Snappycrafts

Candy time!

Now today I have two types of candy for you....a good crafting pal of mine,

Elaine

has some fabulous crafty candy up for grabs,

just look at these lush papers;

How yummy are they?

Best be quick and pop on over to her blog as it closes tomorrow.

Secondly the next type of candy we also love....

CHOCOLATE!

Yep, suddenly in December my youngest boy gets up a whole hour earlier...why?

For his advent treat of course.

This year as my oldest boy is away I decided rather than send him a chocolate calendar,

which would be munched by the 3rd,

I have sent him mini parcels one for each day.

Now when my youngest saw this....he was keen to play along too...more chocolate!

So I have wrapped him mini packs of sweets and each night I hide the next days leaving him a clue as to where to find it.

It doesn't have to be much but at least we are reading and problem solving

....although I freely admit at 6 a.m. I am not the best of help!

My eldest didn't want a calendar....

guess he's reaching that age where he is growing up but still quite fancied the treats,

which is how the whole idea came about.

I did however manage to find the smallest traditional advent calendars (the size of a credit card)

which I also snuck in his parcel....

"Wow mum that's got to be the smallest!"

Do we really grow out of these traditions?

I also got a Christmas gift through the post....you know who you are...THANK YOU!

A Martha Stewart Advent Calendar...

WOW

...it is so cool.

My youngest and I set to work on the 30th glue in hand, what fun we had.

This is how it arrives in it's packaging but boy it is so much better in real life.



Now my wee man helped all the way making up the house,

adding the windows and door,

but once it came to filling he just looked me straight in the eyes and said

"I'm going to leave you now mum...to fill it with lots of yumminess...

I don't want to spoil the surprise."

Before he left he reminded me that the treat inside....as you can see there is lots of room...must be able to fit through the door on the right.

Now I hadn't been shopping to fill this particular house so

I had to find what I've acquired over the last few weeks shopping.

The little teddies looked so lost I thought blow it and added two presents one for each of my kids.

Now these will be accessed by removing the base which I have just taped lightly in place.

Once filled it was time to put on the lid.

I have filled the roof with chocolate coins, lindt Christmas balls and other Christmassie treats adding two treats in the dates when my big boy comes home so they can share!! 

(Lets hope nicely!)

Then it was time to add the roof and chimney.



How fab is that!

Now you could add glitter and snow but we have left it simple.

It is big too taking up half of my coffee table.

It is easy to construct with good instructions and at least a whole afternoons entertainment with a young one.

We both had great fun making it

but I hope the getting up an hour earlier all of December soon wears off, LOL.

Do you have any traditions that you love to keep in the run up to Christmas?