First Advent Sunday

I thought I would do a little series for Advent this year. Today, Nov. 28 is the first Advent Sunday. I'll be posting short meditations on the four Sundays of Advent as well as fun projects and freebies for the 25 days leading up to Christmas. So stay tuned!

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I really love the season of Advent and lighting a new candle each week on our Advent wreath; it brings me back to the real reason we're getting ready to celebrate and provides a little reality check in the midst of the zoo that December often becomes. The first Sunday of Advent is an awakening; it's exciting because something's coming. Something good. Something bigger than any big idea, even when it was newly born.

The first Sunday of Advent is a reminder of beginnings. It's where something unexpected happens not just to one woman, but two. You can read the beginning of the first woman's story here.

Advent Calendar DIY Round-up (Euro-style)

Ok, there are seriously so many good ideas out there for Advent calendars! I'm going to have to decide soon what I'm going to do this year so I can start working on it and not end up with a rush job like last year's calendar. My husband has actually put in a request: please don't make each day's container the same size. Hm, ok. So a lot of the following ideas won't work, BUT there's hope!

Aren't these amazing? 1) German lifestyle magazine Brigitte features a calendar where paper cups are decorated, filled, and then staple-gunned to a rustic plank. 2) All Sorts has this cute felt pocket calendar tutorial complete with template for sewing your own felt pockets. 3) Another example from Brigitte's inspiration gallery, this advent calendar is sewn onto a larger canvas with seams leading up to paper/fabric flags that fold back to reveal a message.

Love these! 4) is another Brigitte idea featuring decorated paper cups tied to a branch. 5) Cathe Holden offers a free downloadable calendar to use on vintage spools. Clever! 6) Brigitte really had a lot of cute ideas; here's another one featuring painted twigs and mini-presents.

I've entertained the covered matchbox idea (6) by German magazine, Wohnidee. We go through a lot of matches around here with tealights and tea drinking. They had another re-purpose idea to cover and decorate cans (7) that I like. We're pretty bad about making frequent recycling runs, so we have a nice little stash of tins in the pantry...

It Is What It Is blog provides free downloadable advent number templates to make their cute brown bagged calendar (9). Tina over at Flying House decorated envelopes (10) for her family-on-the-go. Pretty practical with those holiday travels! Eighteen25 makes pretty scrapbook paper cones to put over gifts (11). I think it would be tempting to peek, but it adds to the mantel decor! As you receive more holiday cards, you'll also make more room working your way through the calendar.

I love this Brigitte idea to paint old jars variations of a color (12) and add some simple number tags. I'm such a monochromatic person when it comes to decor, so this is totally something I'm thinking of doing! Another clever repurposing idea from Brigitte is to decorate old CD/DVD jewel cases. All sorts of flat gifts could go in here (movie tickets, treasure hunt clues, gift certificates, etc.).

If you're not up to making your own, here are a few fun examples of calendars you can purchase from the German catalog, Impressionen. A) Wooden elk/moose with numbered bags, B) red and white calendar with Lindt chocolates (yum!), C) Pretty galvanized magnetic board to hang little bags and decor, D) Red wooden tree silhouette with shelves for pretty boxes, and E) Numbered canisters to decorate, fill and stack as you please.

Lots of those to-purchase ideas look like they could easily been DIY'd, know what I mean? I have a feeling I'm going to do a combination of the jar (#12) and can (#7) ideas...I'll let you know.

What are you doing for your Advent calendar this year? Do you always do the same thing or do you try to mix it up? I have to say I didn't grow up with this tradition, but it seems to be a long-standing tradition here in Germany. I also have this feeling it's growing in popularity in general. What do you think?

Fall fireworks: pom pom flowers DIY

This past weekend a huge storm came through and nearly finished off the last of the lingering fall leaves. Big storms really are like fall's death knell, aren't they?

I was determined to hold on to a fall for a few more days and used some scrap yarn to make a few pom pom flowers in fall colors. In addition to the felt candle holder, I gave one little bouquet as a hostess gift before making additional bouquets for myself and a friend. These are super fast to make!

I used this tutorial to make my pom pom flowers, but if you have a pom pom maker you probably already know what to do! I had really thin yarn, so I found I had to double her estimates in the tutorial. I also ended up just wrapping the yarn around my thumb and found with 150 wraps I was able to get a plump, 3" pom pom out of it. I used about half a skein to make ~10 2-3" pom poms. I recommend starting on your thumb to use less yarn and see how you think. More fingers = bigger pom = more wraps of yarn.

I also think they would be cute on twigs instead of wooden kitchen skewers, don't you? I may try that next time. These little guys are super fast and easy to make; I could totally see doing this with a child. They really perk up corners and could also be great to decorate packages....hmm...

I never knew making pom poms was that easy! What have you made with pom poms?

Felt candle holder DIY

We were invited to a St. Martin's Day party this weekend and the traditional food served is goose (gans). It was an interesting evening and I have to say I really enjoyed eating goose! One of the things I took as a hostess gift was a little beeswax candle. Not wanting it to be too plain, I rummaged around and found my little stack of scrap felt and got to work.

I traced something round that I imagined I could easily fold up to be a kind of holder. Think cupcake liner, but sturdier. I started with a roll of tape, but then discovered that it wasn't going to make 'walls' high enough, so I ended up tracing the bottom of my sugar canister instead. Play around and see what works for your type of candle.

I cut out my circle with pinking shears to give it a cute edge. Then I used regular scissors to make 4 cuts at the 12/3/6/9-o'clock points. If you mush up the sides they'll overlap; the more they overlap, the straighter your sides. I alternated the direction of my overlapping so it looked more intentional and used the glue gun to hold them in place. I cut out a few simple leaf silhouettes and glued them to one side. Add a cute tag and you're set!

I really don't know where I came up with this idea; it was more my thinking that I couldn't easily wrap candle with this shape (with what I already had at home), and there needed to be some sort of presentation, right? I actually think I'll do this in the future since it worked out so well. Candles can be such a nice hostess gift!

Pom pom flowers coming up!

Fall pictures from our drive to Bavaria

We've been back for weeks, but I thought I'd throw together a few of my favorite pictures from our short trip down to Bavaria (or Bayern, as they say auf Deutsch). I really need to do this for our summer trip, but baby steps, right?

The green painted shutters on my brother-in-law's new abode are darling, aren't they? He's not into 'darling', but he does like a traditional Bavarian look, ha! While out on a walk we all admired the old farmhouse with blue and white striped shutters (blue and white are the colors on the Bavarian flag). I honestly don't think I've ever seen striped shutters, but while I think it would look tacky in most areas, it seemed to fit right in with the rustic Bavarian mountain look.

I love the old wooden door on a farmhouse; wouldn't you love coming home to that? I think doors are highly underrated. Then we walked out in the fields to find a sweet little church painted yellow. It was really a chapel; it was so tiny. It had a wall about shoulder height running around it. I was disappointed that the doors were locked because I bet the inside would've been interesting!

The weather was definitely brisk; fall in the Alps is much colder than fall in our region of Germany! All the same, it was fun to get a chance to rake leaves (instead of sweep our balcony) and stack firewood with my brother-in-law. We'll have to go visit again in the summer and return to the Walchensee. I'd love to rent a rowboat from the boathouse above!

Have you ever been to Bavaria? It's like how Texas is to the US -very much its own flavor. Most of Germany does not adopt Bavarian style, but it's what most people think of when they think of Germany!

PSA: Gifted Magazine = Amazing new free online mag!

Red alert! EZ from Creature Comforts has just launched Gifted Magazine, a free new online mag for creatives. Total gorgeousness!

1. gifted magazine cover, 2. Gifted Magazine, 3. Gifted Magazine: Printable Deer Silhouette Wrapping + Bunting, 4. Gifted Magazine: A Little Whimsy & Spice

See how pretty? Not like the internet is running short on eye candy, but this is something you must check out! Crafty projects anybody can do, yet are definitely not generic looking (love Jutta's red reindeer project!).

And yes, the gift guide does deliver! I usually find these things totally unrealistic, but I really could find something for everybody on my list in there if I wanted to, even my dad, no joke! I especially loved the blogger interviews and gift ideas for under $20 gifts. So practical!

So yes, I'm excited and I think it's great. Check out Gifted Magazine today!