Wow, it has been a long time since I have found time to post here. Hopefully I can begin posting on a more regular basis soon. Meanwhile, I did just want to post this photo of a project I did a few years back.
This is an Advent countdown made from directions in Gooseberry Christmas Book 6. An old frame is painted -- I used a coat of white paint over a coat of dark green and then a coat of crackle medium over that. Then one cuts heavy cardboard to fit in the frame and wraps the cardboard with batting and fabric -- I used red flannel. 4 strips of 1.5-inch wide Christmas ribbon are glued vertically over the fabric, evenly spaced, then one glues pockets made from card stock or old Christmas cards to the ribbons. Number tags are then added for the dates from 1 to 24. I made three of these at the time (all somewhat different), one for each of our grown children and their families, and it was one of the most fun projects I ever worked on.
The right sort of ribbon is easily found in Walmart this time of year, and it's fun to choose from the great variety that's available. I made about half of my pockets from old Christmas cards, and the rest from red or green card stock with stickers added.
To fill the pockets, I made strips of paper with fun ideas on them, like "Make paper snowflakes", "Go see a Christmas parade", "Make some fudge", etc. The pockets could also be filled with things like sticks of gum, small candies, stickers, candy canes, even coins or folded dollar bills.
Maybe someone else will have fun with this idea!
