it's beginning to look like christmas - advent wreath

Only slightly late (again) but no matter..... we finally have one!! 

Our yearly advent calendar has been made and for the first time ever, its in a different format. We did need a bit of inspiration and opted for a little peek on Pinterest, after which the Fairy and I decided that a laden-with-goodies wreath would be a nice change. 

We have always had an advent calendar, right from when the children first came along. In the very early days it was one of those cute European style ones where you open the window and see some sort of toy or Christmas ornament underneath. Then when I had a few older helpers, we made little boxes out of the previous years Christmas cards, filled them with nuts and dried fruit and using last years sparkly curling ribbon, we strung them up in a big bunch. Its one of those memories that our children sometimes mention with fondness and nostalgia and have requested for next year! But this mama likes a change so this year its a nice round one filled with little pouches of delights! 

The most exciting bit for me though, is that it was made from almost completely repurposed, recycled, begged or borrowed materials! I really get off on that kind of thing!! 

Baubles - bought for 50 cents at the local op shop.

Pine cones - gathered in the park during a home education get together. 

Wreath - a friendly worker at our op shop had it packed away in her shed and brought it in for us after I mentioned we needed a large one! 

Cardboard hearts for number tags - a piece of packing from a purchased shirt that I'd kept for just something like this!

Coloured note paper - bought many years ago for scrapbooking

Copper wire - stripped from the inside of electrical wires which had been left over from a previous building job.

Fabric bags - re-used from last years oops, the year before's advent calendar. 

Of course the goodies in the bags were especially bought...... although there may be more chocolate and less nuts these days, ahem. There is also a handwritten corny joke in each one because I love those silly Christmas jokes and the children love to poke fun at me for laughing over them!! 

Q - What time should a person go to the dentist? 

A - At TOOTH-THIRTY!!!  (tooth hurty)  hahaha 

Although it's a little late and we opened the first two bags yesterday, it was worth the wait because I love it so. I'm actually a bit sad that it has to be dismantled bit by bit and will look quite empty by Christmas. I've tried to encourage them to leave the full bags on there so we can just admire it till then but I was completely out voted!! 

So what do you think? 

Do you have an advent calendar of some sort?

Does repurposing get you as excited as me? 

Happy crafting!

Joining in with Nicole's Keep Calm Craft On - because isn't that how it goes at this time of year?