The advent calendar was a big success! It was really fun to see the little village come together–so I thought I’d take a picture in all its elfin glory. Cheers!
Category Archives: Stuff to make
Stamped Gift Tags
Scrooge or Santa’s helper? My pre-Christmas mood swings between bah-humbug and happy industry. Buying stuff can send me into ethical, financial quandries, but wrapping stuff? I can handle that. The complicated origami of neatly packaging a basketball? Bring it on.
Stamping gift tags is another merry, mindless task for me. I made these stamps (cut out of foam) years ago, and I love digging them out every year. This year, I found a date stamp (the most recent year on it is 2007)–and put that to work, too.
. . . Merry Christmas, everyone!
Honey, I Shrunk the Quilt!
My 2013 resolution: make a quilt.
Check. Completed, and just under the wire.
OK, enough already. Maybe I fudged it a bit and made a teeny-tiny wee quilt. Don’t be so particular! But ain’t it cute? It only took about 15 minutes to make versus the never-endingness of its queen-size version. (If anyone’s curious, I cut 2-inch squares, pieced together, made a mini-quilt sandwich with some on-hand batting, and finito. That’s how to quilt, man.)
And to go with the little quilt and the little bed, a little cupboard that I recently found in a Concord, Mass. junk shop:
Bunny ornaments
These little bunnies are easy and addictive to make–plus so cute! I had some left over wool felt from a tree skirt I made last year and wool stuffing that I bought ages ago and have used countless times. (I love when a seemingly extravagant purchase turns out to be perfectly practical.) I made a cardstock template and cut out two felt bunnies for each ornament. I added the embroidered details and then blanket stitched the two sides together leaving a gap for stuffing. I learned after a few bunnies that more stuffing is better and it’s important to fill all the spaces. Then I just closed the gap and left a loop of thread for hanging. Simple!
Advent calendar
Five days of cuteness! Still to come, six more peg elves, two more elf houses, the big guy himself on the 24th, and some other little surprises. I’ve had so much fun making this advent calendar. I haven’t painted anything except walls in a long time, and I was a little out of practice. My skills definitely improved after a few elves–the elf waiting on December 18 is superlatively cute. The little drawstring bags were pretty easy to make and I just stamped the numbers on with a regular ink pad. I still have a few more things to make–Santa’s house!–but I’ve got days and days to finish up.
homemadecity.com 