day 163: christmas spirit advent calendar

the hanging of the advent calendar!

day 163 and i am making another advent calendar today.  this advent calendar is all about counting down to christmas and making sure each day brings the whole family something to celebrate during december.  for me this is particularly important for those members of my family who work each day and sometimes miss out on all the fun preparations the kids and i do during the day!

i got this great idea of a "doing" advent calendar from pinterest (of course) and their are plenty of versions and ideas making the rounds and several i pinned to my christmas is coming board.  the ideas i particularly liked were from all things simple and the crafting chicks.  i can't use the winter activities but it did make me think of a few summer activities we could do as a family instead.  below is a list of the things we are going to do during december (and i made sure they were well matched to the book advent countdown as well!):

• EVERYBODY write to santa (this will be done after dinner as a family, it's actually already a family tradition we have done for years, the kids think the adult letters to santa are hilarious)
• make something for two friends and drop it off to them
• make eggnog loaf and decorate the tree (we always do this as a family as everyone has their own ornaments to hang as we each get a new one on christmas eve)
• watch it's a wonderful life
• make a hot chocolate bar
• fish and chips at the beach
• go to franklin road to see the christmas lights
• make christmas tarts
• enjoy the santa parade
• do some baking together and gift to the neighbours
• build a gingerbread house
• make pancakes for breakfast
• drive around to see the local christmas lights
• play a game of petanque
• get your santa hats we are off to the parade
• roast marshmellows on the brazier
• make a christmas pizza in the pizza oven
• go to the new release christmas movie
• watch a christmas movie of DAD's choice!
• watch a christmas movie of GRANNY's choice!
• decorate gingerbread men
• go to dunkin donut's for a christmas donut
• go to the garden store and plant something red in the garden
• make a holiday gift for the postman from all the family

i loved the garland advent calendar the crafting chicks came up with for their countdown and decided to use that idea of their's as well.

you need small envelopes, pattern paper, mini pegs, and
some ribbon

and from right to left this is what i did to make each
day's envelope tag!  

i had some help hanging it up in our classrom!

outcome: well the garland looks great, the activities are sorted, now we just need to wait and see if it has the desired effect of giving everyone a big dose of christmas spirit through the holidays.  most days these activities will take place after dinner so the whole family will be their to participate.  i am really hoping this will spread goodwill and cheer to not only those i live with but also our family and friends ... until the 25th though, this creation is definitely pending!

my sincere thanks to the crafting chicks and all things simple for their wonderful advent ideas, it certainly lifted my christmas spirit just reading them!

day 162: handmade gift exchange at craftaholics anonymous

the handmade gift :)

day 162 and today i am participating in my very first handmade gift exchange.  before pinterest i had no idea such things even existed!  this handmade gift exchange at craftaholics anonymous is the one i told you i had signed up for a couple of weeks ago and today's creation is making it happen!  linda has organised over 900+ people into handmade gift exchanges ... for that reason alone i adore her, let alone the fact her website is full of AMAZING inspiration!  this inspiration was pinned to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board on pinterest.

my gift partner is michell, another new zealander who lives in gisborne.  this is a totally intimidating process for me as michell has a gorgeous blog, sews amazing quilt blocks, and to top it all off she does heaps of craft exchanges.  enter me the novice!  clearly i can't sew for this girl (i'm still working on the straight line issue) so i went with a paper gift.  i ended up making a vintage style photo album for michell so she can fill it with her christmas photos.  i noticed she had a christmas countdown on her blog and hoped this was a sign she was into christmas (actually her blog was where i got the idea to put my own christmas countdown on ... thanks michell!).  the album is full of  flaps and places to attach photos and also tags for journalling.  i did end up also putting in a little vintage christmas cushion (image thanks to the graphics fairy).  i made the cushion a while ago and it seemed to go perfectly with the little album. both things have gone into the little gift bag i made on day 160.  i really hope she finds them useful and a little something different to what she normally receives.

the photo album

inside the albums

the cushion

all packed into the gift bag :)

outcome: pending!  i will send them off today (my sweet mum purchased a mail bag for me as it's no spend november!) and hope that she likes them.  entering into this has been somewhat terrifying but it is such an awesome way to meet crafty people and make new friends.  what could be more inspirational than meeting more lovely crafters and seeing all their lovely ideas.  this is something i NEVER would have found or done had i not been addicted to pinterest!

a very special thanks to linda, a fellow craft addict who has organised this handmade gift exchange.  it has taken me way out of my comfort zone, but it's something i think is totally worth doing in order to connect and make new friends with fellow crafters .... and for that reason, the experience has been awesome :)

day 161: felt flowers of the easy kind!

the very pretty, very easy felt flowers :)

day 161 and we are organising for a garage sale this weekend so i haven't had too much time for crafting today.  lucky for me crystal at little bit funky came up with a 20 minute craft for me to complete today :)  these felt flowers look amazing and i instantly thought they would be great to have for gift toppers during december.

i made several different sizes as i wanted to give all the different types a go and see which i liked best. i made from 1.5" x 9" to 4" x 12".

the starting felt pieces

then you simply fold them in half and cut at intervals not
quite through to the other side.

then you roll the cut felt and hot glue a piece onto the
bottom that will be trimmed into the circle as the base
of the flower

to the smaller ones i added some leaves :)

a closer look at the completed flowers:)

outcome: awesome!  these were completely satisfying to make and also a little addictive!  it was really cool to see how the different widths of fabric changed the outcome of the flower. i REALLY like the smaller width flowers and their tighter petals, they look so cute :)  if you have felt hanging around, you need to seriously try these, they are so easy and so completely adorable ... now, for all the projects i can use them on, not to mention the gifts i plan to top them with.


a big thank you to crystal at little bit funky for her 20 minute craft felt flowers, i was really pushed for time today so i truly appreciated this short, but totally inspiring and very doable tutorial.

day 160: christmas gift bag with ruffles!

the completed ruffle gift bag!

day 160 and i am back to the sewing machine again today.  today i have chosen to make a christmas gift bag with ruffles!  i keep seeing these gorgeous ruffle bags on pinterest and have been so inspired to make one as a holdall.  before i attempt something like that i wanted a creation to practice with and i thought a christmas gift bag would be perfect.

my inspiration came from this wonderful website sew.craft.create.  heidi saw this one on pinterest by blue robin cottage on the u-create crafts website which has a wonderful tutorial for making a ruffled tote.  i pinned it to my sewing diy board knowing it would be perfect.  i was totally inspired by both of these but wanted to make my own tote and have unfrayed edges for my ruffles.  i used purl bee's 20 minute tote tutorial to make the bag, complete with french seams!  this is the same tote design i used for all those halloween goodie bags on day 124, so i know the bag works well  :)

the supllies, the circles are to make some flowers with

the twenty minute tote is so easy ... this is step one, step to
is to sew up the sides ... easy aye!

the attached ruffles .... this was HARD work!

a close up of the ruffles and the two flowers i made
to go up the top of the gift bag :)

outcome:  ruffles on a bag are so much harder than they look.  it is really hard to get a straight line when your ruffles want to curve all over the show!  if i were to make this again i wouldn't bother with the unfrayed edges as that just added to the stress!  in the end i am really chuffed with this bag, but to make another like this probably won't happen in the near future, it was a lot more work than i anticipated!

many thanks to heidi at sew.craft.create and also to blue robin cottage for showing me how to make a simple ruffle to add to tote bags.  and for the actual bag, if you want a simple tote or gift bag you seriously can't go past the 20 minute tote tutorial for the purl bee website :)

day 159: christmas pillows

pillow for christmas

day 159 and i am going to do some more preparing for christmas.  the month i spent doing just halloween creations really made me embrace that festive holiday and i loved having all the different decor around the place.  i want to make sure i do the same justice to christmas because it really is just like the song .. "my favourite time of the year".  i thought i would start with my mum's room and create a christmas cover for this pillow (below) that adorns her bed.

my gran made this for her mum, she was VERY talented :)

i feel in love with this design by allisa jacobs on etsy, isn't it cool. if you are not undertaking no spend november you can purchase this gorgeous pillow without the hard work from here. they really do look beautifully made with love and care, as with everything in her etsy store.

as for me, i am going to use the things i have here at home and attempt my own using allisa's inspiration.  i measured the pillow so i could make the slip cover to the right size (as that seemed like the best idea!) then pinned the cushion cover to the size i wanted.  i didn't sew it in place though as i wanted to sew the christmas trees on first before finishing the pillow. also seemed like a good idea ;)  i went with red trees as my mum's room is full of greens and, well, you know the tradition of these two colours and christmas!  i did heat transfer the trees in place with heat'n'bond before sewing around them.  for me this is the easiest way of doing it so nothing moves.

the fabric i grabbed to start this project

 once the trees were in place i finished off the pillow cover just using an envelope style closing so it would slip on and off for the festive season nice and easily :)

trees sewn in place

the finished pillow :)

outcome:  the red trees worked really well in my mums room and i am pretty happy with the design of the tree placement! as always just need to get better at the sewing side :)  not as pretty as the needle work from my sweet gran, but it will put a festive glow in my mum's bedroom.

my sincere thanks to allisa jacobs for the wonderful inspiration i used from her pillows that you can buy from here. allisa also has a blog that has wonderful design inspiration and do-it-yourself decor to ogle over ... i stopped by and forgot to make dinner : )

day 158: lemon yoghurt cake

this is just DIVINE, really it was that good. the whole
family oohed and ahhed :) 

day 158 and we need something for the tins this week and we are LIMITED by what's on offer.  luckily the chookies have behaved the last few days and i have an abundance of eggs, their are lemons on the tree, and we have some greek style yoghurt (yeah, that's how we spell it in nz) that needs eating in the next couple of days.  enter pinterest.  when you put in lemon yoghurt/yogurt as a search you are given some delicious options to pin to your boards, in my case my recipe must do's board!

after much ogling at all the yummy looking baking, i decided to go with freutcake's, lemon yoghurt cake.  leah's use of "especially delicious" had me printing the recipe before i even read if i had all the ingredients in stock ... lucky for me we did :)  and to top off a great recipe, this does NOT require heavy machinery either, things are looking decidedly good for this recipe and i haven't even tried it yet :)

see no heavy machinery for this cake!

while the cake is still warm you pour syrup over it ... YUM

gratuitous photo of pretty looking cake
with are beautiful roses ;)

outcome: mmmmmm so very very tasty :) the family adored this loaf and it was way too easy to eat and then eat some more of.  if you are watching what you are eating (insert my name here) as christmas is coming, do not make this cake, it is far too yummy to abstain from.  yeah, it really is that good and WAY  to easy to make, which is just as well because the tins could be bare by tomorrow again :)

my (add entire family) thanks leah from freutcake for this outstanding recipe.  this loaf would make the perfect gift if you can bear to give it away :)

day 157: christmas pj's for the kids

the finished pj pants :)

day 157 and after yesterday's sewing success i decided another sewing project was in order for today's creation.    i went with christmas pj's for the kids, well actually kid because i have no boy christmas material at all so ben's will have to wait until dec 1 :)  nancy at my cotton creations has the MOST amazing tutorial for making the EASIEST pyjama pants.  please check out her tutorial if you have kids and a ready stash of fabric.  i guarantee you will not want to pay for your kids pj's again!

polly gave me a pair of her winter pj pants that still fit well and i used those to cut the first piece of fabric as nancy demonstrates in her tutorial.  then you use that piece to cut the second and final piece of fabric for the pj's.  as christmas is in the summer here, i decided i would shorten the length and go for 3/4 pj's so pollyanna wouldn't get too hot in them.  then head to the sewing machine and turn on the iron.  approximate 30 minutes later you will end up with some cute as pj pants.  in fact, these pj's were so easy i decided to cuff them at the bottom of the legs and add the same christmas fabric to the top to jazz them up and make them even more festive! and thanks to nadine the sewing went well today because i changed the needle ... thank you my dear :)

what you need for this tutorial ... and a sewing machine!

polly's christmas pj's

outcome: as you will already be able to tell, i LOVE these pyjama pants and the tutorial from nancy was just awesome!  even me and my sewing capabilities never missed a beat with this creation. i plan to make all the kids pj pants from now on and just team them up with a cotton tee.  this has been one of my favourite pinteresting creation days so far!

the biggest thanks to nancy at my cotton creations for her amazing christmas pyjama tutorial.  i had so much fun making them and they were so quick and easy, i instantly went back to her site and became her latest follower!