Sunday, December 2, 2012

Deck the Halls Scrappy Advent Calendar


Hi Everyone!  If you're coming over from Ellison Lane Quilts, welcome!  Thanks for stopping by!  Hasn't this been such a fun series?!  Thanks, Jen, for coordinating everything - we're all having a blast!  I had such fun making this Scrappy Advent Calendar, and the kids have already reached into those fun pockets as we've started counting down the days till Christmas.  
Today, we have an exciting giveaway planned for you.  
My Photo
Six Munchkin Stitching is offering to make a project bag for one of my readers!!  Here is an example of one of her project bags - how sweet are those owls?!  
The Project Bag: A fully lined drawstring bag-Ready to Ship
These are lined drawstring bags and will be useful for so many things - I'm thinking it's a perfect knitting project bag! To enter, please leave a comment telling me one of your favorite holiday traditions.  I love hearing about all the fun ways people celebrate!  I'll pick a winner randomly on December 9.  Enjoy!  
And let me know if you plan to make an advent calendar - I'd love to see it!

86 comments:

  1. My favourite holiday tradition is one my daughter started as a toddler.
    She is now almost 15 and still does it. We have a real tree every year and the night it is put up and decorated my daughter grabs a bunch of blankets and pillows and sleeps under the tree.
    She looks so angelic sleeping under the tree with all the lights glowing :-)

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  2. Our little town has a Christmas parade, which was yesterday. It is one of my favorite times each year!

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  3. I made quilted Advent calendars for my three sisters a few years ago. Didn't manage to make a fourth one for us, though! My favorite holiday tradition is decorating the tree.

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  4. I want to make an Advent calendar...not sure if I'll have time this year :)

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  5. I made an advent calendar 2 years ago for my grandson. Now I need one for me! This one looks easy and much quicker than the last one. Putting it in my to do file. Thanks.

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  6. I love going to see the lights with my kids - it's magical every year :)

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  7. Christmas Carols at my school! which I attended over 40 years ago!

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  8. Love the Advent calendar! Nice work. One of our favorite holiday traditions is seeing the lights at our local park. They do such a great job with the display, Santa and hot cocoa!

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  9. I love going to Christmas cookie swaps and we usually eat a few on Christmas morning for breakfast! Although, I was just thinking wouldn't a holiday fabric scrap swap be fun!!

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  10. Great calendar!
    We always go to our local church for the midnight service on Christmas Eve then it's back home for mince pies and mulled wine!

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  11. What a cute advent calendar. Thanks for the tutorial! I make cinnamon rolls every year for Christmas morning. I get them all ready the night before, and put them in the fridge to rise overnight. Then in the morning I pop them in the oven and we can eat them right after opening our gifts... which is at o'dark thirty with 4 kids ;)

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  12. Love your advent calendar! It is so cute! My favorite part of Christmas...one-finding, cutting down, and decorating the tree with my family..and two-Christmas morning with the kids and the sense of wonder on their faces!

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  13. Cute advent calendar! My favorite part is getting to go home to Michigan!

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  14. Your advent calendar is lovely! I love to spend time with the extended family. Even though we all live in the same city, we don't see each other nearly enough. Those bags are adorable. Thanks!

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  15. When I was younger and still lived at home we would all go and pick out a tree together, then each of us would pick out a new bauble for the tree :)

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  16. Love the tutorial, might just find some time to make one! Christmas morning muffins are one of my favourite traditions - thanks for the giveaway

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  17. Fantastic tutorial.
    I might not manage the advent calendar this year but I might just make the Christmas tree part as a wall hanging.
    Love it.
    Thanks for the chance to win. I would definitely treasure it.
    My favourite tradition is singing songs round the tree when it is first up.

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  18. Advent calenders are a tradition in my family and one that we really enjoy as a family. Mine is made out of toilet paper rolls this year - not nearly as amazing as your one. Will have to remember it for next year and maybe start making it in July!

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  19. I have bought Christmas ornaments for each of my children every year since they were born. I love hallmark ornaments and try to find ones that fit where each child (now adults) are in their life. Then, well so far just my oldest, gets them all in a nice box with a list of the type of ornament and the year for them to use on their Christmas tree.

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  20. Originally from the North, I transplanted myself South and married into a wonderful family. Every year we all get togetherfor an imported from the North seafood feast along witha wrapping event to wrap all the gifts we bought for the angel tree event!

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  21. Love your advent hanging.
    One thing tht still goes on today (even thogh the kids are adults), we go to christmas eve service, come home and have dinner (usall they choose pizza, its not a staple here) then I bring out a lamb cake I baked and decorated. We sing happy birthday to Jesus. While we are eating, we go around and tell Jesus what we are thankful for and why. Then we sit and read the christmas story, as they got older the kids would read parts or the whole thing. We would discuss it and pray. Then we would open our gifts ending with a prayer of thanksgiving for the one who gave us the ultimate gift.

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  22. I love having our advent wreath, lighting the candles, and remembering what Christmas is all about. :)
    Thank you for the tutorial! Blessings!

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  23. I have always made things for Christmas gifts. Now...not every gift but I always have a few gifts that are hand-made.

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  24. My favourite tradition is monkey bread on Christmas morning for my monkeys. ;) Thanks for the giveaway. That Advent calendar is fabulous! Great tutorial!

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  25. Decorating Christmas cookies, listening to Christmas Carols, and brunch on Christmas morning!

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  26. One of my favorite traditions is our family Christmas Tree Breakfast. We all gather at a local tree farm, choose and cut our trees, and share a potluck breakfast at our house. We have an ornament exchange and spend some time making homemade ornaments. Thanks for sharing your great advent calendar design.

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  27. Our family's tradition, my favorite, is spaghetti dinner Christmas Eve, followed by opening presents. I love having all my kids and their families under my roof! :)

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  28. Your tutorial is fantastic. I love it and will be making one. Our tradition is to have Christmas Eve dinner with my parents/siblings/aunts/uncles and open presents with them. Then we have just our immediate family for Christmas morning.

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  29. My family, friends, and I have been making up new traditions every year, so there's not specific one thing that I'm looking forward to - I'm thinking it would at least be nice to see some snow on Christmas Day this year!

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  30. As each of us opens our gifts we wear Santa's hat. Looks cute in pictures! Thanks for the chance to win. C.teasley@yahoo.com

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  31. What a cool Advent Calender!!! I have made our 7 Kiddo's new Jamma's every Christmas...and now we have added 6 Grandkiddo's to my sewin' list! Lovin' it! We also read the Night Before Christmas every Christmas Eve, while havin' Hot Chocolate!

    Thanks for chance to win your cooool Drawing!!! I will use my project bag for Crochet projects for sure! :)

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  32. That is an awesome advent calendar. We love to go to dinner on Christmas Eve and then do some last minute shopping. After that we ride around and look at all the Christmas decorations.

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  33. Every year for the last 4 since my first grandkid was born I have a cookie party, we have chef hats, aprons, and this yr making Zakka cookie bags as a party favor, we have neighbors over and let the kids go to town with icing and sprinkles. it gets bigger every years since I have 6 gkids now..

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  34. HI! TRIMMING THE TREE HAS TO BE OUR BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT!
    LOVE PLACING THE NATIVITY SET NEAR THE TREE+STARTING TO DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS!
    THANKS FOR SHARING!

    msstitcher1948@yahoo.com

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  35. my favorite tradition is making my grandmothers christmas rolls and sharing them with everyone

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  36. One of my favorite holiday traditions is going to Midnight Mass with my family.

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  37. Baking shortbreads (they never turn out like my Mom used to make), but the scent takes me back to Mom's Christmas kitchen :)

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  38. We have a lot of family traditions but one that is my favorite is buying baby food for our church's food pantry. We set aside nice sum and for years my son and I would go shopping. One year the Kroger checkout girl asked what we were doing and we told her so she got permission to give us a discount. I always want to buy baby good and he always wants to buy shampoo and a Tylenol product ("because they get headaches, too"). Thanks for the chance to win.

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  39. I have my kids choose a child from the Giving Tree at our neighborhood mall who is the same age as they are. We go shopping and then share the gift with a child who is in need. I hope I am instilling a desire to give back.

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  40. We have a family fun night on Christmas eve, with a crazy Swap-Pinch game that has everybody laughing crazy! Great for all ages and relieves any stress build up going into Christmas Day.

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  41. At the end of all the present giving, there is 1 envelope on the tree. It was usually for my son. In the envelope was a clue, which rhymed and led all of us to the location of next clue (Yes, you have to find it!)After about 5 or 6 clues, there would be the grand revealing.And my son would discover the special present(he thought would be under the tree- but wasn't).Then we would go over the clues and marveled at how clever it all was. It was a real joy.And we ALL took part

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  42. I've enjoyed the blog hop and love your advent project. One of our family traditions is attending a Lesson and Carols service every year. we enjoy it so much.

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  43. My favorite holiday tradition is opening Christmas stockings on Christmas Eve right before we go to bed. I would like to make an Advent tree but probably won't have time this year. I will have to pin it for later.

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  44. We have an early ham dinner on Christmas Eve and then we exchange Christmas gifts between my children (Santa comes on the morning) and then we nap and get up for Midnight Mass , then a snack and bedtime. Santa presents and brunch on Christmas morning!

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  45. Our favorite holiday tradition is having all my family here for Christmas Eve for dinner and a present exchange.

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  46. Our holiday tradition is that we all get a new set of Christmas Pajamas on Christmas Eve and wear those to bed that night.

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  47. My favourite tradition is decorating the tree.

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  48. My favorite holiday tradition is to slowly go through the ornaments as we hang them on the tree each year as we discuss where they came from and when we got them.

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  49. Your Advent calendar is wonderful. Our family tradition is making custard a couple of days before Christmas. Custard is similar to eggnog, but without all of the spices - it's egg-y, and vanilla-y, and extremely rich. We drink it out of tiny ruby red cups. We also leave a small glass for Santa.

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  50. Listening to Christmas music! And drinking gallons of hot chocolate and egg nog . . .

    On a side note, loved your humor throughout your tutorial!

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  51. Irish bread hot from the oven while we open gifts. The first Christmas my son spent at his fiances house he had me make some for him to take with him for Christmas morning.

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  52. My favorite tradition is to take one day in December (hopefully a vacation day) and spend most of the day baking. I love getting it all done at once.

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  53. We have a traditional Slovak meal on Christmas Eve, then go to mass at 9. When we come home, we open up one present each before bed. I love it!

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  54. My favorite tradition is decorating our Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving.

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  55. What a cute bag. One of our holiday traditions is opening Christmas gifts on Christmas morning. My husband's damily always opened theirs on Christmas Eve so it always worked for us.

    Thank you for a great giveaway and a chance to win. I found you thru One Stop Giveaway Blog.

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

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  56. I love putting up the tree and sitting in the dark with the lights on, just talking with my family. Of course, homemade Hot Cocoa is a must!

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  57. My favorite tradition is celebrating Christmas with my entire family over an extended weekend. We play games, go for hikes outside in the snow, and eat lots.

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  58. lovely work. I like having a fondue on the 26th with the family

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  59. Such a sweet calendar ~ just love the tree. My favorite tradition with my family is having an early dinner on Christmas Eve and then going out to see all the lights hung on homes around ours. We usually walk (if it's not raining) and then come home to something hot to drink.
    Thanks for the giveaway!

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  60. I love the way you made the scrappy tree! Thanks for the tutorial and giveaway. :)

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    1. Oops, sorry! I was so excited about the tree that I forgot to answer your question. My favorite tradition is decorating the tree.

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  61. When our kids were young we would ride around the neighborhood and look at all the lights. Now they ate grown and we hope to do this with our grandchildren. I will have to make an Advent Calendar for my grandchildren for next year.

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  62. I love drinking wassail with my family - we drink it pretty much any time we're together during Christmas season.

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  63. I love Christmas morning at my sister's house and sharing what Santa brought with my niece and nephews. Now that I'm married, I don't get to do this every year, but when I do, it is so much fun!
    I love the calendar and plan to make one, but for next Christmas, as I'm running out of time and have too many projects to complete before the big day! :)

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  64. I made one for my grandson 2 years ago and you reminded me I better get it out and hang it up! It is his and my tradition - it has a big bowl that holds fake cookies each night we put a cookie in the day at bedtime and eat a cookie! Yep better go get that box out of the garage. That bag would hold a 7 year olds goodies very nicely. We love owls!

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  65. Growing up we always went to Church on Christmas Eve - it is a tradition that we have gotten away fromas the family has grown and moved away, but one I will alway remember and cherish

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  66. Favorite tradition was picking out and chopping down a real live tree in the woods! Are not able to do that anymore...but good memories!

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  67. One of my favorite times at Christmas was the candle light Christmas program at church. All the music, holiday decorations and people that were gathered together in the little country church is something I will always remember.

    Thank you for the great tutorial.

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  68. We don't really have any holiday traditions, but I think I need to talk to my husband and start one.

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  69. One of our holiday traditions is my husband and I assembling a delicate German dessert named Alexander Cake as part of my Christmas baking. For some reason I feel more confident doing this dessert together but I also have someone to blame should something go wrong! awolk at rogers dot com

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  70. I love to make and decorate gingerbread cookies, but I don't see how I'll have time for that this year... :(

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  71. We always go to church for the Christmas Eve service, and our traditional meal either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day is chicken ala king, biscuits, meatballs, green beans and peas, cranberry relish salad, lefse, and cranberry cake with hot butter sauce. And of course Christmas cookies!!

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  72. Oh the bag is darling, it can be used for so many things. We don't have much of a Christmas tradition. It is just my husband and me. This is the first year we put out a huge lighted star so maybe we can make that a tradition from now on. I love looking at all the different colored lights. Thanks

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  73. A favorite tradition is to give books for Christmas and let us open one on Christmas Eve just in case we're too excited to sleep. I give books to the nieces and nephews now, but always make sure I have a book of my own to open on Christmas.

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  74. one of our traditions is that i play santa's helper and hand out the presents.xx

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  75. Your advent calendar is just amazing. One of my most favorite. Ever.

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  76. I give my kids an ornament every year and new p.j.'s.

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  77. i love cutting down our own tree!

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  78. My granddaughter's always get new Christmas pj's, and we take turns opening our gifts so everyone can see what you got (@ Grandma and Pawpaw's house).

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  79. A tradition we follow is opening one gift Christmas Eve.

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  80. our Christmas tradition is bake cookies the day before Christmas! We even leave few extra for Santa!!! :-)Thank you for great tutorial!!!

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  81. We have a tradition of setting up our nativity scene music box as the first decoration, then adding some carved wooden animals that have sentimental memories. I love to hear Silent Night when the music box is wound up.

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  82. Every year we take the kids to Candy Cane Lane. They love to see all the decorations & lights and we have to drive the streets multiple times. Thanks for a chance to win! :)

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  83. We love to go for a drive to see all the Christmas lights.

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  84. I love to watch the extended family open their gifts one at a time and from youngest to oldest.

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