In the Winter issue of the amazing "Living Crafts" magazine, they had a tutorial for a felted advent calendar.
I was so intrigued!
...usually I buy the chocolate-filled ones at the supermarket (fun for my kids, but filled with truly terrible chocolate!) :)
So I thought, "What fun to make!"...and then I could also choose what kind of candy to put into each pocket!
The directions have you make a plain-colored piece of felt with 24 pockets
by sandwiching small squares of foam between two layers of fiber.
...then you're instructed to needle-felt the design and numbers on afterward.
I wanted to make the design prior to wet-felting, though...
...so I made a large piece of felt and needle felted on the dates and my chosen design...over and around the foam bits.
...then wet-felted it as usual.
I had found a photo of a stained-glass nativity for inspiration...
...but the Holy family in it had no faces...
...and this creeps me out in a big way.
Suffice it to say that this irrational fear is based on a childhood trauma...
...picture a fashionable women's clothing store in the mall, displaying women mannequins with eyes and pouty lips, but no noses!!
To my four-year-old self, this was mutilation! Shudder.
So, I used my cartoonish drawing 'skilz' to make a happy, smiling Holy family instead.
...and filled it with Chocolate Riesens and Werther's Original caramels.
They would make anyone smile!! Yum!!
