create:: advent, old and new

We received my husband's childhood advent calendar from his mom, one which she had obviously put many many hours into creating when he was young.  It has 24 felt and sequined tree ornaments with incredible detail, and a felt wall hanging with the "tree" to hang one ornament on each night.  The felt-and-sequins motif must have been the holiday craft of choice in the 70's, as my childhood Christmas stocking was the same style.  I love it's timeless, yet retro, look.

Unfortunately, the advent calendar had suffered some with age: the wall hanging was discolored, wrinkled, and missing a bead or two; one ornament is missing, and several needed minor repairs.  So over the past week or so, I have "resurrected" the calendar, making an entirely new wall hanging, and I am working on the ornament repairs and making one new one to complete the set.  We decided to make the final ornament baby Jesus in the manger, as He is the reason for our advent preparations and Christmas celebration.

So, without further ado, here are the photos, one of the old calendar (on the right) with the new one in progress, and the second is our "new" calendar, proudly displayed in the family room, just in time for December 1st and the first ornament hung tonight by my daughter.  The photo doesn't show well that the new wall hanging is on a glittery white felt I found, which adds a snowy feel.  The only other differences are the added felt trunk to the tree, and a slightly different layout to the bead hangers for the ornaments.  I wanted to recreate it staying as true to the original as I could.