Advent Candles - 2013

 Here is my finished project!  I am pretty excited about it because it's the first time I've actually planned and carried out an advent candle display for our family to enjoy and mark the Sundays leading up to Christmas.  We burnt the first candle last Sunday.  The second one we will light this Sunday and so on, until we light all four for the last Sunday before Christmas and burn them all for Christmas Eve and Christmas. 

 This was a last minute idea that I saw on Pinterest on Saturday.  I took my girls and made a quick trip to Michael's to get these three items.  The terra cotta pots were only .89 cents.  The moss was not so cheap ($6.99).  I only used a little, so hopefully I can put the rest of it to a good use on something else.  The candles weren't very expensive, but they came in packs of three and since I needed four I had to buy two packages.  Again, I can use the leftover candles for another use. 

 After setting the candles into the pots, my girls (ages 6 and 5), used Elmer's glue to glue bits of moss in the space between the candle and the top edge of the pot. 

 After setting the pots down the center of our dining room table, I decided that maybe I would sew some kind of table runner to go underneath them.  I consulted my fabric stash to see if I would find inspiration there.  What I came up with was three different red and green flannel fabrics that were essentially scraps that would be perfect for cutting into strips and braiding.  I tried it out and liked the result.

 Here is Amelia, helping me with some of the braiding.  We cut and sewed and braided a lot of strips to finally end up with a rope that was 28 feet long!

I coiled it and stitched it together with needle and thread on the bottom side and here is the result.  I'm looking forward to enjoying it on our table for the rest of the season.