Turn Any Glass Candle into an Advent Candle
Turn any glass candle into an Advent candle this December with our fab free printable. I don’t need an excuse to light a candle over the dark nights and as a family, we love advent and advent candles.
advent at TheMadHouse
Advent Calendar Activities with Free Printable 4
Celebrate the build-up to Christmas with these fabulous advent calendar activities for Kids and Printable Activity Advent Calendar. This really is the cutest way to pass the days during advent and to reinforce family values at this special time of year and is full of Christmas activities and Christmas crafts.
Scandi Style DIY Advent Calendars 2
I am a massive fan of DIY advent calendars especially in the Scandi style (well they do everything festive so much more stylishly)! Plus they seem to focus on the little things that matter rather than big flashy advent calendars with gifts.
Simple Winter Wool Forest Wreath 1
Simple Winter Wool Forest Wreath is a paid-for collaboration. This wreath was inspired by this beautiful winter wonderland wreath I pinned last year but I had already made a simple white winter wreath last year using a feather bower and I wanted to mix it up a little. So I had a look through my craft stash and sound 3 balls of finger knitting wool that I thought would be perfect.
DIY Modern Advent Calendars you will want to make 1
These DIY Modern Advent Calenders will have you itching to make your own. I am a huge lover of Advent and the way that it brings so much anticipation to Christmas. I am also really into modern aesthetics at the moment and these DIY advent calendars really hit the mark.
Ferm Living Inspired DIY Advent Candle 3
I love the simplicity and beauty of this Ferm Living inspired DIY advent candle so much. I have been desperate for a Ferm Living Advent Candle for the last four years but couldn’t justify the cost and finally this year I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my own wooden bead advent candle inspired by theirs.
DIY Clay Star Candle Holders 6
These DIY Clay Star Cadle Holders were inspired by some we saw when we were on holiday in Holland. I knew then that we could recreate them using our FIMO Air Light (microwavable) clay or any other clay and finally got around to making them this week. They are perfect advent or Christmas decorations and you can find our tutorial below to make your own DIY candle holders.
Free Advent Acts of Kindness Printable – 2016 Design 10
I am delighted to share with you these free advent acts of kindness printables. This year we have gone with an adorable bauble design. Wow, I can not believe that we have been doing acts of kindness at advent for the last three years!
Easy Ribbon Christmas Cards for kids to make 18
There is nothing nicer than receiving a homemade Christmas card and these easy ribbon Christmas cards are so easy for you to make with kids of all ages. You don’t need lots of different materials to make lots of different styles of DIY Christmas cards made with ribbons. I love that I have turned my kids into crafters.
An Alternative Advent Calendar – Acts of Kindness by kids 33
Advent, we love it. It is a BIG thing here in The Mad House. We use advent as a way to celebrate the build up to Christmas and to take the commercialism out of it. The MiniMads have not yet had a chocolate advent calendar, although I might bend to their wishes this year! We have an activity advent calendar instead and this year we are having an alternative advent calendar, where we are going to do an act of kindness each day
Christmas traditions – Christmas Eve 10
I blogged last year about our Christmas traditions, about creating memories and making our own traditions as a family. Including a little of mine and MadDads best Christmas’s and sprinkling some new things, some things that are unique to us and to our life. I want these tradition to cement the boys memories of their Christmas’s past and lead them happily in to their Christmas’s of their future. We have our advent stocking activities each day, which is wonderful and we also make sure that we have done all the shopping, wrapping and running around by Christmas Eve and we make a big day of it. The Christmas Eve Elves […]
Nativity Scenes 11
I am a great lover of nativity scenes and grew up with the lower image in my mums house. When Maxi was born she gifted me it. I love it, so do the boys, but as it is china they can not play with it and make up their own story, so we made our own version out of loo rolls. We had so much fun, but no images of us making them, as I was far too involved with the boys, glue, ribbon, scissors and lots and lots of fabric scraps! Oh and I went to Maxi’s Nativity yesterday and Mini’s is today, so I will be back with […]
A Pause in Advent – Peace 12
We had a pretty peaceful start to this week, as we had so much snow that the school was closed all week and MadDad struggled to get in to work. We tried to make the most of each others company and use the time wisely. We really all enjoyed putting up our Christmas tree and inside decorations (there is far too much snow for the outside ones yet) and took pleasure in the simple things like hot chocolate and marshmallows. But the greatest lesson for me this week has been that peace is not something that is always an external thing. We had a nightmare on Saturday morning when the heavy […]
A Pause in Advent – Joy 6
joy / joi/ • n. a feeling of great pleasure and happiness: tears of joy the joy of being alive. ∎ a thing that causes joy: the joys of Manhattan. • v. [intr.] poetic/lit. rejoice: I felt shame that I had ever joyed in his discomfiture or pain. 2009 has brought me lots of joy, I have shed the above tears and I have a family that brings me joy every day. In the bible joy is more than an emotion it combines a sence of happiness with a state of blessedness. For me this advent has been a time of biblical joy. I have found the time to find […]
A Pause in Advent 6
Well my pause for Advent this week has to be on the whole Nativity play in primary schools. MaxiMad is in Reception and his play Woops a Daisy Angel tool place on Wednesday and you can read all about it here.MiniMad is in Preschool (nursery), he is in the afternoon group, which are the youngest children in the school. We went to his production on Friday afternoon and it was more than a joy to behold. Unlike Maxi, he had been practicing his songs aloud for about 2 weeks and they were along a pretty traditional line, away in a manger, jingle bells etc. The most wonderful thing was that all […]
Decorating on a Budget 2
I’m just a boy who helps around The workshop and I can be found Sawing for Joseph or shaping wood Helping a master who’s kind and good And now I’m here to wave goodbye To watch them go and know that I Am trusted to finish the table and stools And take proper care of the carpenters tools I have had a lot of of wonderful compliments on the Christmas Decorations here at TheMadHouse, so here are some tips for decorating on a budget. MadDad and I have been lucky enough to build up our collection since we were married nearly 14 years ago. We decided pretty immediately that we wanted […]
Pine cone door decoration 7
Mary I’ve packed the oil And I’ve packed the grain, The water is ready Now listen again – Here are the blankets and covers And your mattress there, So please, my sweet friend, Keep warm and take care Today I have a very easy Pine Cone decoration, which I totally pinched from Sweet Paul. It is very easy for an older child to do on their own, MaxiMad and I did this together. We also made one for my mum with red ribbon and golden sprayed cones, but forgot to take any photo’s of it before we gave it to her yesterday. I couldn’t find my glue gun (my mother had […]
A Pause in Advent – Priorities 7
“The Messiah shall come to Bethlehem – That prophecy soon will come true For Joseph is going to take me there And I know that my baby is due”. Today we will light the second candle on our advent wreath and discuss the shepherds and their sheep with the children. I will be making cotton wool sheep with the minimads and we will have a quiet (we as quiet as possible with a 3 and 4 year old) family day. Christmas is creeping up on us this week and I have done my best not to feel overwhelmed by the things that often need to be completed before Christmas day. I have […]
Egg Box Jingle Bells and Advent Poem 5
“Mary, I too saw an angel, And now we can marry with joy, I’ll care for you both, just as he said, And together we’ll bring up God’s boy”. The boys task for last night was anther craft, which I have seen out on the blog circuit, but can not for the life of me remember where, so I am sorry for not linking to it. This is another really easy and inexpensive craft. Materials Egg Box paint Glitter String or ribbon Little bells (I bought a wreath full of the from Poundland) I cut up the egg cartons and the boys the little sections and then covered them in glitter. […]