Nativity Advent Calendar

Years ago I bought a little nativity advent calendar.  It wasn't very well made and after looking at it I thought, "I could make something better."  But I was very busy with other responsibilities and the thought of taking time to do that when I had a perfectly good one in my hands seemed silly.

Several years later I found myself still wanting to re-do what I had.  I started out thinking that I would invent my own patterns but on second thought decided I would peruse Pinterest and see if I could find something I liked.  And I did!  I stumbled upon this nativity and then found that someone else had made up some patterns from it.  Perfect!  It was just what I had in mind!  I used heat 'n bond to glue the pieces together.  (I love the stitching on the original so I may go back and add that next year!)

My original thought was to continue using the old calendar and just replace the pieces.  However, once I started in on the pieces I realized that they would be too big to fit into the old pockets!  Now my next task was to make a backdrop and pockets big enough to fit my new adorable pieces!  (My husband commented, "If you give Jeanine some felt . . .")  After a bit of thought I came up with an idea that worked.  I just used a large piece of dark brown felt and used the heat 'n bond to attach the sky and hills.  The pockets are just one long strip of felt that I sewed on and divided into compartments.  It needed something to make it just a little more sturdy so I added some red Christmas fabric to the back and folded it over the edges to tie it all together.  The numbers were cut with my Silhouette.

  

I love my new advent calendar and excited to use it for years to come!  And even more importantly--so are my boys!