. I glued the 3 leaves together, glued the thin gold loop to the top. Then I glued the bow and sequins on.

LAMB

Nude thread, white thread, black thread, pink thread, 4 ear shapes, 2 inner ear shapes, 2 fluffy lamb shapes, 4 leg shapes, 1 face shape, 2 eye shapes, 1 nose shape, thin gold ribbon, scissors, hot glue

Whip stitch the ears together, the pink inner ears, the face, and the black legs together.

Glue the pink inner ears to the nude ears. Glue the eyes and nose to the face. Sew the mouth and outline the nose.

Glue the gold loop to the top of the lamb. Whip stitch the lamb together, but leave a little hole for the legs.

Glue on the face, ears, and legs.

MITTEN

Hot glue, plaid ribbon, blue thread, scissors, 2 mitten shapes, thin gold thread, snowflake sequin

Glue the gold loop to the top of the mitten. Whip stitch the mitten except for the bottom.

Glue the plaid ribbon around the bottom, and then glue the opening shut. Glue the snowflake sequin to the mitten.

ORNAMENT

Hot glue, silver ribbon, 2 ball ornament shapes, sequins, silver thread, scissors

Glue the gold loop to the top of the ornament. Whip stitch the ornament.

Glue the silver ribbon and sequins on.

Advent calendar tree ornaments part 2

Still Rockin’ Around the Advent Tree

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This is part 2 of the Advent calendar ornaments.  You can find the tree instructions here and instructions for the other 12 ornaments here.

POINSETTIA

Scissors, leaves, 10 red petal shapes, pearls beads, red thread, thin gold ribbon, hot glue

Whip stitch the petals together.

Sew a pearl to the petal

Sew the petals together.

Notice that the flower is still very floppy.

Cut 2 small green squares.

Glue the leaves to a green square.

Cover the stems with the other green square.

Glue the gold loop to a petal. Glue the green squares with leaves to the back of the flower. This will also provide support to the floppy flower. The center needed something extra, so I glued a flower bead and a pearl.

CANDLE

White and red ribbon, white thread, leaves, 2 white candle shapes. 2 flame shapes, small poinsettia, thin gold ribbon, scissors, hot glue

Glue the gold loop to the corner of the candle. Whip stitch the candle and the flame shapes.

Glue the red and white ribbon around the candle.

Glue a tiny piece of gold ribbon to be the wick. Glue the flame to the wick and candle. Glue the small poinsettia to the bottom of the candle.

PRESENT

Scissors, 2 rectangles, blue thread, snowflake ribbon, thin gold ribbon, hot glue

Glue the gold loop to the corner of the present. Whip stitch the present together.

Glue the snowflake ribbon to the present.

Cut out 5 small pieces of ribbon.

Sew the piece into a loop.

Attach the next loop so they slightly overlap.

Attach all the loops to make a flat gift bow. It will be a little loose. But they will be glued to the present, so no worries.

Glue a rhinestone to the middle of the bow, and glue the bow to the present.

REINDEER

Red thread, brown thread, black thread, thin gold ribbon, 4 ear shapes, 2 head shapes, 2 eyes, 2 eye balls, 1 red nose, brown pipe cleaner, scissors, hot glue

Cut the pipe cleaner in half, and twist them into 2 antlers. Whip stitch the ears together. Glue the eyes and nose to the head. Sew on the mouth.

Sew the 2 heads together, but leave a hole on the top for the gold loop and the antlers.

Glue on the antlers and the gold loop.

SLEIGH

Hot glue, thin gold ribbon, red thread, green thread, 2 red sleigh shapes, green sleigh bottoms (skis? rails? whatever), scissors

Whip stitch the green sleigh bottom parts. When sewing the long rail, leave the middle open to attach the little legs.

Glue the legs into the long rail.

Glue the gold loop to the front of the sleigh. Whip stitch the sleigh, but leave a hole on the bottom for the legs.

Glue on the legs, and also a few sequins to give it more bling.

SNOWFLAKE
This snowflake gave me a hell of a time.  It pissed me off, even though it was my own stupid fault.

Scissors, white thread, blue thread, snowflake points, hot glue

I whip stitched the points together.

So in between the last photo and this photo, what you don’t see is me assembling the entire snowflake and all pleased with my work. And then I realize that I made a star, not a snowflake. Stupid me forgot that a snowflake has 6 points, not 5. So I carefully tore apart the whole snowflake to redo it. Here, you can see the 5 finished points and the last point that needs to be sewn and bling’d.

I have 2 small white squares glued together. Then I glued each snowflake point to the square.

Snowflake, take 2

SNOWMAN

Scissors, hot glue, 4 mitten shapes, 2 black beads, 2 hat shapes, small white pompom, 2 medium snowball shapes, 2 large snowball shapes, 1 flower button, 2 carrot shapes, red thread, black thread, orange thread, white thread, light green thread, dark green thread

Glue the thin gold loop to the top of the hat, and whip stitch the hat together. Sew the black bead eyeballs to a medium snowball. Sew the flower button to the large snowball. Whip stitch the mittens and nose together.

Glue the pompom to the top of the hat. Glue the carrot nose and a mouth to the head. Whip stitch the medium snowballs and the large snowballs together.

Glue the hat to the head, and mittens to the body.

STAR

Gold thread, thin gold ribbon, 2 large star shapes, 2 smaller star shapes, scissors, hot glue

Glue the gold loop to the tip of the large star. Whip stitch the large star and the smaller star.

Glue the smaller star behind the large star. I added some bling to the center.

STOCKING

Polka dotted ribbon, thin gold ribbon, 2 stocking shapes, 2 heel shapes, 2 toe shapes, sequins, scissors, hot glue

Whip stitch the heel shapes and the toe shapes. Glue them to the stocking. This is a double sided ornament.

Glue the gold loop to the corner of the stocking. Whip stitch the stocking together, but leave the top open.

Glue the ribbon across the top of the stocking. Glue the opening together.

CHRISTMAS TREE

2 tree shapes, 2 trunks, sequins, green thread, brown thread, scissors, hot glue, thin gold ribbon

Whip stitch the trunk together. Glue the gold loop to the top of the tree, and whip stitch the tree together. Leave a hole on the bottom for the trunk.

Glue the trunk into the bottom of the tree. Glue sequins to decorate the tree.

CHRISTMAS WREATH

2 green donuts, thin gold ribbon, sequins, green thread, scissors, hot glue

Glue the gold loop to the circle. Whip stitch the donuts together.

Decorate the wreath with sequins.