I actually finished this advent last year but never got around to filling it in or really using it since it was finished around mid December. I had a small advent but you could never fit anything inside of it. the spaces were a little too small. I also wanted something a little bit more flexible, so that we could change up what we put in it as our activities each year. We have talked about doing an ornament each day to fill the tree, or what we did this year, picking an activity from our stash of ideas that fits into our schedule. I have been collecting advent pins for a while I love the calendars that feel homemade and loved… just a few from pintrest I had been admiring.
oh happy day a subtle revery
fry dog design cirkus lilla-a design
So I ended up combining a lot of different ideas and headed to the thrift store. I spent a few weeks digging through the racks to find 100% wool sweaters for my project. It took several trips and about 10$. I found around 7 sweaters and once I had them all I started felting them in the washer. Basically just threw them in the washer all together with soap and HOT water on the heavy cycle. Ran them through and dried them on high heat and ran them back through all of that all over again until they held an edge when they were cut. Make sure at this point your lay them flat and keep them that way for a bit, do not fold or ball them up in the corner or cutting them will be a bit more difficult than desired. I tried to find a large variation of textures and patterns so I ended up with a cable knit and a few ribbed solids and 2 wide striped sweaters and 1 patterned sweater.
Then it was time to figure out what shape each day would be I decided a paper bag style would work the best for us because it is a bit more flexible. For the days that just have an activity in them I stuff them with tissue paper to fluff up the bag so it doesn’t look empty and there is plenty of room for the days we have an ornament or something extra inside. To cut my pattern I just picked a size for the front and back bag ( roughly square) and measured around 3 sides to figure out how long to cut the 1 piece that is the sides and bottom of the bag. the straps were a bit harder. I wasn’t 100% sure how to hang them so I made 2 just incase I changed my mind. Then I found some sparkly yarn and started sewing things together. I wanted them to have a cozy feeling so I didn’t worry too much about how perfect the stitched were and I wanted for them to show. then I picked up a few sparkly pom poms and gift tags to label the dates and I was all done.
It turned out to be a great thing that I made 2 straps and didn’t sew them together. this year I decided to hang them a little bit differently and it was a lot easier to be able to move them around and just use a safety pin to keep them in place. The inside is filled with little cards that have activities, a few little treats or movies to watch.
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This past weekend or little one turned 2. We had a party planned but Sandy had some other plans for us. We decided to cancel the party to keep everyone safe and dry at home. We still had everything ready so we decided to have the party with just the 3 of us! Lula’s party was all about the number 2 this year. There was 2 of everything.. 2 kinds juices, 2 kinds cupcakes, 2 kinds of chicken, 2 kinds of hotdogs, 2 kinds of grapes, 2 kinds of dip and pita chips and 2 kinds of cheez-its. All of her Lula’s favorite special snacks.
The three of us had a great time and in the end we gave Lula her birthday present. I found an old Holly Hobby kitchen set at a yard sale for $10 and spent about a month remodeling it. I found a tea set and some pots and pans and it was good as new.. we think she likes it!
This year we are challenging ourselves to make 36 pizzas. So far we have made….
#1 Mexican, with chorizo, sweet peppers, enchilada sauce, onions and cheese.
#2 Tomato, fresh pizza sauce, slices of ripe tomatoes, mozzarella and oregano.
#3 Chicken and Asparagus 2 ways, one with red sauce and one with garlic olive oil, shredded rotisserie chicken, asparagus, fresh mozzarella shaved parmesan
#4 Thai chicken, peanut sauce, shredded carrots, green onions, shredded green cabbage, shredded rotisserie chicken and cheese.
Pin ItI don’t know if you have noticed but chevrons are EVERYWHERE right now. You kind of can’t get away from them on pintrest or most blogs right now. I was finally bitten by the chevron bug this week and finished the blank 3x4 foot canvas that has been staring at me from above our buffet for almost 6 months. It all started with a little pillow and then a throw blanket then……….. 
This huge painting.
I have been undecided about what I was going to do with this canvas since I picked it up 6 months ago and this week I just figured I was never going to decide if I didn’t start something. I wasn’t interested in a scene or people and I had a few things in mind but finally just decided to start painting. I wanted lots of rich bright color so this is what I came up with. I started with colors I loved then continued to blend in new ones a lot like this
DIY I found on Pintrest for a similar chevron painting. I wanted a bit less pure pattern so instead of taping off every section I started to break up the pattern and leave some areas exposed. Just remember that whatever isn’t covered by painters tape will be solid color when you are done. I wanted one side to fade away so I left one side completely exposed.Then just peeled off the tape!
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I have seen so many tutorials and so many pins about how easy it is to make butter in a mason jar, I thought I would try it out. I happened to need some whipped cream that night so it worked out pretty well. Here’s a little tip…. use a BIG jar and let the milk sit out for about 30 minutes to warm up before you start. I tried this a couple of times and the first time I used a pint jar and cold cream and it took forever. It did work but it was a lot of work. The next time I used a quart jar and only filled it about 1/3 of the way and let the cream sit for a bit to warm up. Then I added a pinch of kosher salt and put the lid on and got to shaking.
This is what it looked like after 2 minutes of very vigorous shaking.
This is after 4 minutes of even more vigorous shaking.
This is after 5 minutes of more vigorous shaking and after the infamous thump that everyone describes. It really is just out of nowhere, you go from shaking a liquid to shaking a liquid with a large lump of butter in it. At this point I drained half of the liquid off and kept shaking.
This is what it looked like after 6 minutes for shaking and draining the liquid off. I shook it out of the jar and “washed” the butter. Rinsed it in water while massaging the butter until the water was clear and them you have you very own fresh butter.
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