Easy Advent Calendar Roll

It's that time again - time to make advent calendars and get them in the mail so they can be enjoyed by the younguns off at university.  Given the age of our children I just go right for chocolate and don't bother with other little treats.  A daily dose of chocolate is just what the doctor ordered at this stressful time of the school year.

I wanted to create an advent calendar that was both simple to make and easy to send in the mail.  I came up with a design that reminds me of little girl's smocked dresses and reminds my husband of intestines - so you take your pick.  Either way it fits the requirements and will be appreciated by the kids.

Each advent calendar required the following:
-- 4 sheets of tissue paper
-- 24 round-shaped candy or chocolates
-- string or ribbon cut into 9 or 10 inch lengths

Step 1:
Lay twelve of the chocolates across the middle lengthwise of the tissue paper.  I used a double thickness of tissue paper so it would withstand the rolling.

Step 2:
Fold in the sides of the tissue paper over the end chocolates.  Then fold the tissue paper roughly in half lengthwise over the chocolates

Step 3:
Roll the chocolates inside the tissue paper toward the open end.

Step 4:
Tie the middle and the ends of the roll.   You can feel the chocolates through the tissue paper which helps you find the middle of the roll.  You can also gently move the chocolates along if they are bunched up.

Step 5:
Tie string between each of the chocolates.

  
You can leave the rolls as they are or you can tie bows around the ends and hang them up. Since there are only twelve chocolates in a roll, each child gets two rolls.  I made them all different colours - purple, turquoise, red, and green.  

You can also check out my Advent Calendar Pinterest page or my advent calendars from previous years for inspiration:

Easy advent calendar

Advent calendar ball

Mailable advent calendar

Are you making an advent calendar this year?  I've seen so many cute ones around blogland this year.  I swear they are getting cuter every year.


Linked to Inspire me Please at Liz Marie Blog

Today is Bouquet Day

It has finally happened!  There are no more flowers to be picked from the garden - the frost took the last of them a few days ago.  Which means I will have to rely on the grocery store from now until spring. 

the last flower from the garden on our sideboard

Yesterday I bought a bouquet of yellow freesia when I was getting some milk.  Don't you love freesia.  They have such pretty complex flowers arranged along their stem and they come in such a variety of gorgeous colours.  Fortunately the store only had a few colours or I might still be there trying to chose which ones to buy.

The bouquet came with lots of fern leaves, but I separated them and added the fern leaves to the blue salvia that we had on the table all last week and is still going strong.

I paired the freesia with one of my favourite thrift store tablecloths (do I say that every week?)  I have a collection of different gingham cloths - yellow, beige, brown, navy, red - and I love how they look on the table.  This one has been used a lot and has a few spots, but I still love it.

I'm not sure why, but looking at my Bouquet Day pictures side-by-side on my Pinterest Bouquet Day board makes me ridiculously happy.  I love seeing the progression of flowers that have bloomed in the garden and the pairing of the different colours of flowers with the tablecloths. Almost nobody visits this board so I feel like it is my secret place, just for my own enjoyment (which I'm sharing with all of you). 

Gallery Wall

I know, I know, I can't believe it either. I finally got the gallery wall done I've been yakking about for a couple of years now.   The family room looks much more complete with something on that wall.  I'm thinking we can add to the sides and keep taking over the whole wall with pictures (kind of like a fungus - only prettier).

Here's what we hung on the wall:

-- two photos I took, one of baskets of seeds and grains at a market in Bangladesh and the lower one of the interior of Rouen Cathedral in Normandy, France

-- a photo I took of the cliffs at Étretat in Normandy, France

-- a photo of a half-timbered house in Rouen, France

-- a painting of Ritchie Falls that I did this past summer.

-- an art print taken by my friend Kat Warren from Low Tide High Style (by the way, do you want to know the most recent photo of Kat's that I'm obsessed with - check out this blog post and go down to the last photo.  Gorgeous, right?)

-- and finally two paint-by-numbers I found at a thrift store last year.

There you have it - a tour of our gallery wall. I think I'm going to change the waterfall picture when I paint new ones that I like so we have a rotating display.  I just glued a hook on the back and hung the canvas up which will make it easy to change it with new paintings.

 And here is what that poor wall looked like in all its nakedness before the gallery wall.

Have you jumped on the gallery wall bandwagon?  


Linked to Open House Blog Party at No Minimalist Here

Painting Leaves

  
I've been painting leaves this past week.  The inspiration was from a post by Vickie Henderson on the blog Sketching in Nature.  You really should check out the post as her leaves are gorgeous and far more detailed than mine.  

I loved painting the leaves as it was a satisfying, yet fairly simple process. I thought I would share with you how I painted the leaves in case this gorgeous time of year has you ready to channel your inner artist and you want to give it a try.

First, you need to collect some leaves - the best ones are leaves that have a variety of colours on them or have little holes or imperfections so there is something interesting to paint.  

Then trace them on to your paper.

And then begin painting the leaves starting at the tips.  It works best if you do a combination of painting as well as wetting an area of the leaf and then dropping paint into the water to let the colour flow along the wet area and blend with colours that have already been painted.  

Remember to leave little holes (white areas) even if there aren't any on your actual leaf as it makes the leaves seem more realistic.  You might also want to use tiny amounts of blue to blend with your yellow, orange, and red as it gives a good effect for the edges and the dried up damaged parts of leaves, like in the edges of the yellow maple in the photo below.

How are the colours where you live?  Ours are past their prime, but there are still some trees with leaves which makes me happy. 

I came across this photo I took of some red maple leaves from last year at the cottage and just had to re-post it.  Aren't they magnificent?

Linked to Fall into Fall Party at DIY by Design

Today is Bouquet Day

  

Looks like my prediction last week was wrong - I was able to scrounge one more bouquet out of our garden.  Despite a frost or two, the blue salvia were still going strong so I cut some to put on our table.

I think they look like lavender and thus sort of French which inspired me to pair the salvia with a linen tablecloth.  I got this tablecloth at a thrift store several years ago and have used it lots which accounts for the softness of the linen and the fadedness of the printed flowers.  A vintage mason jar as a vase was the obvious choice with all that French country look happening. 

What are you up to this weekend?  I thought we were going to the cottage, but last minute change of plans has us home and kicking back.  

P.S.  I swear I ironed the tablecloth - linen just keeps you humble when it comes to wrinkles.