projects only seen on my instagram! (some of what I've been making this month)

 a pom-pom garland I finally strung and hung in my girls' new shared room! (I made the pom-poms almost a year ago)

 and the felted ball garland I strung after buying the balls a year ago to make a wreath (but discovered what I had bought would only have filled a 1/4 of a wreath form).

 a Gold posterboard triangle bunting/garland for my tree!

 died (food coloring) and glittered (spray adhesive+glitter) pasta garland (I re-strung onto twine and tied each pasta bow on, rather than gluing which didn't work well).

 Made stockings for my family (and made 3 extra just.in.case.) out of a felted wool blanket, antique doily trim, and turkish (antique) wool felt coasters! All things my mom had so nicely passed on to me as she cleaned and organized all her vintage finds.

  spray-painted the front of Amélie's new $2.50 shoes (on sale) from H&M.

And bleached a bunch of bottlebrush trees that I bought  last year for this very purpose!

 The last trimester of pregnancy (plus not having to do a fab.com sale this year) really helped me kick my butt in gear! And this is only maybe 40% of what I have actually made and done. I don't like to be TOO obnoxious on instagram or this blog so I try to leave some of it out... or spread it out:)

Magnetic DIY Nativity Advent calendar

I made this advent calendar the last week of November, and somehow I didn't get around to posting about it until a week before Christmas. Sorry peeps. That is just the lame kind of blogger I am! My family and real life take priority over this little space, and so I make and do a million projects that never get posted on here! I guess you could always pin this one for next year:)

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Metal serving tray, or the like (I used a vintage t.v. dinner tray!) that magnets will stick to.
Magnetic "Canvas" (available where you find the magnets at Michaels or JoAnn's)
Acrylic paint/brushes
kitchen scissors (or scissors you don't mind cutting the thin magnet canvas with)
Felt, or fabric to make a pouch for storing the pieces (I used felt of course)


PIECES TO PAINT:
Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, hay for the manger, the manger,  mouse (cow, or other barn animal), donkey, 3 wisemen, 3 gifts, large Shepard, small Shepard, 2 sheep, 3 angels, 1 large star, 2 small stars, the stable logs (there are 4 of them-used all for one day of the advent)

These are the pieces I chose to paint so that we would have enough to last 24 days. You can do it differently, those are just my suggestions. I had a hard time figuring out 24 different things to put up there that would all fit on my tray!!

 I first created a basic envelope with velcro closure to store the pieces.

2. I then painted directly onto the magnet canvas little cartoonish figures. I wanted this to be a fast and easy project so I didn't stress about how they looked, just on having different colors, and having them be small enough to fit the tray. Make this simple. Paint circles for their heads, and a solid shape of color for their bodies. It doesn't have to be a work of art!

3. Once they were all very dry (I let them dry over night), I cut them out with my kitchen shears.

 4. I then took an paint marker and marked them all on the front with their number for the day they should be put up.... before realizing I could've just done it on the back.... duh

You are finished! My daughters have been so excited to take a magnet out of the pouch each day and put it up on the board. It was so simple and easy to make this nativity advent calendar and I am so glad I did. I hope it gets entered into their memories of childhood Christmases as we do it year after year:)