Ready!

Advent calendars have been cropping up all over blogland, ours is ready too!
The kids are so excited!!

If you need some inspiration, have a look at these.. Clicking on the photo takes you straight to the DIY..

Advent calendar

Advent calendar, tick. From start to finish, this takes me about 12 hours, maybe more, I've never counted.. Cutting the fabrics, ironing them, embroidering the numbers, sewing, cutting the faces and hair and embroidering the eyes and mouth then finishing it all off (plus undoing and redoing some of it!), it's A LOT of work. So I always feel quite pleased when it's all finished and it turns out OK.

I can't wait to get the kids Advent calendar out - 16 days to go!!

Thank you teacher

Last year I made a proper Advent calendar for M's teacher - except it had 30 pockets and a drawing or letter by each child in each pocket. It was A LOT of work and at the time I thought "It's M's first year at school.. His teacher was great - and she's getting married.. I won't be making an Advent calendar every single year for every single teacher.."
And here we are, end of Year 1, and M's teacher this year was excellent too! We always do a class collection and give the teacher some vouchers but I thought she deserved something special..
I couldn't face doing another enormous Advent calendar this time round - and didn't have the time anyway - so I took the easy option and made a smaller one with fewer pockets. I wasn't organised enough to ask the children to contribute so it's just a present from me to an amazing teacher.. Hope she likes it!

Work in progress

I can't seem to get any sewing done these days.. In between end of year shows, playdates, looking for something to wear at my cousin's wedding in a couple of weeks time, avidly reading The perks of being a wallflower, sorting out through thousands of old photos, taking Y to the nursery school he'll be going to in September (yikes!!), this and that.. But.. my friends and I met up for our monthly craft night last night and we talked about having a stall at the school Christmas fair next December - I'm very excited! And maybe that was just the kick in the butt I needed to get making again..

First though, I have to finish this..

Craft it forward #4

This one's on his way to France..
4 down, 1 to go! Time for a little break..

Craft it forward #3

 

This one's off to Finland..

Craft it forward #2

Parcel nb2 is leaving for France today..

I'm really enjoying this! I loved making Advent calendars, but they took forever and I needed a couple of months "rest" in between each one to find the motivation to start a new one. Because this is so much smaller it doesn't feel so daunting and I am finding it a lot more enjoyable!

And can I just say.. THANK YOU all for your lovely comments. I don't tend to reply to comments individually unless you ask me a specific question but I will go say hello on your blog and please know that all your kind words are very much appreciated, every single one of them! Thank you!

Craft it forward #1

 

 

 

 

Parcel nb1 is on its way to Belgium..
A mini version of my Advent calendars, with a few surprises in the pockets too..

Now.. 4 more to finish!!

Work in progress (CIF spoiler alert!!)

A sneak peek of my Craft it forward in progress..
Inspired by the Advent calendars I made last year - but on a much smaller scale!!

The wait is over

That's it, the kids have come to the end of their Advent calendar! And although you have to be careful that they kind of get the same things - we had a couple of fights and tears and quite a few "I wanted THAT car!" - it was great fun and I can't wait to fill it again next year!

It was great seeing other children enjoying their Advent calendar too, makes all the hard work so worth it!

 

HAPPY XMAS!!

The final countdown

I did it!! I used all my favourite fabrics for this one, all the ones I didn't know what to do with but that I wanted to keep a little piece of. I'm not so happy about the blue all around though, I think it looks too dark..

That's me.. off to bed now.

And the countdown to Christmas has begun.. Tomorrow Y will open the first pocket. And tomorrow I'm getting my Xmas tree out, yayyyy!!
I already have the Xmas lights out..

Last but not least..

It was M's birthday this week, so I'm running a bit late with my Advent calendar for the kids..

I HAVE TO finish it tonight!!

And then put it up the wall and put all this in..

Some Lego, stationery, toothbrushes, a considerable amount of cars and chocolate of course! Can't wait to see their little excited faces every morning!!