christmas crafts

this year i decided i wanted to start a few traditions. this included a few advent activities. the first was a jesse tree. i copied a friend of mine and made the ornaments out of clay. once i got the hang of it i had fun creating and assembling the little pieces.

here they are, all 25! i inserted sterling silver jewelry hooks in each ornament and baked them. the clay really held it color and consistency quite well. then i painted each of them with a satin finish glaze.

i was thinking i would find a branch-like tree that we would keep year after year, but i finally just broke down and bought this live one from trader joe's. we didn't do such a great job of keeping up with it because of all the traveling, but i know the kids will enjoy it each christmas season!

i saw an advent calendar like this one in a pottery barn catalog and decided to make one myself. it's made out of felt and i actually got to use some new stitches on my sewing machine!! most of the work was done by hand. you can't tell from this photo, but i hand-stitched numbers 1-25 under each pocket and our last name at the bottom. it took me a while and i now have to doctor up santa on pocket 25 because corinne absconded with his beard, hair, hands and cuffs!