Advent Countdown Calendar

With the holidays quickly approaching, I decided this year to try to find a fun way to countdown the days to Christmas with my kids. Growing up, my brother and I had countdown calendars my mom made for us out of felt. She attached candies (usually Hershey Kisses) to it with yarn. We would take one off each day until Christmas. A fun little treat each day until the big day arrived!

So in my search I came across this cute idea. You will need plastic wrap, 24 wrapped candies (I used Hershey Kisses wrapped in holiday colors), curling ribbon, a gift card and a bell. Cut off about 3 feet of plastic wrap and place the candy evenly down the side of the plastic wrap. Once placed roll the plastic wrap with the candies into a narrow tube. Cut about 26 pieces of curling ribbon and tie off the candies in the tube so that there is a ribbon on both sides of the candy. At the top, attach a longer loop of curling ribbon with the card and the bell to hang the calendar on the wall. S0 why the bell? Here's a cute poem to attach.

December 1st 'til Christmas is the longest time of the year.
Seems as if old Santa never will appear.
How many more days 'til Christmas? It may be hard to count,
But this little gift of candy will tell you the exact amount.
Untie a piece of candy each day when Sandman casts his spell
And Christmas will be here by the time you ring the bell.

My kids (at least 2 of them) had a great time making them, they are super easy. A fun after Thanksgiving craft to fill in the time off from school. I think we'll be doing this every year!

Glass Stone Votive Holder

Here's my first project posting, inspired by a project my friend J found, you can view it here on her blog. We decorated wine bottles with the glass stones you find in floral sections of just about any craft store. I thought it would be neat to try to decorate votive holders with the same glass stones, so here is my take on this easy craft.

Armed with a glue gun and lots of glass stones, anyone can do this craft. Things to think about, spacing and glue gun safety! More than likely you will need to leave a little space between the stones (like 1/8 inch) or you will end up with a space not quite big enough for another stone. For those with perfectionist tendencies, this will be problematic! You may have to pull off the stones and start over once you see how many will fit, as I did. This votive used 9 stones in each row. As for glue gun safety refer to my friend's blog regarding the wine bottles. Lot's of blistered fingers if you aren't too careful!

Can't wait to see what it looks like with a candle in it. I'm going to use a tea light so I don't risk the stones falling off when I need to replace the candle.

Here we go...

I'm diving into the blog world today with no clear plan of what it will be about. It may be a place for crafts, food, whatever happens to cross my mind. Very new concept for me! I'm typically one who likes to have things planned out (no snickering, please!).

One thing I do know, is that this will be a place that I can link things I find interesting on the web. I tend to come across other people's very creative projects and would love to share them with whoever is checking this out and have a place to reference those ideas when I need them!

Enjoy!