Since this is the first Christmas season that I've had this blog, and also since I have established myself as a crafter with a love for the holidays, it only seems fitting to share with you lots of arts & crafts (and maybe even some baked goods) to celebrate the season.
And by "lots" I mean 25 holiday projects, one for each day from December 1st through the 25th! Overly ambitious? Yes. Exciting?! ABSOLUTELY!
So, what better way to start Kraftmas and a countdown to Christmas than with an Advent Calendar? I'm pretty sure there is no other way.
There are many cute DIY advent calendar ideas out there, not to mention some really awesome homemade calendars that you can get off of Etsy. Here are a few that I thought I'd share:
This project comes from The Merry Thought. Match boxes are emptied and each box is filled with the name of one friend or family member, to whom the crafter sends a Happy Holidays postcard. Cute!
Here's a simple project from Whatever Dee Dee Wants using candy-filled jewelry boxes wrapped in brown paper bags with numbers stenciled on.
How about a DIY project with free printable downloads to make your own Christmas Street from Mr. Printables
Here's a mitten garland advent calendar from HGTV
Finally, here is a DIY project from my best friend, Stephanie! She attached hand-written tags to parchment bags onto which she wrote scripture and filled with goodies for her boyfriend. All the bags went in a box as a cute gift!
For my calendar, I knew that I wanted to make something that I could also hang down the stair rail. A two for one decoration (because I am cheap!). So, I decided to make a garland of 25 stockings. I browsed Etsy for some inspiration, and almost changed my mind when I saw what some of the crafters were charging for their stocking advent calendars - I saw from $30 to $100! YIKES! Alas, Kraftmas would never happen on my budget if I spent anything close to that on supplies for one project. No matter, I did not give up and instead took myself to the local Walmart to assess the situation. Lucky for me, I can stretch my dollar! I found red felt squares for $0.20 a piece, and the christmas fabric was about $2 a yard. I had already drawn my pattern, which you will see below, so I was able to estimate the amount I'd need for each, which turned out to be 13 squares of felt and 1/4 yard of each fabric. My total cost for this project was roughly $6.00...BEAT THAT!
Here is how I turned my $6.00 into a pretty awesome calendar...
What you need:
Red felt (enough for 25 stockings including a back and front)
1/4 yard of four different fabrics (I used Christmas patterns)
Ribbon or yarn
Needle and thread
Paper or fabric for numbering your stockings
Pattern for your stockings
First, I drew my pattern, which I then took with me to the store to figure out how much fabric and felt I needed. Here is my pattern and my supplies.
Next, I cut out the paper pattern and began tracing the stocking onto the felt. I traced two on each piece of felt - piece would be the front of the stocking and the other the back.
Here are my stocking pieces, there are 50 total (front and back for 25 stockings).
The next step was to cut out the patches of fabric for the toe and heel of each stocking, as well as the top. I knew that I wanted to vary the pieces so that the stockings looked a little different from each other. I had four patterns which was poor math on my part since 25 isn't divisible by four but whatever...I made it work!
Now comes the sewing. Using a simple running stitch, I sewed the two patches onto the front piece of the stocking.
Then, I sewed the front and back pieces together.
Finally, I sewed the top border on, sticking through both pieces on the sides of the stocking, and then using a simple running stitch around the top border through only the front piece so that I would be able to open the stocking to fill with candy (at my hubby's request). Put on a cute Christmas movie and get your needle and thread going!
Once you've finished sewing the stocking, cut a piece of ribbon (mine was about 6"), make a loop by folding the ribbon in half, and then sew the ends into the corner of the stocking.
Here are my finished stockings.
Ok, now that the stockings are all sewn, it's time to make the numbers. I have an old tan-colored flannel sheet that I decided to use to make my number tags. First, I wrote my numbers on the fabric using a black sharpie.
Next, I cut out the numbers in small squares.
Then, I sewed the numbers onto the stockings.
Finally, once all of the stockings were complete, I tied them to a long piece of satin ribbon that I measured to be the length of the stair rail with a little extra length on either end to tie to the railing.
And here it is!
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