Homemade Advent Calendar

I had originally intended to write this a week or so back and would have were it not for one major problem - I hadn't finished the blooming thing! However here it is, completed on the 1st December and if you want to know how, read on! 

Daisy had a traditional advent Calendar last year as she was only 13 months and wasn't really eating chocolates. I decided this year I wanted to make her an advent calendar myself so she could have a mix of sweets and presents but also try and make something which would be a decoration we could use year after year. 

So I started by getting lots of different coloured pieces of felt and making the individual pockets. I wanted them all to be different so used lots of colours and patterns. 

I wanted a raffia backing so cut out the right sized piece, turned the edges in and added biased binding to stop it fraying. I then started pinning the individual pockets on. Sewing on the pockets was by far the most time consuming, it would have been a breeze with a sewing machine but alas, I don't have one so had to hand stitch it all. 

Once all the pockets were in and straight(ish) I filled them with sweets, treats and toys. The beauty of being able choose what she gets every day means I can decide whether she has chocolate that day, something healthy like raisins or a little Toy. I decided to make Christmas Eve bigger to hold a decent sized toy rather than do one for Christmas Day as I reckon she'll have enough to keep her occupied on Christmas morning. 

So I'm pretty happy with the rest and D loves it after the initial 'what is mummy?'