Dreaming of Christmas,

Its not even the end of September yet already I'm looking forward to Christmas, it will be our first one together as a married couple in our new flat, past Christmases we have either stayed in Edinburgh and gone to spend it with Darren's family, or gone down to Aylesbury and spend it at my parents. This year I want a quiet Christmas just the two of us, with candlelit dinners, cuddles and chocolate on the sofa, and way too much TV. It will be bliss.
Also this year I'm not spending too much money, I'm going to make a lot of presents this year I think, homemade sweets and biscuits, jewellery, mini scrapbooks, I think its more thoughtful if you sit down and put your heart and soul into making a gift rather than trawling the shops or online sites looking for something that could well end up shoved at the back of a drawer. While I was in this Christmas mood, I decided to have a go at my own advent calendar, Ive seen loads made and in lots of different ways too, I decided to go with something I could hang and that wouldn't take me too long.

This it what I ended up with, I started by covering a 12x12 blank canvas with 12x12 scrapbook paper (Papermania naughty & nice) I then added 4 rows of co-ordinating fibres secured by staples on the back of the frame, the little pockets where made by cutting co-ordinating paper into 24 pieces (9.5cm x 7.5cm) then folded in half and scored 1.5cm in from the edge (both sides)fold and glue the top sides down and the glue again to seal the little pocket. I then numbered and decorated them and attached them to the 'lines' on the canvas with mini wooden pegs (coloured with promarkers so that all the colours matched) I'm quite pleased with how quick I put it together, and hopefully if taken care of should last me at least this year and next, I will nearer the time of course fill the little pockets with a chocolate coin each.