DIY Advent Calendars - A Tradition

I am not sure when it all started but one of the Christmas traditions at my home every year is the Advent Calendar. The festivities start December 1st.

I think when I found my advent calendar on sale for half price and had to have it, I instituted the tradition........meaning that I suggested to my husband to fill it for me so that I could have a treat every day of December!

A beautiful display piece with the doors closed

 

Don't worry....I made both my husband and son their own advent calendars and each year I fill them up with treats for every day in December too.

An Advent Calendar is a special calendar used to count or celebrate the days in anticipation of Christmas. One window is opened every day leading up to Christmas. The calendar windows open to reveal an image, a poem or a portion of a story, such as the story of the Nativity. A small gift, such as a toy or a chocolate item can be put inside.



I will explain how I made my version of an advent calendar for my husband and son and, if you are a sewer, it should be fairly easy to make one of your own. I apologize that this is not exactly a tutorial. These calendars are already made and I don't have any step by step pictures.

I made these for my husband and son. You can choose any fabric and colors to suit whoever you are making it for or to match your décor. You can scale it down also to fit a special spot.

My husband Frank's calendar had to be Spiderman, a superhero favorite of his since childhood....

My son Michael's had to be a Gecko theme since he has a real Gecko in a cage in his room named Geck's. I actually found material with Gecko's on it.....

 

 

Materials Needed:

 

fabric of choice for the front (the screen print spiderman measures 34" x 44")

fabric of choice for the backing (same size as the front)

felt for the pockets - about a yard

black marker

number stencil

36" dowel - 1/2" thick

1 yard cording or twine for the hanger

 A large enough spot to hang it!

 

 



For the Spiderman I used the screened by the yard prints that are found at any fabric store. That determined the size it was going to be and the amount of fabric I needed for the back. I used black felt by the yard for the black.

 

 

For the pockets I cut out 24  4" x 4" squares from red felt and used a number stencil and a black marker for the numbers, 1-24. If you have a steady hand you could free hand the numbers. For the gecko calendar I used a product called Scribbles in Iridescent Charcoal Grey for the numbers. It is 3D paint which dries to a hard finish. I penciled the numbers on and then traced with the paint.

 

 

 

Next pin the pockets evenly on the front fabric in random order. It's more fun to have to hunt for the number and the treat than to have them all in order! Sew them on three sides on the machine leaving the top open.

 

 

Once that is done sew the back fabric on.With right sides together, I sewed all four sides with a 5/8" seam, minus about 6" to turn it inside out through. Once turned blind stitch the opening closed. On the outside I sewed a finishing seam along the black border that was already there. If there is not a border sew a 1/4" seam all the way around the edge.

 

For the dowel pocket turn over the top 1 1/2" and sew down. If you have a border at the top of your front fabric that would ruin the design by turning it over, leave the top open when sewing the front to the back and add a 2" wide piece of the back fabric after you turn the whole thing right side out. Turn that down 1 1/2" and and sew it down.

  

 

 On the gecko calendar I didn't have a border so I just turned the top over 1 1/2" and sewed it down.

 

Knot your cord or twine on both ends of the dowel. You can add any other embellishments you want, like I did with the gecko with the Santa hat on. I just drew him and cut it out of felt and glued it all on.

 

Need ideas what to fill the pockets with? I have filled them with small toys, small candies, socks and razors. A fun thing to do for an item that is too large for the pocket is to write a note with a clue on where it is hidden and put the note in the pocket. I have done this many times with bottles of favorite beverages that are hidden in the back of the fridge.

Another great idea is to write out notes of holiday inspired things to do to fill each pocket. For example...."fill the bird feeder today with dried cranberries" or "bake some cookies for your neighbor" or "take a drive tonight through the neighborhood to see the lights"....

Be creative! It is fun for the one who fills and for the one who receives!

One last thing for those of you who love the idea of an Advent Calendar but don't want to sew. There is a wonderful website out of England that I subscribe to year round for greeting cards to send online. Every Christmas they offer advent calendars to download onto your computer that you can go and check every day starting December 1st. They are done with beautiful graphics and lots of activities. I send one to each of my granddaughters as a treat for them leading up to Christmas.

Here is the website:
https://www.jacquielawson.com/advent?source=jl205


AnnMarie  xoxo

I am linking up with these great blog parties:

What's It Wednesday Link Party
Adorned From Above Blog Hop
Open House Blog Party
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop
Anything Blue Friday
The Pin Junkie Friday Link Party
DIY Sunday Showcase
A Bouquet of Talent
Sweet & Savoury Sundays
Marvelous Mondays
Inspiration Monday
Make It Pretty Monday

Christmas Cookie Tutorial - Italian Fig Cookies - Cuccidari

Pronounced "gooch-a-dah-de", these fabulous Italian fig Christmas cookies take me back to my childhood when my mother used to make them every year. She would fill pans and pans of them, baked and frosted, under the dining room cabinet for safe keeping....not so safe as I used to sneak one whenever I could. I have since taken over the baking of them and have been doing it for about 35 years (wow! I never counted the years before!) My daughter Jena has started to make them and found out quickly my warning to her and now to you....they are very time consuming, sticky, messy, and a little expensive to make but OH, ARE THEY WORTH IT!! Everytime I make them someone wants the recipe, but soon find out that there is so much more to just me handing them the ingredients list and directions. You have to SEE how to do it to make them come out right. My girlfriends have requested to come over some afternoon (little do they know you need a good part of the day!) so we can make them and they can learn....well girls, here it is in color, step by step! Have patience and enjoy!
Here is the ingredients list. Pictures and step by step directions to follow:

Preheat the oven to 425

Dough:
1 ½ cups shortening – melt in microwave
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
½ cup water
5 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
5 cups flour, sifted

Filling:
1 pkg. (1/2 -1 lb.) dates, chopped
1 box raisins (15 oz.)
1 lb. fresh figs
½ lb. chopped walnuts
1 lb. jar orange marmalade
¼ - ½ rum or whiskey or 2 tsp. rum extract (optional)

First get all your ingredients ready for the filling.....

Chop the figs a little at a time in a food processor. They can be quite tough and could burn out your motor if you do too many at once!

They should look like this when you are done....

Add the figs and all the other ingredients for the filling in a saucepan for the stove.....

Heat it through on medium low till it is soft and pliable and melts together a little. Remove from heat.

Get all your ingredients for the dough together.......

Melt the shortening in the microwave for about 1:30. Whisk out any remaining lumps. When that is cool add the sugar and eggs....


Stir this together and then add the water, baking powder, vanilla and flour. Mix the dough in the mixer till it is soft and pliable. If it is too greasy, add a little more flour....

The dough should look like the picture above. Okay, that was easy! The filling and the dough are made. Now comes the fun part! Set up all you will need to roll out the dough and make the cookies.....

Flour your cutting board continuously throughout the whole rolling process. Roll a piece of dough approximately 10" long by 6" wide

and cut the edges and top and bottom straight.....

                                                             

Put the filling down the middle of the dough from top to bottom. The tricky part of this section of making the cookies is to decide how much filling to use so that you don't run out before you get to the end of your dough or your dough doesn't run out before you get to the end of your filling! If you have leftover dough, you can roll it out, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on it, roll it and bake it......yum!

With a butter knife form the dough on either side over the filling and seal the middle and ends. The dough is quite pliable and can be blended together to close the seam....

With a sharp knife cut the tube on the diagonal about every 3/4". Place the cookie seam down on the cookie sheet to bake. No need to grease the pan....there is plenty of shortening in there for that!

Bake them at 425 degrees for 8 minutes till golden brown.....this recipe makes about 7 dozen cookies. They freeze beautifully. I usually freeze them once they are cooled in either freezer bags or large pans with foil. When I need some to give as a gift or to serve to guests (or just eat, and sometimes that is right out of the freezer!), I defrost them and frost them and they are as fresh as the day I made them.....                  

Ta Da!! Here is the finished cookie!

You may be wondering why there aren't Christmas sprinkles on them......all I can say is that is how my mother did it and who am I to mess with tradition?! I thought maybe you would want the frosting recipe too...it is the best and easiest one I know and I use this on all my Christmas cookies...even my cutouts.

Frosting

2 2/3 cups confectionary sugar

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon flavoring (almond, lemon, anise), optional

Hot water

Combine all ingredients except water. Slowly add a little hot water till frosting is smooth.

Happy Baking and I would love your comments if you try these cookies, if the tutorial was easy to follow (it is my first!) or not, or anything else you would like to say!

AnnMarie

The Tradition of Christmas Tree Ornaments and Etsy Specials

Christmas is Coming!

Around this time of year when the retailers start stocking their holiday decorations, I find myself mostly drawn to the ornament displays. I have always had a thing for Christmas tree ornaments....my Mother gave each of us children a new one every year, a tradition that I have done over the years for my daughters and son, and now my grandchildren. I love them so much that I have several themed trees around my house each year for Christmas to display my collection. I have a Victorian tree, a country tree with lots of snowmen, a doll tree, and then the main tree with all the ornaments I have collected or been given over the years. My husband and son each have their own trees too, tailored to their individual likes...which is mainly superheros! My most treasured ornament from my youth is the angel in the middle of the picture, dated on the back 1969. The other two were handpainted by my mother in her ceramics class when that was THE thing to do! They date back to the late 1970's.

I started making my own ornaments a few years ago when I became The Button Lady trying to find anything I could to put vintage buttons on! I love the idea of a photo frame ornament hanging on the tree....each year when you pull it out it is like looking at old pictures from the past. There could be many years of your childs or pets life represented on the tree. All the ornaments I make are photo ornaments and have either vintage buttons, puzzle pieces or both on them.
Till December 10th I am running a holiday special in my Etsy shop, The Button Lady.....
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HOLIDAY SPECIAL UNTIL DECEMBER 10TH - Buy one or more ornament in the same order and pay shipping only on the first one. Shipping on each additional is FREE.
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You can find them at http://www.thebuttonlady3.etsy.com/ or on my mini sidebar of the shop. Here is a picture of most of them together....

I am  offering another special in The Button Lady shop on Etsy for button hair accessories. Great for stocking stuffers! When I first started making the headbands and barrettes I wasn't sure how they would be received. My daughter is a hair stylist at an upscale salon in our area and she took them there to sell. The other stylists and women clients went crazy for them. They are so cute for girls, teens and women.
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STOCKING STUFFER SPECIAL UNTIL DECEMBER 10TH - Buy one or more hair accessory in the same order and pay shipping only on the first one. Shipping on each additional is FREE.
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Here is a sampling....

Happy Shopping this Christmas season!
AnnMarie