Growing up at home, one of my favourite Christmas traditions was the advent calendar. It was a felt tree homemade by my mom with a variety of felt Christmas tree ornaments that we pinned onto the tree each day. Every morning my brother and I would take turns putting the ornament up on the tree. I'm pretty sure my mom and brother are still putting the ornaments up this year too! :) The last ornament on Christmas tree was always the star for the top of the tree. My brother and I would always take turns being the one to put the star up.
I wanted to start this own tradition with my little family, so I made an advent calendar for us. I know Zoe is a little too young to understand or appreciate it, but it will be here as she gets older. (Plus I have some time on my hands this year... hehe)
First up I checked Pinterest for some inspiration and found {this tree} and {this one} and {this one}. Next I went on a little shopping trip to Michaels and bought some felt, thread, buttons, bows, jewels, number stickers, and ribbon. I had tons of burlap at home from the wedding and a wooden dowel hanging out in the garage. Then I started making the ornaments. I sketched out what I wanted to make, using some of my favourite clipart as inspiration. I cut out felt, hot glue gunned the pieces together, stitched some of the edges, added some embellishments, and finally added a piece of thin ribbon. Here's a close up of all the ornaments I made:
Then I cut out the pieces for the tree. I used a Christmas tree clipart from Ashley Hughes and printed it out poster size. I cut out the different pieces, layered them on the burlap, and stitched around the edges. My sewing skills are not the greatest, but I love the way the bubbled fabric looks. It gives it a three-dimensional look! The hardest part was sewing on 25 buttons. I hate sewing buttons. I am never sewing another button as long as I live. A button fell of your pants? Trash it. We'll buy new pants. Haha JK! Kind of.
Lastly I cut out 2.5 x 2.5" squares of different coloured felt and positioned them on the bottom of the burlap. I sewed around three edges of each square to make a little pocket for each ornament. For the numbers, I found some glittery clapboard number stickers and hot glued them to the pockets. I also stitched around the outside of the burlap piece to avoid it fraying completely. I sewed three red felt tabs at the top of the burlap to stick the dowel through, then added ribbon to hang it!
So there we go! It was a lot of work, but I love how it turned out! I hope Zoe will enjoy decorating the tree as much as I did growing up. 17 more days until Christmas. Woo hoo! We just put our tree up tonight and most of the shopping is done. We've visited Santa and started our RACKs (Random Acts of Christma Kindness). Now to do some baking, head to all those Christmas parties, and enjoy our time with family! Merry Christmas everyone!
That's really cute! It's something your family will treasure for years to come! :-)
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