Advent calendar

December 2nd

I made my first advent calendar, a large embroidered one when I was 16 and since have made many more for family and friends.  It's heartwarming that these calendars come out year after year.  Do you have an advent calendar just for children or for adults too?  When my husband and I were first together, I too cross-stitched an advent calendar for him which is hung up on the eve of December and has been for the past 26 years.

Freshly cut orange and lime slices

This year especially in the last couple of months again I have felt a bit frazzled and not really knowing how to prioritise myself without feeling guilty.  When I hit upon an idea to make an advent calendar for myself.  December is always a busy month and I wondered how I could help myself slow down a bit.  It would be a calendar just for me, be as cost-effective as possible and help me take a few minutes, not too many otherwise I was sure I would not keep up the daily task, but a few minutes of self-reflection, mindfulness (that word again, I hear you say) and positive thinking tasks.

Because I had this idea a while back when I was ready to make it last week I had everything I needed to hand.  This is what I did but of course, you can do anything you like.

I used:

Slow oven baked orange slices

wire circular wreath ring (I had a couple leftover from last year, but you could easily use a wire coat hanger)

oranges (that were beyond there juiciest and so were left in the fruit bowl)

foliage from the garden (I used ivy and rosemary only)

florist tape and wire (I already had these)

newspaper (from about a month ago, I do not often have a paper)

sewing machine and thread

mini wooden clothes pegs (bought for a project about 3 years ago that I still have not gotten round to making)

red paper and pen

sellotape

The essentials of my advent calendar

Baking the oranges

I cut the oranges thicker than normal, so each was about 7mm thick as I guessed they would shrink a bit and they did.  I placed them on a baking cooling rack on top of a baking sheet in case any juice dripped down, I did not want to have that on the floor of the oven.  Baking took about 6-7 hours on very low heat, juts under 100 degrees Celcius.  Allowed them to cool completely before I used them.


How to make a mindful positive thinking  Advent Calendar Eclectic Home Style 

The first thing I made was the Advent 'pockets'.  These were made out of newspaper and I cut two of

Newspaper Advent pockets for mindfulness calendar

each shape I needed and then sewed them on the sewing machine with a running stitch.  I left the thread long at the end, enough so I could tie the two threads together and hang the pocket with it.  I chose Christmas type pockets, which included the following shapes: stocking, mittens, candle, dove, tress, leaf, heart and star.  Some pockets were easy to leave an opening for and others I had to sew all the way around.  This is relevant when adding the mindfulness task.  I used a pen to add the numbers on each pocket.

The beginnings of the Advent calendar

I gathered all the bits and bobs and just literally covered the ring in as much green foliage as I possibly could attach and secured it all with florist tape and wire.  Where there were any gaps I filled in with just more foliage and orange slices.  The general rule when adding stand out pieces (mine being the orange slices) is to add an odd number say 3 or 5.  I totally ignored this rule and opted for 4 instead.  I'm not a natural designer obviously.

Next, I wrote out a list of various mindfulness tasks and positive thinking.  Despite having been a teacher for 25 years and working on circle time and PSHE, I found it quite hard to come up with 24 tasks that would not take too long so headed to the Internet for some help.  I found this DIY mindfulness calendar all ready to go:  Mindfulness Advent Calendar.  I used a few of their ideas these were more about positive thinking and well being and then used my own mindfulness ideas, to do with breathing, being in the moment etc.

The makings of an advent calendar

Once all the tasks were written down, I cut them up and rolled them, some I was able to place inside the mittens and stocking pocket but the others had no openings so I had to sellotape them onto the back of each non-opening pocket.  I see there was a slight flaw here, but it's just for me.  If I do this again, I would rethink this part perhaps, although it still worked and looks OK, I think.

It's beginning to take shape

I had initially thought to just tie the pockets onto the wreath and this would work well, but I happened to have mini wooden pegs and used these instead to attach.  Worked better than I could have hoped.

Mini wooden pegs used to attach the pockets

 I tried to add the pockets as randomly as I could, but this is harder than you would think, anyway, it's done and today I will unroll number 2 and have a few minutes of time just for me.  What's more, this advent calendar cost me nothing as I had everything in the house, it cost me time but that was the purpose of this.  I sat took my time and enjoyed myself creating for me and savouring every bit of it.  John came in a couple of times whilst I was making this and laughed and hugged me and enjoyed me enjoying myself.

My Positive Thinking Mindfulness Advent Calendar just for ME

♥  How do you prioritise yourself?   ♥

Thought I would re-share last years Advent candle holder made out of pepperkake, some of you may remember what happened to it, if not take a peak... Pepperkake Advent candle holder post

Advent candle holder made from pepperkake, 

for recipe see: here