Craft time- Advent Blessings

(Isn't my tree pretty. This is the view of the wall when you walk in my front door. Most the tree ornaments were donated) 

So I  am a little behind on posting my crafts. I have many a ton this month alone due to lack of decorations and money lol so since it is December I will be posting Christmas crafts. 

Today's craft is an advent calendar. But not like the ones you see with muffin pans or toliet paper rolls that you get a gift. This one reminds you of the gifts we already have. With my last few post being vents I decided to remind myself why I am so blessed to be able to be strong For my family and my kids and my sisters kids. I have had a rough couple of months and needed this more then a peice of candy. So here it goes. 

You will need:

-28 cloth pins

 (incase one or more break) 

-Wide ribbon 8ft long 

( I used a burlap one ) 

- hot glue

- paint or spray paint

- 25 strips of paper

Extras

-extra ribbon of your choice.

- bells ( if wanted) 

- thumb pins 

-garlin

- burlap flowers or other ribbon type flower with flat back.

- incoming Christmas cards

Start off by laying your ribbon out. I used a cloths pin to measure how far apart I want each one. 

I went down the ribbon with two cloths pins and marked where I want my glue to go. Then i decorated my pins. In a shoe box I laid 28 pins. I sprayed them with a light glitter spray paint. For me i wanted to keep the wood look still. But also had another box full of pins I painted red and gold incase I changed my mind.

While those dried I made bows with my other burlap ribbon. I also picked up 2 burlap flowers from Walmart and glued them to the ends of my long advent ribbon. I didn't glue the whole ribbon. Just put a small line of hot glue on end of ribbon and placed it in the back center of the flower. This will help later hiding my nails when I hang it. 

After the pins dried I wrote numbers 1-25 on them. Or you can use small stickers for this. 

Then I glued all 25 pins evenly spaced on the ribbon. I used 7ft so I put my last 2 in the middle. 

Then I measured out on my wall to hang it evenly. 

I started with a nail behind the first flower. Then put as needed until it was hung with the last nail behind the other flower on other end.

I noticed it dropped some in a few areas so I glued bells on thumb pins and pined it to the wall. 

Once I put it up , I got to decorate more. I hung garlin on the top part of the pins and tied bows where I had it draping. 

Later I hung my stockings above it and added two empty ones to the advent calander for my nieces and to tie the while wall into each other. 

Next year I promis to take photos of the process. But here is the result ( one of my command strips was broken and my mcgiver idea didn't work so don't mind the missing stalking) 

Every day we add a blessing we wrote or a card that came in. I usually cut the words out and tuck the front of the cards behind the ribbon and put the words on a pin. So this also works for all thosE Christmas cards you get. We only have 1 so far lol. 

Enjoy,  be crafty , and remember your blessings this season. 

 

Black Friday

And I'm home not out shopping... Trust me I would info we  had the money. This year .. Well last few months.. Has been a struggle. I will tell that story another day. Maybe once we have a end to it. I know I mentioned a little but in a previous post. 

Anyways today's plan is to decorate for Christmas. I love decorating and have a ton of DIY items to make. I will post some photos later and a link to my Pinterest idea boards. 

 We also had a tree donated to us that I pick up later. That was a great message. It would have been the first time in my adult life to not have a tree to put up right after Thanksgiving. We had to toss last years away and thought we would have a new one this year. I Usually love a white tree but it turned yellow and we thought we were moving.  I can't have real trees due to anxiety of it burning down and  some allergies. Not bad allergies but the anxiety is horrible lol. I'm so thankful to have such great friends. 

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving. 

That being said.. Time to vent: 

While we spent all day cooking and enjoying the time with our families I hope we all kept those who are missing that time and are overseas. I didn't forget it. It was very obviouse and It's been years sense I had to endore a holiday without my husband. No one seemed to care. Instead of helping my autistic son, he got yelled at a lot. Told to get over it in mean ways as I told him to calm down and it's not as bad as he thinks. I too told him he was gonna get a spanking but that doesn't usually help so I tried other ways to try to get him out of anger and meltdown mode. My family made it harder for me to stay calm so I didn't help him much ether. He was extremely sensitive today. He usually isn't that bad he is very low on the spectrum. But I could tell it was hard on him and his brother not having daddy here. We brought our ghetto flat daddy ( a 8x10 photo on a peice of card board ) and I would keep catching them holding it or staring at it. Today was to much for me to. I basically shut down. Played in my cell, sat outside by the fire, watched tv. I usually help with food or clean up but I did none of it. I kept asking to help but it was unneeded. It was nice to relax and zone out but also horrible cause it was just time to miss my husband. 

My nieces that live with me got nice new jackets from my sister and her son got a bow from his papa. My kids got one jacket with a whole in the armpit. More things blatantly put in their face they don't get. All my money has gone to providing for extra children I don't get assistance for. But they all have money to buy them stuff... I had a hard time being thankful today. I felt selfish cause I wanted to buy my boys new coats, a Christmas tree, toys or gifts for the holidays.. But I can't. I have emptied my account and maxed my credit card. I feel like I'm being used cause when I asked about her getting a place or giving me money she says she can't afford it..... But she can buy all kinds of stuff and plans on going shopping tonight as well... They want to be home.. Yes they like the stuff but more then anything these girls want to be home with mom. I felt selfish for them too and upset.. 

I may come off as a mean person but sometimes you can only take so much. It was so hard not saying anything to my family today but all I could think was I couldn't wait for it to be over and my husband be home.. I can't wait to move away. Thanksgiving shouldn't feel like this. 

Tis the season

No better time to start a blog then in the middle of chaos and holidays. I mean why not. It's as if I didn't have enough to do already, right. BUT it's time. I can no longer delete stuff off fb due to not wanting people to know or the fear of hurting someone's feelings or think it may come off weird. Hey I'm weird, funny, lovable... Don't hate me. Here you will see me.. Mostly random awkward crap. Or some awesome crafts I did. Maybe some venting.. Oooo that's fun. 

But please if you are a friend or family member don't come here and be all butt hurt if you are my topic of venting... Yes I said it. No matter what, I love you but I am human.. I will vent and let's face it... I'm alone a lot lately. Other then 4 psycho  children that is.. ( 2 are mine 2 my sister) I love them too :D  you usually sit and listen to me vent about them... So suck it up buttercup and WELCOME to my first blog 8)