Advent by Post: A Calendar in the Mail

Unfortunately this is getting sent out a little late, but that just means you get to open more on the day you get the package, right? Our godson is still pretty young, so I didn't have to worry about making it look too kiddy; I think he'll love the animals on the tags and the contents as it is!

All I had to do was stamp white paper sandwich bags from the grocery store, fill them, print out the tags from here, hole punch, and tie with ribbon. Easy! Too bad I've been too sick and busy to do this sooner...oops.

'Tis the Season

Our home started getting sprinkled with Christmas bits and bobs this past weekend. The first Advent Sunday has passed and -as a friend of mine so nicely put it- our hearts have begun their journey to Bethlehem. One thing that's struck me this year is that this season has historically been about repentance, not the beat-yourself-on-the-back craziness, but a sincere 'heart check'. With so many people and organizations out there buying credibility with false humility, I think it's worth the time to check myself and make sure I'm not doing the same. I believe sincere apologies, reconciliation and attempts to right wrongs and reorient one's heart make great gifts. While they may not cost a penny, the price of pride ran pretty high last time I checked. It's definitely easier for me to wrap a gift than to wrap myself in humility. Good thing the light gets brighter each week as we light a new candle on our Advent wreaths; we are not alone.

(and no, I'm not trying to preach a sermon here, just processing some thoughts that have been swirling around my head this weekend)

DIY Advent Calendar Round-up 2011 (part 2) - What German Bloggers are Creating

** Achtung! Jeder Link in diesem Post ist auf Deutsch! **

** Ich wollte denen, die kein Deutsch lesen können ein bisschen was von euch Deutschen zeigen! =) **

Time is running out for those of you (us!) still working away on making an Advent calendar. In addition to last year's big round-up, I've done a Part One for this year, and here's Part Two. Like Part One, this round-up features only tutorials auf Deutsch. Why is that? For one, I live here in Germany and this is some of the stuff that I'm seeing from German bloggers. Two, I figure you native English speakers are probably oversaturated with the same sorts of ideas, so I thought I would feature some potentially fresh, new ideas from Germany. The best part? Many of them are self-explanatory thanks to the pictures; when not, Google Translator can give you a clue or two!

1. I love this crocheted Advent calendar from one of my readers, Conny. She made different squares and simply tacked them up to create pockets and then decorated. LOVE this! Makes me wish I could crochet!

2.-3. These fabric bags double as votives, so pretty! Mama's Kram also features a calendar of little fabric 'haus' pockets; adorable.

4.-5. Living at Home (a German magazine) has a number of ideas posted and my two favorites are the take out food container calendar and the coffee to-go container calendar. Both of these would be fun to display in the kitchen, wouldn't they?

6. Raumdinge shares a creative hot air balloon Advent calendar with free printables. Love it!

7. I like this wool felt calendar from Ansteckend Anders. It has a nice cozy feel to it, doesn't it? A nice way to highlight a bit of cheery ribbon, too. The grommets make it easy to hang things.

8. The Sanvie Design Buro is offering free printable number tags to decorate whatever you decide to create. Love the color scheme on this one.

9.-11. Joanna at Liebesbotschaft has a few ideas, Advent calendar reduction for the 4 Sundays (10) of Advent, and Advent calendar to-go (11) (good idea if you need to mail one),  and she also did a thing where she wrapped books for her kids for Advent and made the wrapping special with red wax seals (9) -fun!

Ok, now you have calendar ideas, but maybe you need help figuring out how to fill an Advent calender for him/her/tween/anybody? Liebesbotschaft has a great list of stuffing ideas -but in German - klick hier für Kalendar ausfüllen Tips!

Soooo.....what are you filling your calendars with? I've historically used candy and verses to fill mine, but I feel like this year I want to try and be a little more creative with the filling and not just the form! What fun things have you received in an Advent calendar?

Danke.

Today is Thanksgiving in the USA and millions of people are sitting together with friends and family sharing turkey, cranberries, pumpkin pie, etc. Today I'm teaching a class at the university here in Germany and grading papers; it's a normal work day. Earlier this month I declared to a fellow American that November was a great get-it-done month since there were no holidays. I was promptly laughed at for forgetting Thanksgiving -how do you forget Thanksgiving?! By living abroad for so many years. Yet somehow it still feels strange to not celebrate the holiday.

Today I'm thankful for friends and family, for God who centers me, for the internet which has allowed me to stay in touch with people, blog, and meet new people, and for all those special moments we witness that just take our breath away.

What are you thankful for?

Simple fabric collage

Our half bath is really tiny, but it had a huge blank wall. I had 3 matching frames waiting to be filled, so I thought about what to do. I'm not sold on this being a permanent idea, or even a final version if we do decide to keep these, but I do like them and it was fun to piece them together with what I had on hand. It made me want to try more ideas with fabric collage, so I think I'll have to play with this again at a later date.

Oddly enough, I like them better in person than in any photo I manage to take of them. They definitely look more tactile in person of course, but still. I wonder why that is?

11 Hot Links for the 11th Month

This week has been INSANE. There have been FIFTY-ONE students whose homework needed correcting, FOUR classes to teach at the university and an obscene amount of photocopies to be made for each class, THREE rush assignments for writing and editing work, TWO large boxes of Smarties eaten at my desk, and ONE very cool package in the mail (more on that later). I don't usually have all four classes in one week, but of course it happened on a week with 3 rush jobs. Needless to say, there hasn't been a lot of time for blog reading, however here are a few things that were either somehow squeezed in this week or will be enjoyed this weekend.

So, a little link love from me to you:

1. Sweet Paul's latest free online magazine is live and it's awesome!

2. Kelly went to the Fall Quilt Market recently and has been posting lots of great mini-interviews with all sorts of fascinating people -today's was with Rachel Ashwell of Shabby Chic fame.

3. Bonnie from Going Home to Roost found some fun free fonts.

4. Grab some gorgeous chevron patterns from MaybeMej.

5. I'm going to make this super easy orange chocolate tiramisu that Joanna posted at Liebesbotschaft.

6. I like the looks of this craft room.

7. Here's how to create some mega fast and cute felt flowers.

8. Kellie's posts at 74 Lime Lane about using Evernote to stay organized and a 5-step digital spring cleaning are both intriguing and inspiring.

9. I'm suddenly feeling sticker love, probably because Genine has such lovely ones.

10. Hamburger Liebe posted cute Christmas cut-out DIYs with washi tape. Love.

Anything catch your eye?

Hi. (in progress)

I'm working on something. I'm hoping it will turn out right. It's a project that takes a little time. So far, so good. Yes, there's a little diversion from fabric projects since my (sewing) desk is buried in red pens, research articles to edit and student homework assignments to correct. This is turning into an crazy busy semester!! However, I still need a little creative escape to stay sane, so I've been using the kitchen counter for some other projects late at night. Maybe you can guess what I'm working on?

Anybody else escape to creating? What are you working on?

Trying something different: 4 Things I've learned

This weekend I tried something different, or rather, something I haven't tried in a looooong time. My friend, Nadine, had a Stampin' Up party at her home and I attended. It was quite a full night and definitely an experience! It was fun hanging out with other crafty-minded women for an evening and I learned a few things about myself:

1. Following directions in German is difficult for me, but not THAT bad. I should experiment with anleitung auf Deutsch (directions in German) more often. Words like twist, tear, bend, punch, etc. are just not in my German vocabulary! I've been adding/deleting blogs from my blogroll lately and have found some fun German craft blogs, so they'll help me move that way.

2. Directions for projects are not all bad. In general, I don't like following directions with crafts. Sewing, usually, but crafts, not so much; there's a little rebel streak in me! Still, it was a good thing to have them this weekend because it helped me learn a few new techniques that can be used anywhere, so directions can be good!

3. I have my own style. Since the projects we completed were pretty strict in terms of which papers and elements we could use and how the completed project should look, I found myself struggling to make a project 'me' and not just a copy of the example. Part of this was the directions/rebel issue, part of it was me and 'my look'.

4. Trying something different definitely gives me new ideas for other, often unrelated, projects. It was fun to dabble in something different for an evening and while I doubt I'm going to become a die-hard scrapper or card-maker (I'll leave that to Nadine and Tina!), I definitely learned a few things that I'll be mixing into other projects down the road -some even this week!

Vielen Dank für die Einladung, Nadine!  =)

Have you been trying anything new lately? What have you been learning?

DIY Advent Calendar Round-up 2011 (part 1)

Here are some of the most eye-catching, fun and creative Advent calendars I've seen around the web. I did a big DIY Advent calendar round-up last year, so I thought I'd do something this year, too. Maybe you'll get some ideas for your own! And yes, it seems early to mention Christmas things, but if you're creating for Christmas, you pretty much have to start now!

The Raumdinge blog (written auf Deutsch!) has lots of fabulous free printable Advent calendar ideas. In fact, she has so many, I decided to make a Part 1 of the round up just about her projects. Definitely head over there and check them out! **Be forewarned that any German Advent calendars I link to only go up to December 24 since Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Eve over here. Just a heads up for those who celebrate on the 25th!**

Waldtiere (forest animal) Advent calendar.Here the animals are the decorations. She also has another Waldtiere Advent calendar, this time with the animals as number tags to be attached to simple brown bags.While I like how she's used an unexpected color, I would probably do a little color editing in Photoshop to find a nice red or green instead.

You could go for a more streamlined look with these calendars. A cool and modern Advent calendar using simple white bags. This would be so insanely easy to do; simple with a high impact factor -I love that! This stars and spheres calendar is a fun idea if you can find the plastic spheres! I especially like how it lets you decorate at a higher level -she has hers hanging from her curtain rods. I think this would be so cool for a boy.

Mini-boxes Advent calendar where the .pdf file includes patterns for all 24 boxes -I really love this one! So fun to hang it all up, isn't it? This is probably my favorite. The deer tags with mini-box template are also cute. You have to use your own papers to make the boxes, but with the template it should be easy. The dates on the tags are written in German, so make sure you know your German numbers if you use this one!

One of these projects will be making its way through the postal system for one of our godson's birthday/Christmas gift. Another will be making an appearance here in our home. What about you? Are you making an Advent calendar this year? Have any favorites from this list? 
 

3 DIYs I'm dying to try

I have a nasty habit of keeping tabs open in my browser for...ever. I see something I want to read/make and I save the tab every time I shut down just so I will remember to go back to the idea. However, I could just create a post here and share some of those fun DIY projects that are catching my eye; maybe we'll all benefit, right? (and maybe I should just 'pin' them and call it saved, right?!)

This super fast and easy DIY wool cape from P.S.- I made this....yeah, love it! It would be so easy to add some trim to this or add a pocket, etc. Good basic idea! I confess that I haven't worn a poncho yet, but I really think they're here to stay for a while, so I think I'll give one a try. I think the fabric you choose will determine if it's more of an 'on trend' sort of piece or not. I'm wanting one in a brown herringbone pattern w/some brown corduroy trim, but maybe that's a little too Sherlock?!

Sania Pell read my mind with these easy DIY ornaments (anleitung auf Deutsch hier); honestly, I already had this in my head to do thanks to her book, except she upped it by using festive fabric/ribbon as hangers (I was only going to use twine; her idea is so much better!). I totally have a few ideas rolling around in relation to this project, so I just need to get some of that air dry clay and get a move on!

These lovely muslin transfer photo lanterns on Design*Sponge = true love. How cool is this idea?! If only I knew what photo transfer stuff was auf Deutsch and where to buy it over here. Do any of you know where to get it? Our local Bastelladen (craft store) is the size of a shoebox, so I may just ask for some American stuff for Christmas.

What about you? Any favorites of this bunch? Any special projects you're planning on trying?

Stitched: Curtains for Billy (tutorial)

I had open shelving. Open Billy shelving from Ikea. I wanted Billy doors, but I didn't want to pay for them (I mean really, why is one door more expensive than the shelf itself?!), so I employed my beloved tension rods and some fun fabric I picked up this summer.

Making curtains for the short Billy bookshelves is actually insanely easy for two main reasons:
1) Tension rods. Need I say more?
2) The width of most bolts of fabric is perfect for a hanging length (including a rod pocket at the top and another at the bottom), so all you have to do is rip the fabric for as wide as you want your panel to be. Total cinch.

How exactly does this work? For each panel you'll need:

- A tension rod that fits 30" or 76.25cm

- Fabric panel at least 31"x 42.5" or 78.75cm x 108cm if you want flat panels like mine, or 46" x 42.5" or 118cm x 108cm if you want the panel to gather/bunch up (1.5x the width + seam allowances). **See in the picture how mine don't quite hit the sides of the bookshelf though? You may want to add an extra bit to your width if you want to avoid this.**

TIP: since you're just cutting across the grain of your fabric, you can make a tiny snip and then rip the fabric to get a nice straight line.

- Fold the sides and make 1/2" or 1.25cm seams
- Fold the top down to make a 2" or 5cm pocket and stitch down
- Fold the bottom 1.5" or 4cm up and stitch in place, leave ends open
- Slide curtain weights or narrow dowel into bottom pocket and stitch closed (important for lighter fabrics)
- Slide the tension rod through the top pocket, hang, and pat yourself on the back!

I don't have curtain weights in my panels yet. I just haven't gotten around to finding some. If you use a thin quilting cotton like I did, it's something you'll likely want to consider (unless you're making gathered panels). The way they look without the weights sorta bugs me, but it's not that bad. It's just going to take some hunting to find those in my town, hmph!

Can I just say how nice it is to have a visually 'clean' set of shelves when I first come into my office?! I love it! Everything is still easy to get to, it's just neatly tucked away. I also really like how the fabric worked out so nicely in my office. The walls are pretty bright, though not as bright as they appear in these pictures, but still, the subtle pattern and white-on-yellow mix does wonders in this space. Hooray!

* The photos in this post...um, yeah. Totally taken over a period of two weeks. See if you can find all the subtle changes, ha! (and yes, I DID washi tape a picture to my still-wrapped-in-plastic picture frames. I am THAT person.)

Eye Candy: The Holiday Guide by Emily Henderson

Emily Henderson, of HGTV famedom, has put together a really gorgeous holiday guide packed with features from well-known bloggers, DIY projects, and a pretty hefty gift guide. I'll confess to normally finding gift guides off-putting, but I have to say I clicked through on at least 10 different things, so who knows? Maybe you'll see something you like!

I love the shade of blue on the walls in this last dining room shot, and I really love the world map with 'Joy to the World' written on it! I also think that silver-scape mantel is right up my alley. I definitely want to show more silvery sparkle this holiday season. I'm thinking there's going to be some glitter action this year...anybody else getting on board the glitter boat?

These are just a few of my favorite images, but you can see the whole thing here. 

My Favorite Pumpkin Cream Soup Recipe

 Photo by flora.cyclam 

Yum and double yum! This weekend I made pumpkin cream soup (Kürbiscremesuppe) and not only is it my favorite soup, but by messing around with several recipes I came up with my own favorite recipe! I thought I would share it here.

500g/1.1lbs chopped pumpkin (Kürbis)*
2 medium potatoes (Kartoffeln)
1 large onion (Zwiebel) **
20g/2T butter
20g/3T flour (Mehl)
1 liter/4.25c water (Wasser)
1 cube vegetable broth bouillon (Wurfel Gemüsebrühe)
250g/1c+ heavy cream (Schlagsahne)
Salt & Pepper (Salz & Pfeffer)

Garnish with:
pumpkin seeds (Kürbiskerne)
pumpkin seed oil (Kürbiskernöl) -- This just really makes it (in my opinion)!
creme fraiche

 * I used a Hokkaido pumpkin/squash because you don't have to peel the skin off. These are very common in Germany.
** Some people will add a clove of garlic (Knoblauch) and/or a bit of fresh ginger (Ingwer) here to spice things up, but I like mine mellower.

Dice the vegetables and cover in a pot w/butter to steam for a short bit. Mix up the water and seasonings while you wait. Sprinkle steamed veggies with flour, toss to coat. Pour broth mixture over the veggies and cook on medium heat for 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Use stick mixer to puree or process in small batches in a blender. Stir in heavy cream when finished.

This recipe is so easy! The hardest part is the chopping and the pureeing -but only if you don't have a stick mixer thing. But really, it's not that bad and it's totally worth it!

Who else likes pumpkin soup? Any favorite things you add to yours? I ate some with a grilled cheese sandwich and some of Monica's tomato jam the other day and it was a DELISH combo!