2013 Advent Calendar DIY Ideas

WAAAY late getting this year's advent calendar together. And as far as keeping up with posting, well I'm not even going there. But what with the epic Gatsby party that has taken up so much of November, I am down to one week to get at least three calendars together to post. I spent last night going over the pinterest board that I compiled last year, adding some new bits and then throwing it all on a brand spanking NEW board, aptly titled THINGS TO PUT IN THE ADVENT CALENDARS. You know, so I don't get lost. So behold.... the pinterest board that will be the beginning of this week's making of things. If you have a craft that you think is AWESOME and should be included, just comment and I'll add it.

I have to apologize as per usual for my computer being (again) at the cleaners, with all the photos from last year's crafts and such... I really DID take photos. Really GOOD ones actually. The nice man says it will be fixed soon, so if the calendar isn't your thing but December crafting IS, then I'll post those when I get it back with tutorials. In the meantime, we begin with ideas for this year's calendar.

The Perfect Christmas Cake

How adorably fabulous is this Red Velvet Cake with Snowmen Macaroons on top? I am totally in love!!!

I don't know if macaroons are beyond my capabilities, but the ingredients, cream cheese icing, red velvet cake and gorgeousness, all make for a good reason to attempt it. Oh, wait... I think I may have to make this a joint project with my foodie friend Becca. Mmmmm... :)

Holiday To Do List: Fabric Gift Bags

Last Christmas I learned a few things. Thing number one: Fabric Gift Bags. I am reposting this now so that those of us (ahem) who are really seriously on it, can keep this in mind as a possible "To Do" for their holiday list.

Last year I spent Christmas with a friend's family. This fabulous and crafty friend shared a secret with me, and now I am sharing it with you. The new thing is fabric gift bags instead of paper.

Brilliant! I personally am not a fan of red and green, I rarely do "normal" for Christmas. It certainly doesn't have to be just holiday themed patterns though. In fact, I am adopting an entire spectrum of these bags for birthdays and such as well... and this neutral bag with the tree on the front is another lovely idea. I think stamped or silk screened pine cones would be gorgeous. I haven't taken on silk screening before, but I have a friend who does it and would probably be willing to do a trade. Regardless... this is the most easy peasy sewing project imaginable!

In the end, the bags cost less than paper if you use them over and over and I can't tell you how amazing it was that there was no crazy obscene mess of torn paper as an aftermath last Christmas morning. When I asked her if her kids missed the ripping and tearing into gifts, she replied that there were still gifts from outside the family (or from grandparents) that came wrapped in paper for that. And that when the gifts are torn into, often it becomes more about ripping open gift after gift without having much appreciation for what is inside. I tend to agree with that... having seen the youngest in more than one paper ripping frenzy. Christmas was very calm and lovely, and the cleanup was not only far more eco... but super easy. All the bags fit into one big one to be stored with the decorations. Or with your wrapping whatnots, whichever you prefer. I am looking into wooden gift tags as well... or durable cardstock ones. There are a number of possibilities and since your family members will probably keep their names, re-use is a simple option :)

Lavender Hot Chocolate

Now that there is no denying the cold that has befallen us, I am open to trying new things in the world of hot chocolate. Because, well... I might just have to make this a few times to perfect it, right? My new obsession is Lavender Hot Chocolate. Mmmmm...

Go here for the recipe...

Another ADVENTurous Idea!

Last year I posted this idea of making advent calendars for friends, family and ourselves.  The thought being that I should have started in November. I said that I would post it again so that we would ALL remember to start early and actually stand a chance of getting it done.

Waaaay back in  November my sons and I decided to create an advent calendar for friends of ours. We thought it would be fun to gather silly gifts to open every day, small animals, a lucky penny, a pretty rock, that sort of thing. Their sons are of an age with these guys and all about collecting, so it seemed a good idea and the collecting begun. Then all hell broke loose with the social calendar and somehow the calendar was forgotten about till it was already well into December. I told them we would do it next year.

Today we are sorting out the last of the gifts we are making and figuring out what still needs doing and I have an ENTIRE day to work on Christmas details. I stumbled upon a lovely set of photos and ideas this morning in the Anthology Gift Guide, revolving around holiday traditions, new and old. I love them all, but this one in particular got me to thinking. It's an Activity Advent Calendar, and it's meant to cover a month of Christmas doings. I think that is pretty brilliant, but then I got to thinking further and realized that what we REALLY should do in this house, is to make next year's calendar NOW. Maybe not put the dates on it right yet, but make an activity for say, twenty of the twenty-five days so that when next year rolls around we can place the days around the things already on the calendar. The coolest thing, is that by next year, we will only have a vague recollection of what we put into it. It really will be a surprise for everyone! For us, it will be a way to be sure that enough time is spent doing family based activities and not running around like crazy just "getting things done".

I like the idea of doing this with small gifts as well, and am thinking that next year, if I'm really on it, November can be spent making advents for all the families we know. If you have ten families, you need to bake a dozen each of a few kinds of cookies, buy a set of small forest animals and paint them with glitter, a box of individually wrapped chocolates to divvy up, print out some friendship notes and curl them up into a vial or tiny box, a few decks of cards maybe from the dollar store, handmade tree ornaments... there are literally so many small objects that would be fun to put in a basket or box, each wrapped individually (make sure you put the individual cookies into wrapping, bags or containers that will keep them fresh) and with numbered tags on them. The family can pick a person each day to open something. So much more special than the cardboard and cheap chocolate things that you see everywhere.

If you have unique ideas of what to put into the advents, leave us a comment!

Fabric Gift Wrapping Bags

As soon as I receive the amazing photos from my amazing Christmas vacay, they shall be posted. In the meantime, I learned a few things. Thing number one: Fabric Gift Bags.

I spent Christmas with a friend's family. While this friend is rather new, she is also rather fabulous. And crafty. The best sort of friend really, no? So this fabulous and crafty friend shared a secret with me, and now I am sharing it with you. The fabric stores have all their Christmas fabric on sale right now. Now. Right this minute... and guess what? You need some. Well, you don't need Christmas fabric necessarily, but if that is your thing, then get on it! Because the new thing is fabric gift bags instead of paper.

A few years ago Heather went to an after Christmas sale and bought up the remnants she liked best for $2 /meter. She zipped off a bunch of simple bags of various sizes and put them away for the next year's gift wrapping. Brilliant! I personally am not a fan of red and green, I rarely do "normal" for Christmas. It certainly doesn't have to be just holiday themed patterns though. In fact, I am adopting an entire spectrum of these bags for birthdays and such as well... and this neutral bag with the tree on the front is another lovely idea. I think stamped or silk screened pine cones would be gorgeous. I haven't taken on silk screening before, but I have a friend who does it and would probably be willing to do a trade. Regardless... this is the most easy peasy sewing project imaginable!

In the end, the bags cost less than paper if you use them over and over and I can't tell you how amazing it was that there was no crazy obscene mess of torn paper as an aftermath this Christmas morning. When I asked her if her kids missed the ripping and tearing into gifts, she replied that there were still gifts from outside the family (or from grandparents) that came wrapped in paper for that. And that when the gifts are torn into, often it becomes more about ripping open gift after gift without having much appreciation for what is inside. I tend to agree with that... having seen the youngest in more than one paper ripping frenzy. This Christmas was very calm and lovely, and the cleanup was not only far more eco... but super easy. All the bags fit into one big one to be stored with the decorations. Or with your wrapping whatnots, whichever you prefer. I am definitely adopting this gem!

Paper Quilling Snowflakes

Spent the day making gorgeous quilled paper snowflakes at our Crafternoon Extraveganza. I found this photo on pinterest and made it big so I could figure out how it was made, drew out a diagram and guessed at the lengths of paper. Turns out, if I had just clicked ON the photo (I should know that by now) it takes you rather haphazardly to three or four tutorials for even more gorgeous designs! It's time consuming, but one of those projects that you get much faster at as you go, and actually really fun. The post I did awhile ago involving paper quilling has consistently be one of the most popular, so there must be people out there trying this! I thought you might be interested in a tutorial (or in this case five!)

If you are looking for a pretty detail for your Christmas decorating, may I suggest a few of these delicate and intricate beauties hanging about? You can make them any size and use them in any application that you can use a medallion or paper flower, they are crazy inexpensive... and they would look gorgeous dusted in opal glitter! Don't get frustrated with your first one, I was teaching people today and by the time they were finished their first they had just finally "got it"... so consider your first to be a practice and carry on :) Send me photos!

An ADVENTurous Idea!

Waaaay back in  November my sons and I decided to create an advent calendar for friends of ours. We thought it would be fun to gather silly gifts to open every day, small animals, a lucky penny, a pretty rock, that sort of thing. Their sons are of an age with these guys and all about collecting, so it seemed a good idea and the collecting begun. Then all hell broke loose with the social calendar and somehow the calendar was forgotten about till it was already well into December. I told them we would do it next year.

Today we are sorting out the last of the gifts we are making and figuring out what still needs doing and I have an ENTIRE day to work on Christmas details. I stumbled upon a lovely set of photos and ideas this morning in the Anthology Gift Guide, revolving around holiday traditions, new and old. I love them all, but this one in particular got me to thinking. It's an Activity Advent Calendar, and it's meant to cover a month of Christmas doings. I think that is pretty brilliant, but then I got to thinking further and realized that what we REALLY should do in this house, is to make next year's calendar NOW. Maybe not put the dates on it right yet, but make an activity for say, twenty of the twenty-five days so that when next year rolls around we can place the days around the things already on the calendar. The coolest thing, is that by next year, we will only have a vague recollection of what we put into it. It really will be a surprise for everyone! For us, it will be a way to be sure that enough time is spent doing family based activities and not running around like crazy just "getting things done".

I like the idea of doing this with small gifts as well, and am thinking that next year, if I'm really on it, November can be spent making advents for all the families we know. If you have ten families, you need to bake a dozen each of a few kinds of cookies, buy a set of small forest animals and paint them with glitter, a box of individually wrapped chocolates to divvy up, print out some friendship notes and curl them up into a vial or tiny box, a few decks of cards maybe from the dollar store, handmade tree ornaments... there are literally so many small objects that would be fun to put in a basket or box, each wrapped individually (make sure you put the individual cookies into wrapping, bags or containers that will keep them fresh) and with numbered tags on them. The family can pick a person each day to open something. So much more special than the cardboard and cheap chocolate things that you see everywhere.

What do you think? Tell you what, I will post this now for next November as well, so we can all remind ourselves!

Colour Palettes for Christmas Decorating

Gatherings Magazine posted a question to it's followers last week on it's facebook page. "What is your favourite Christmas colour scheme?" I was not surprised by the answers, there are a few tried and true palettes that work with Christmas whether it be a classic look you're after or a natural one... or even up to the topmost branch in sweets and confections! It's generally the first thing (right around Halloween) that comes into my brain, and typically I don't sway much from the first inspiration.

Last year, we moved into our house on Halloween, and immediately I knew we had to paint the walls green. Very green. I also knew that I wanted them shiny to reflect the warm glow of the candles and tree lights.  Four coats later, while not as lacquer shiny as I had wanted, they were very green. I intended greens upon greens using texture to define and add elegance. I usually go for all out fun, so this was quite a departure for me. I used metallic hits to break up the green, but for the most part it was layers of green in glass, china, fabrics and cut branches. I loved it.

This year, I want to do natural and neutral. Specifically slate gray with birch. I'm not allowed to repaint. I usually get my way here. I am confused. I know in my head EXACTLY what I want, and generally it would have been sorted well before this point. I keep wading through the decor and starting to put things up but the scheme just doesn't work with the green walls and I take everything back down and put it back in the box.

Weeeellll.... the middle of the month approaches. I simply must change my direction, and I refuse to repeat the decor of last year (yes, YOU try explaining the logic of that to the man) so I am left in a panic. BUT, my lovely eight year old and four year old sons have come to my rescue. The other day, while perusing Pinterest to look at craft ideas, they pointed out that many of my images had a green and aqua thing going on. They both LOVE turquoise and aqua and they are sold. It has taken me a couple of days... but it's possible that we have it.

My question now is do we stick to greens and various blues with silver? Or do we throw in a lavender or a pink? Whichever way you mix it in, it seems that this is a nice balance between my all out crazy fun (think Dr. Seuss or the one year that mustard and violet were the IT combo) and my new adult attitude. What do you think?

On the Agenda: COOKIES!

Molasses Cookies via Not Martha

I am making these today. Because molasses is GOOD for you. My mother says I should be giving my kids a teaspoon a day... well, she said more than that, but we tried it for a bit and both kids disowned me. I don't entirely blame them. So I am putting it in in cookie form instead. Also I think I will try a gingerbread cake. Because Christmas is in full swing around here, folks! I know, this is NOT what she meant...

Nothing Scrooge About It

I am kind of odd about how I spend money. I haven't had any extra for quite some time now, but even when I did, I wrapped my gifts in kraft paper with gorgeous satin bows and greenery. This year, I am using newspaper. I can't seem to find newspaper that looks the way it should (when did big ugly ads come in and ruin all the wordy pages like the classifieds?) but it is still black and white. (If you can find the NY Times I hear that is a good one esthetically to use. Why do I know that? How odd the random things you pick up from reading blogs!) I am taking it a bit further though this year and making a lot of decorations out of that and bookpaper. I love the look of the text mixed up with the greens and golds... black, white and green have been a long time favourite colour combo.

I have to confess, I think the decision to go with the very intense green in the living room was based on how I thought it should look for Christmas. I could envision a beautiful tree in the corner with the lights reflected in the glossy paint. Not that "tame" is really an option. I love all white interiors, but I don't think I could realistically live in one. My last living room was chartreuse. To balance out the green though, there will have to be a good amount of otherness going on. For the moment, that means paper. So with the kids help, I am building an immense number of paper chains, "balls" and weaves to put on the tree and everywhere else. The newspaper is obviously the inexpensive way to go, but it also looks great. I always have remnants of ribbons around from the sewing I am supposed to be doing, and these particular green ones have been used as streamers at no fewer than three parties, hung from trees at a BBQ, used on other gifts and gathered up afterward and occasionally used in the world of dress up. I am sort of the Queen of Re-use.


I had so much fun making these little paper ball ornaments that I thought I should pass them on. I don't do tutorials often on here, and my pics came out all blurry because I was trying to hold the camera on my knee while holding scissors and push the button and couldn't get it to focus properly. They are not too bad though. You will get the idea. Anyone who can tell me how to push the button on the camera if you are the only one home, don't have a tripod with a clicker thingy (suppose I could use my teeth), or the patience to use the timer option, please feel free to enlighten me :)

You will need:

a book no one will ever read
scissors
embroidery floss or other string type material
hole punch

chop paper
I made strips that were about 3/4" x 6"
do a few pages at a time
I used eight strips per ball, so did
four at a time and cut the strip in half

hold the strips (four at a time if easier to punch)
punch hole in the center at the end

I used a pretty small hole so that the
knots in the floss could be smaller
but I also thought that putting a bead on each of the
top and bottom would work too
and would add some sparkle :)

gently spread the strips out until you have a ball

...and VOILA!

It's Beginning to Smell A Lot Like Christmas...

I can't help it... as soon as the halloween willies jump back into the closet on November first, I start planning the Yule season. I adore Christmas and everything that comes with it. Even the family "together time" and the things like gifting that generally seem to stress everyone out. I am not a shopper, and loathe stores any other time of the year, but I find that I get so caught up in the entire feeling of magic that comes over me that it all seems good. I am the single mom of two high maintenance boys that definitely falls into the "on a budget" category, but I find that the smells and sights and sounds bring me right back to that sparkley feeling I used to have as a child and I spend much energy trying to help my kids find their own holiday twinkle.

It helps immensley that my entire family and I absolutely abhor malls and the like, are extremely casual and above all, have NO expectations. Each and every Christmas has been entirely different and that is the way we like it. I am the only one with a Martha streak and they pretty much let me have my way with decorating, provided they don't have to do anything other than "oooh" and "aaah". Truth be told, they all get into it a bit, even if they refuse to admit it. One year my sister took the ATV up into the woods and retrieved a seriously decrepid Charlie Brown tree that someone had cut down and tossed in favour of a new find. She hauled it down the hill and she and my stepdad drilled holes into it to insert random branches. One of the best Christmases in recorded history happened around that tree!

I am sure that most of this won't make it to my table this year, but one can dream. I have a thing for glass and although I am pretending to try to rid myself of my addiction, I will at some point add these to my collection. And I am definitely coveting the cutlery...

All of these are from Anthropologie (of course) and whilst looking up the (ridiculously low) price of the silverware online, I got to browse this year's adorable selection of ornaments for the holidays. I love what this store does and while I will most likely make most of these for fun, the prices are decent enough that you might want to think of adding a few to your collection. I have always given my boys the chance to pick a new treasured piece of their own every year, and when my cousins were young, my mother and I put together a picnic basket for each with a small selection of ornaments that we made with the intent that they could add one to it every year. I am all sentimental like that, what with the whole handmade thing, but you could definitely cheat with these. ;)

Just for fun, who has seen these? At $250 bucks a pop, they are not cheap, but they are so unique and well... artsy! How fun would it be to set up a table with a few of these! They are called "Captured Silverware"


Hilarious.