Using Books for Christmas Countdown: Advent Fabric Bags

My son is 3 and we decided to try a different type of Christmas countdown this year.  Instead of a traditional Advent calendar, we’re going to use books to countdown to Christmas. 

Like most young children, my son loves books and being read to.  He also adores surprises and hiding things and he has a deep and abiding love for any kind of bag. Whenever we go somewhere, he asks me for a bag so he can carry his stuff. For Advent, we are marrying all these loves into one by hiding books in fabric bags under the tree.

I made fabric bags for the books but you could use the same idea with gift bags or by using wrapping paper. You can number the bags if you want, but I left ours plain so my son could choose the bag he wanted each night.

The fabric bags are easy to make.  They are great project for a beginner and a really fast project for an experienced seamstress.   I bought a 1/2 yard of a dozen different holiday patterns that I thought would coordinate well together, including some stripes and polka dots that weren’t Christmas patterns.

To start, I gathered up 24 holiday or winter themed books of various shapes and sizes. To make the bags, I folded the material in half, using the fold as the bottom of the bag (no need to sew the bottom). I decided which book to use and placed the book on top of the folded material. Using the book as a guide, I roughly measured and cut the material on either side of the book to make a roomy bag.  I left a lot of room (about 10 inches) of material above the book for a gather.

To sew the bags, I used the fold as the bottom, then hemmed the top and stitched the sides together. To close the bags, I used ribbon. I got this idea on Pinterest (of course!) and I need to go look for the pin to link it here.

  

In the bags are a mix of secular and religious holiday or winter-themed books. Some of the books we included were: 

The Polar Express

The Parable of the Pine Tree

The Snowy Day
Room for a Little One

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Crippled Lamb

Twas the Night Before Christmas

The Biggest Snowman Ever

The Story of Christmas
Olivia Claus

I also included a few non-Christmas books that are his favorites, such as Thomas the Train. I have a feeling the books are going to be a hit...

The Days of December Daily

I’m having such fun with my December Daily and have surprised myself with just how much I am enjoying this process. It makes me smile to mark down a little something each day. Life with a toddler seems to pass by in a blur and it’s really refreshing to pause and reflect on the day.

Day 1 is the only entry that isn’t a two-page spread. Here I wrote a little note to welcome December and to say how much I’ve always enjoyed the holiday season. I added this little pic through our window from the outside looking in to literally give a peek at our life.

Day 2 tells the story of being just a little over-ambitious with the Advent calendar. My son, who’s 2, love blocks and puzzles and I thought the Lego City advent calendar would be right up his alley. Sure, the box said it was for ages 5 - 12 but I thought, how hard can a Lego project be? Um, turns out, pretty hard! Definitely not suitable for a 2 year old. I could foresee a meltdown every day: his and mine! So, we boxed that baby right back up and went to plan B. (See Day 4 for more on the story).

On Day 3, we went to the annual Christmas luncheon at church. I used the program as my page insert. It was a little too narrow, so I added a bit of pp down the side. On the right, I wrote down who sat at our table and journaled about the program. I added a couple photos I took with my iphone, including one of Cory outside on the swing set afterwards.

By Day 4, I had found a good alternative to the Lego advent calendar. Now, a small stuffed mouse and some candy canes are marking the passing days. This calendar is from 1987, I believe, and is one my Mom used when my youngest siblings were tots. I looked online to see if I could find more information about this specific calendar, sold by Avon, and was astonished to see several sellers on ebay asking more than $100 for this “vintage” item.

If you have a December Daily, feel free to link yours in the comments. I'd love to see it!

Supply list:

Echo Park: Holly Jolly - 6x6 pad, 12x12 collection kit, chipboard, stamps; Metro Dots and Stripes - 6x6 pad, 12x12 collection kit; Season’s Greetings 12x12 collection kit, chipboard, brads; Everybody Loves Christmas 12x12 collection kit.

American Crafts: Album

Ali Edwards: calendar overlays

Hambly: Transparencies

Bo Bunny: ribbon

Fancy Pants: ribbon

Cosmo Cricket: tiny type

Jenni Bowlin: letter stickers

Martha Stewart: kraft tags

The Twinery: twine

Making Memories: Buttons

My Mind’s Eye: Stamps

Ranger Industries: Ink

Sewing Machine: Bernina
Kit club: Studio Calico

Scraptastic Club Guest Designer

It’s December and I am so happy to welcome in the holiday season. Today, I officially start my December Daily and my little one opens the first door of his Lego Advent calendar.

But first I want to share that I am a guest designer this month for Scraptastic Club. It’s a great kit club that gives you a choice of two kits each month. Both kits have great add-on options too. You can find the kits here. 

I chose the Naughty or Nice? kit.

Here’s my first project. I scrapped a photo of my Dad with my brothers on Christmas morning. I love this Crate ornament paper. I pop-dotted some of the ornaments for dimension then set off the paper by adding borders punched from cream cardstock down either side.

The large green die cut is Bo Bunny and it had a blue scallop design around the perimeter, which made the die cut too big for my design.  So, I cut off the blue and stitched a red frame to ground the die cut. On top, I added a tag using a cute reindeer stamp from Imaginesce and alphas from Lily Bee.

Scraptastic Club sponsors challenges each month with great prizes. Come play along. The first challenge is to use border punches and you have until Dec. 31 to upload your entry. The prize this month is the Random Collection from Crate Paper. Oh, I love that line!   You can find the challenges on the Scraptastic Club Blog here.