Friday Five: 5 Advent Calendars

It feels crazy to me that it is already almost the end of November, but that means that it is advent calendar time. I love advent calendars and Christmas countdowns, they are one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Whether it is building a little LEGO figure everyday, getting a piece of candy, an ornament, a scripture, a story, or whatever else is in that little pocket, door, package, etc., or even just counting down the days on a cute calendar or chalkboard, it is just such a fun way to celebrate Christmas a little bit every day in December leading up to Christmas. 

Decoupage Wooden Christmas Trees

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I feel like I have kind of gotten off to a late start with Christmas projects this year, normally I feel like by this time of year my Christmas tree is up and I am well into Christmas crafting. This year I am working on some Christmas projects but this is only the second one I am posting and we are already halfway through November. 

Friday Five: 5 Projects to Spread Diabetes Awareness

 

Today is November 14th which happens to be World Diabetes Day, a day to spread awareness about Diabetes . This is a topic that is important to me because almost 7 years ago my middle daughter, who had just turned 7 at the time, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Since then I have made a few projects for Diabetes Awareness and thought that with today being World Diabetes Day (and the whole month of November being Diabetes Awareness Month) I thought it would be a good theme for today. 

Drawstring Bag Advent Calendar

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One thing that I love at Christmas time is advent calendars or Christmas countdowns. We always have at least one that we do, usually several, whether it be a store-bought calendar- like a LEGO  or Funko Pop advent calendar, or a reusable homemade version that we refill each year with candies, or something we put together to open each day like Christmas books, stories, or activities. It is a Christmas tradition that I love. 

Single Crochet Mesh Scarf

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Fall is my favorite time of the year, and one of my favorite things about fall is the cooler temperatures. It is also the perfect season for crochet. I mean, I definitely feel like crochet can be for all seasons but this time of year you can make and wear/use crocheted hats, scarves, blankets, etc. 

Gratitude Jar

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It is almost November and one thing that I like to do throughout the month of November is some kind of activity to help my family focus on gratitude. Obviously we think about what we are thankful for on Thanksgiving, but I like to stretch it out through the whole month if I can. Sometimes it is easy to focus on the hard stuff or the stuff that isn't going the way we want it to and forget about all of the wonderful blessings we have to be thankful for. 

Gradient Stripes Baby Blanket

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This is a pattern that has been on my idea list for a long time. I once saw an ad for a pattern from a yarn company that was a striped blanket made out of alternating stripes of 2 colors, but they used multiple shades of each color, so if every other stripe was pink some were a darker pink, some a lighter pink, while the other stripes may have been blue, with some darker, some lighter, and others in between. They were not necessarily in any order, like dark to light, just random from what I remember, and the blanket was knit, not crochet. And they definitely used multiple skeins of different shades of each color, not one ombre or gradient skein, but it gave me an idea.