Make it: Paper Houses Advent Calendar

It is no secret that I love Christmas, everything about it, from the food to the shopping to the decorations. So today I am sharing with you the first Christmas 'make it' of the year - how I made our new Advent Calendar. I wanted to make one that I could fill up myself and that Steve and I could share, so a fun colourful house Christmas countdown seemed perfect.

You will need: 24 sheets of A5 white paper, a small box or packet to use as a template, a selection of colourful card, double sided tape, some stickers and embellishments, number stickers from 1 -24, 48 paper clips, sticky-tape, scissors, bakers twine and your choice of filling.

Step 1. First to make the paper pouch which will hold your treats, start by taking your A5 paper and folding it over leaving a 1.5 cm strip at the bottom, then wrap it around the small box (I used the box from the paper-clips) fold over the end and seal it with sticky tape.

Step 2. Slide the box out of the paper pouch and seal the joins with some washi tape. Repeat for each of the 24 days.

Step 3. Then you can make the houses to stick to the front of the pouch. Cut out some squares and rectangles big enough to cover the biggest side of your paper pouch. Then cut some triangles to create rooves and stick them to the rectangles with double sided tape to create the base for your houses.

Step 4. Stick your houses onto the paper pouches. Repeat this for all 24 pouches.

Step 5. Next, grab a bunch of stickers and embellishments and add some doors, windows or chimneys to each house, I added these little owl stickers too, aren't they cute!

Step 6. Arrange your houses in an order that you like and add your numbers, I used a selection of thickers stickers and wood shapes from my stash, but you could just stencil or draw the numbers on each house.

Step 7 & 8. Add two paper clips to the back of each pouch and thread the houses onto a length of twine.

Then you are ready to hang them on a blank wall with command hooks or just washi tape if you prefer. Oh and don't forget to fill them up with goodies ready for December the 1st.

I just love how mine turned out, if you have children or youngsters in the family I reckon this would be an awesome project to get them involved with, they could each decorate some houses and help hang them in number order, or mix them up to make each day harder to find.

What would you put in your advent calendar? I love the idea of mixing it up with sweets, wintry activities and little treats like Lego figures and nail polishes etc. I can't wait to start opening ours!

Sammy xxx

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Advent Calendar day!!!

Hello and welcome to December, wow this year is going quick!  The Beginning of December marks when Christmas really starts for me - you will know by now of course that Sammy's starts much earlier.  Although with making presents, I do think about that side earlier, but anything else waits for the 1st December at least.   I have been known to be shopping on Christmas Eve.

So with that, I think the only thing to do today is talk Advent Calendars!  I do love the different ones you can get now every year and as I now know that Dairy is no good for me, I feel it justifies looking at lots of other ones - basically it just means I have the excuse to go for something bigger and better!   I have tried to go for ones that you can find in the shops as today is the day and no one wants to wait for delivery.

So first up is the Dashwood Studios Advent Calendar.  This is so beautiful and Sammy has done a great Tutorial for it over on the Sew Crafty website - did we mention you can now shop online???!! ha, ha.  So there is no excuses for not getting one made - even though you might not get it done today given that this is the 1st December, I still think its worth making.

Next up is the Lego Star Wars Calendar which is just ace - you can get loads of different versions of Advent calendar but some are sold out.  I managed to find this one on Argos but they are popular and so be quick.

Another option for the beauty lover is the Ciate Mini Mani Manor Advent Calendar, which means they get so many nail colour options for the party season, amazing!

and lastly, but by no means least, I have added another cute fill your own advent calendar.  Pick up this M&S Cracker Advent Calendar and you can fill it with whatever treats you like, from a bit of chocolate to small gifts, anything you like.

Which one would you choose??? I love the idea of reusing every year and having items rather than chocolate.  I used to work at a company where a lady would make an advent calendar each year with treats in it and then each of the staff members had a day and so everyone got a gift! So sweet.

H

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Top Ten Tips for Feeling Festive

This time next month it will be Boxing day, Scary or what! I'm not a person who need to be forced into thinking Christmassy thoughts, pretty much from the 1st of September I'm already planning my Christmas tree theme for the year, but I know some people find it hard to even think about Christmas before November is over. If you are finding it hard to get into the Christmas spirit here are my ten tips for kick-starting all those fuzzy festive feelings.

1. Plan a Christmas meal with Friends.

Every year our girls meet up for a Christmas meal, it is always a highlight for me as I don't get to go to a work Christmas do because it would just be me and Mum, so we do that on Christmas day. It's really lovely to meet up with our girls and have a catch up and a giggle. It's a nice excuse to get dressed up, Oh and there is always wine...lots of wine!

2. Shop for festive food.

In my opinion a Terry's chocolate orange is not just for Christmas, I love comfort food and I love it when all the Christmas flavoured goodies and party foods are available in the supermarkets. Anything orange or mint flavoured, Hot chocolate, Sausages in bacon, lindt chocolate reindeer, chocolate logs, mince pies, Christmas cake, gingerbread men, You name it, it's on my shopping list as soon as it hits the shelves! Mr Kipling sent us some of their festive treats recently and the Winter Whirls are just delightful! If you like cinnamon-y ginger treats you will love them.

3. Head to a department store Christmas decorations department.

I always love my yearly trip to London especially to visit Liberty's, Harrods, Selfridges' and John Lewis' Christmas departments. It is always guaranteed to get me feeling festive. I don't always buy anything, but it is great for getting ideas for decorations.

4. Plan Your Christmas Day Meal

If you are hosting a Christmas day meal (like I am this year) then plan that one, but if you are heading to family for the day, plan a separate festive meal for yourself and your best friend/ boyfriend/ husband. Steve and I always have a special meal on Christmas eve, just the two of us, I go all out, cook his favourite meal, decorate, and we get to open one small present from each other. If your not up for cooking, get a special takeaway or go out to a nice restaurant, make an evening just for you.

5. Shop for and write your Christmas cards.

I hand-make Christmas cards for family and close friends but for people living further away I will buy some. I make sure I get them early and write them right away so they are ready to post come December the 1st, this means I get the best choice of cards in the shops and it leaves me time for other things come December. 

6.Visit a Christmas market.

I Love a good Christmas market and there are loads, all over the country to take your pick from. H and I are heading to Bath this year and I am really excited as I haven't been there for ages. It's a nice reason to visit a town you haven't been to before. Check out christmasmarkets.com for one in your area, or an area you want to visit, why not make a weekend of it?

7. Go Ice skating.

I Love Ice skating, especially at this time of year, it is great fun, even if you are not very good at it. There are loads of indoor and outdoor temporary rinks put up all over the UK, but especially in London. Head over to Time out's site to check out where and when you can get your skates on.

8. Make an advent calendar 

Get your craft on! There are so many great ideas for making your own advent calender floating around sites like Pinterest, get some inspiration and get making.  Surrounding yourself with all things sparkly is a great way to get into the spirit.  If you don't want to make one for yourself or you don't have kids, make one for a friends children like the girls at A Beautiful Mess did.

9. Visit some spectacular Christmas lights.

When I was young my Dad used to drive us up to London to see the Christmas lights, one year we went all the way to Blackpool for the weekend to see the illuminations. I am going to stay in London late this year on my decoration shopping trip just to take a look at the Christmas lights and shop window decorations on Oxford Street. This is one thing sure to get the festive feelings flowing! 

10. Bake some Christmas treats.

there is nothing like the smell of Christmas baking, if you are not great at it, cheat like I do. Most supermarkets now sell ready-made gingerbread dough, just roll out, cut into shapes and bake!

I hope these tips have given you some good ideas to get your festive motivation going.

I would love to hear how you get in the Christmas spirit, let me know in the comments below.

Sammy xxx

Make it: Workshop dates for you diary

The 'Button Jewellery' workshop was our last craft club at Norden Farm for a while, but don't worry, we are back in September with four sessions of crafty goodness taking you all the way to Christmas.