24 sleeps to Christmas; Festive fun & wreath making.

It’s the first of December and Christmas is most definitely in the air – not just in my house now! This morning the children had their first chocolate from our advent calendar, and were delighted to receive replies to their letters to Father Christmas. In the afternoon we went for a walk to our local park and collected a selection of greenery for our wreath (the circular willow base was made a few weeks ago on an autumnal walk). When we got home I set the children painting a couple of pine cones, dug my glue gun out and began to attach the greenery to the base bit by bit…. And this is the finished wreath;

 

This may not be the most symmetrical, bushy and professional looking wreath ever but it is the first that I have properly made myself and I think it looks just fine for our little front door. It is waiting to be put up in the morning, which my little festive spirited girl is very excited about.

Of course in the evening we burned the advent candle for the first time and had a very impatient little girl who was desperate to blow it out! I’m so pleased that I thought to decorate this candle like this as I really think it looks lovely.

 

How has your first day of December been?

Christmas Countdown; 26 sleeps… A festive felt brooch

Yes it’s bad light & not a great picture (on my phone!) but I think this little felt Christmas tree brooch is quite sweet. And it has buttons. I like buttons ;0)

Christmas Countdown; 27 sleeps….. Sharpie advent candles

Yes, that’s right. Advent candles can be very expensive but they are something we really like to have each year… I had a bit of a brainwave earlier and thought they would probably be very easy to make yourself. All you would need is a plain candle (mine are from Ikea & 20cm tall) Sharpies or similar permanent pens and a ruler to make sure the marks you make are evenly spaced…..

As you can see I made one slightly more traditional, with plain numbered lines and a “wreath” around the bottom. The other is a decorated Christmas tree with the numbers going up the centre (there are more decorations to the sides as the tree sticks out more at the bottom.

Though this was really quick and easy to make I would really leave it up to adults or older children as you really do need to use permanent pens or the picture will rub off very quickly. If you make a mistake you can simply scratch away the ink in that patch (try not to dig into the wax too much)

What do you think? Do let me know if you try it 🙂

Christmas Countdown; 31 sleeps…. Completed advent calendar & bunting

Ta-daaah!

yes the embroidery & stitching could be straighter but this advent calendar promises to be very special to us all; My children’s “first Christmas clothes” have been included as have pieces of the fabric that I made their stockings with….. I also made this bunting with some of it;

 

I must confess to flagrant cheating; I made the bunting about 3 years ago! I haven’t shared it here yet though…

What do you think? Do you have any special decorations that you bring out every year?

xxx

 

Christmas countdown; 32 sleeps…. pipe cleaner candy canes

 A super easy kids craft (that will be one of the crafts on the craft activity table at aour school Christmas Fayre) that just involves twisting a red and a white pipe cleaner together and bending the end over into a crook. You could tie them with ribbon to hang on your tree so that they don’t get hidden amongst the greenery 🙂

 

Christmas Countdown; 36 sleeps… winter scene

Yesterday I may not have posted my countdown update BUT I did go to our local Christmas Lights switch on event and made some progress on something that might not seem festive at first…. I felted a rock…..

But I didn’t stop there. Next I added a little needle felted Christmas tree, which I made a couple of days ago in preparation….

And finally I added somebody that you may find familiar if you have read my blog before….

I haven’t attached Radley to this little snowy hill because there is still more to do, which I will of course update you on once it’s complete.

What do you think? I’d love to see any comments or suggestions you may have 🙂

Christmas Countdown; 39 sleeps…

 

A festive green hairband that I bought for my daughter has been made even more Christmassy with the addition of a little felt Christmas pudding. She is almost as excited about Christmas as her mother so loves it!

See you tomorrow…..

Christmas Countdown; 40 sleeps.

This is a craft that’s great to do with children, especially if they are old enough to cut quite accurately by themselves. My 5 (nearly 6) year old daughter can cut out most of it by herself but needs help with the more fiddly bits….

 

1. Firstly print the template below onto thin card; then cut along the solid lines but leave the dotted lines uncut.

 

2. Turn the paper over so the lines are on the back. Draw a face and hair (or you could stick a bit of wool on for hair instead) on the small circle in the middle and decorate the dress and wings (in the top picture they look very plain don’t they, I usually go for a bit of glitter for this sort of thing). If you want to decorate the arms make sure you do this on the other side of the paper.

3. Glue along the tab and line it up with the edge of the dress on the other side, with the dotted line of the glue tab lined up along the edge as a guide to keep it straight.

4.  Fold the arms around to the front and glue the hands to the dress.

5. Fold the wings so they are resting just behind the head on each side. I find they stay upright better if I put a bit of sticky tape across both folds.

And there you are, it’s very easy and makes a sweet little Christmas decoration. If you like you could attach a bit of ribbon on the inside to hang it from your Christmas tree.

TTFN!

Christmas Countdown; 41 sleeps

My Festive offering today is a needle felted baby Reindeer…..

With his red nose you could be forgiven for thinking that this is a young Rudolph, however the signature red nose is a bit of a family trait…

 

This is Radley, Rudolph’s baby cousin. He is wearing a sleigh bell around his neck so that his family can keep track of him; Radley is quite an adventurer already even though there is still no sign of antlers between his ears and he still has his baby spots.

He’s off to play in the snow now but hopes he’ll get to see you again……

 

 

Christmas Countdown… 42 sleeps!

I must confess that you could describe me as leaning towards the “quite festive” at this time of year. As soon as November kicks in I start feeling justified in my building excitement, especially now that the Christmas adverts are out in full force and the Christmas lights in our town are being switched on this weekend. With two poorly children at home today I may or may not be keeping them entertained with that awesome Christmas favourite Elf.. I admit to nothing. This year has been a tough one for me so I’m looking forward to the big day even more than usual, however the build up is surely the best part.

With that in mind I have decided to try to post a picture of my crafty festive preparations here on my Blog every day until Christmas Eve. I will try to include a couple of tutorials too so watch this space.

So until tomorrow, here are the little festive bits I have made so far….: