Crafting for Christmas: Advent Calendar Stockings

Let's talk about all things Christmas-y. I love Christmas. The music, the ridiculously sweet snacks I only make one time a year (hello fudge and divinity!), the decorations and the advent calendar. I was raised in a Christian home and so counting down to Christmas has always been a part of our daily routine when Thanksgiving is over with. When I was much younger we would make a paper chain to count down each day because getting those chocolate calendars was too expensive when there were 10 kids! When I was in South Korea, I made a paper version with pictures having to do with Christmas behind the doors (I had a lot of time on my hands some days).

This year though, I am making a stocking version to sell (and eventually one for myself to keep when we have kids) and let me tell you what, it's fun to make! I have 24 small stockings cut. The last few days I have managed to get 12 of them all sewn up and last night I spent some time doing some hand embroidery on them. I still need to find numbers to attach as well as pegs to hang them from their ribbon. Looks like I'm going shopping this week. The picture below is some inspiration:

The current set I'm making is of all Christmas print fabrics on the front and various felts and soft fabrics for the backing. Here's a picture of three of the six fabrics I'm using.

I have a small obsession with nutcrackers...

I am planning a second set of these stockings for a friend and I will be using alternate fabric instead of Christmas printed fabric. With the huge stash of fabric I have, I think I can sort something out. :)

Lastly, I stumbled upon another blog with a post about alternate fillers for advent calendars. Since chocolate would melt in the summer heat here (well, maybe) and not everyone likes to have a chocolate every single day (I know I don't), here is the link for some other ideas to fill your advent stockings.

Read it at: 20 Ways to Fill

Most of all, remember to celebrate the season with those you love. I love Christmas. Now if I can just make it to November 15th and then I can set up for the holidays!