Craftiness...

I started making an advent calendar at the beginning of last November... but with my sewing/crafting time taken up by making my bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding, I didn't get around to finishing it until a couple weeks ago. It took a lot of time - I decided to hand-sew around all of my pieces - but I'm really happy with how it turned out. I also got together with some of the girls in my ward to make a quick little 'crayon roll' a couple days ago that I think is pretty darn cute. Both of these ideas came from my friend Jenn, who is the craft inspiration for all the girls that live in my ward.

I covered the frame in batting and fabric. Each number is a pocket to hold one of the pieces. The background is a sheet of metal with fabric ironed on with iron-on adhesive paper.

Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. I think he looks like a jelly bean. You can see the hand-sewing I did on each piece.

My three wise men. The black-haired one kind of looks like Hagrid, which bugs me, but not enough that I want to go back and fix him. :)

One of the wisemen in the pockets. I sewed around the numbers, too.

Angels and the star. Each of the pieces is mounted on felt and has a magnet glued to the back so it sticks to the sheet metal.

Sheep, a shepherd, and a cow. Aren't the animals cute?

Camels. These are my favorites of the animals.

Here's the crayon roll.

...and the inside. Way cute than a cardboard box or a plastic bag, don't you think? Perfect for keeping Owen quiet at church.

My next project will be finishing up the wall hangings that I started for Owen's room a year ago (I know.... so much procrastinating). I'm excited!