Thanksgiving Advent Calendar- UPDATED

I made my Halloween and Christmas advent calendars a couple of years ago. The supply list and instructions can be used for any of the calendars.

Supplies:
large piece of felt with thick interfacing
several colors of felt
several coordinating fabrics
coordinating thread
coordinating ribbon including one thick to hang it up
coordinating seasonal decorations
thick interfacing for pockets and backing felt
Wonder Under
coordinating thread
iron
ironing board
rotary cutter and mat
scissors
1/2" thick wooden dowel and 2 wooden balls to fit the endsThis is the fabric for the letters and numbers.This is the rough sketch I made of what I want my calendar to look like when completed.After making the rough sketch I cut out paper versions so I could use them as a cutting guide for the felt. I cut one feather to see if I liked the size of it in relation to the body. I'm planning to use 5 colors for the feathers.

1. Iron the felt onto the thick interfacing.
2.Trace your shape (feather in this case) onto the interfacing and cut out.When you're done you'll have a stack of feathers. These will be your pockets.

3. Lay out your pockets with the turkey body. Make any changes necessary before you sew things on. I'm not entirely thrilled with the way this looks. I haven't figured out what to do yet. Any suggestions?
4. Iron the material so it's flat and then iron onto the Wonder Under.
5. Trace and cut out the words and letters from the material.
6. Iron them onto the pockets. If desired stitch around them to make sure they'll stick well.
7. Sew your pockets and the turkey body onto the large piece of felt.
8. Decorate with ribbons (I do top and bottom) and/or other decorative pieces.

** I am too busy to finish it before Thanksgiving this year so I am adding what I have done since I last posted this. Please email me with any questions!
I had to make the turkey smaller and turn the beak and wattle so they faced forward so that everything would fit correctly. The picture above shows how it looks currently. I still need to iron on the numbers, add stitching around them and then sew them to the brown felt. I also need to sew on the Happy Thanksgiving to the top, add the eyes and the ribbon. If I can find it I think I might add rick rack to the bottom. We'll see. I hope to have this done soon, but I have several upcoming activities that I am in charge of in the next 2 weeks so it might not be done before Christmas.

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

Make your favorite cut-out sugar cookie recipe. Divide the dough into 3 parts. Keep one part white, color one part yellow and one part orange.
Place wax paper into a bread pan. Press the white dough into the bottom, then the yellow and then the orange. It won't be even, but that's fine. The cookies will still look great when you're done. Put the pan into the refrigerator for 3-4 hours. When it's done remove the dough from the pan using the wax paper, and keep the wax paper beneath it to cut it up.
Cut into 1/4" strips, and then into triangles as shown.

Put them on your greased cookie sheet, and bake according to the directions for your recipe.

When they're done remove the cookie sheets from the oven. Let the cookies sit for 1 minute, and then roll in sugar. It looks really white in the picture below, but in reality it's pretty transparent.

Here are some of the cookies on the cooling rack. The cookies look and taste great with or without sugar. Be aware that the cookies with sugar will dry out much more quickly. If you don't plan on using the full recipe you can freeze your dough.

Enjoy!

Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Valentine's Crafts

This is the first LOVE board I made. I wanted it to be in pinks and browns. Not the greatest exposure, but there is a ton of Diamond Dust all over it so it would shimmer in the light.

This is the second LOVE board I made. My sister Christine wanted one for her daughter's room. This is what I came up with for hers. This is my ho, ho, ho board. It hands in my hallway. The kids love the white boa and Santa costume on it. I also have fake snow on top of each board to make it more realistic. The "snow" glistens because I mixed Diamond Dust in it.
This is my take on Pottery Barn's Christmas advent calendar. I decided not to put our last name on it because if my daughter wants it after she gets married she may not have the same last name.

This is the Pottery Barn Christmas advent calendar that I used for inspiration. I changed a few things, but tried to keep the colors close to the same. BTW, the pockets take FOREVER to line up straight and to keep totally even. That was one of the hardest parts of making this project. This is my Thanksgiving decoration. I haven't yet done an advent for Thanksgiving. Maybe next year. For now this will have to do.

Here is my Halloween advent calendar. Again inspired by the one Pottery Barn was selling. I didn't really care for the burnt orange color they used so I made mine using purple and bright orange pockets. The ric rac they used didn't do it for me either so my ribbon has little witches hats and pumpkins. The ghosts near the top are actually little bells. This is the Pottery Barn Halloween advent calendar that I used for inspiration. Cute idea, but I just don't really like the colors they used. These are my BOO blocks. (Don't say it out loud in front of people unless/until you've practiced saying it alone. You'll understand when people around you start snickering.)