ADVENT CALENDAR SWAP 2003 - RECEIVED

Our Finnish dollhouse group had an advent calendar swap, with all participants having two swap partners - one who would get 24 little surprises from you, and another one who would send you 24 little surprises. Max. eight surprises could be materials, and max. eight surprises could be bought / found / etc.. Of course, if anyone had the ideas and time, all 24 could be homemade. Eight homemade items was the minimum, though.

What Marjukka sent to me:
I received all my advent calendar pressies from Marjukka on November 27th. Can you imagine.. 24 nicely wrapped little pressies, and I'm supposed to control myself and only START opening on December 1st?!? LOL And then only open them one each day... Oh, this'll be hard.. =)

She had wrapped them all in beautiful golden wrapping paper, and then put all 24 pressies in a nice Christmassy green gift bag, with a cute card.

Day 1 - This pressie contained some extremely welcome materials, bright-coloured and golden threads! I'm going to use these to finish my miniature siku (Peruvian instrument), and there will still be loads left for other purposes.

Day 1b - I took a picture that shows all the different colours better. Gold, yellow, three greens, two blues, purple, brown, red, and two pinks. The very thin gold thread is not in this picture as you can see it quite well in the previous picture already.
(See my Mini Diary for a picture of the finished siku!)

Day 2 - I couldn't wait, so I opened my second pressie just after midnight, on December 2nd! *me childish?!? LOL* I got these gorgeous breads!! Honestly, they look so good that they actually make you want to eat them..

Day 3 - Today I waited until 3am! *proud* LOL ... I got this beautiful cheese tray, which will be useful as I got some cheeses in one of the previous swaps (and I've made FIMO cheddar myself), and they didn't actually have a proper tray until now! The lid is clear, btw, so I'm gonna have to take a better picture when we get some daylight. (Jeez.. and now I have to wait a full day again until I can open the next one! I'm no good at self control!)

Day 4 - I blame Daniel for having opened today's pressie just after midnight again! LOL ... He was going to bed, and noticed the time, reminding me that it was time for me to open a pressie - so, I did! I had been tempted by this one for days, because it rattled... I had a feeling it could be beads, and it was! Lovely Christmassy red beads, and sort of fish or vase shaped blueish beads (I actually bought beads in this same shape the last time I was in Finland, but they're slightly greener, so now I have them in two colours!) I also like the glass jar they were in, I'll be able to use that in my dollhouse, as well as its white plastic cap.

Day 5 - I was writing Christmas cards tonight, so it wasn't until 5am when I opened today's pressie! I'm guessing this is the kind of wool that's meant for felting? That would be cool, since reading about that technique has made me really curious about it, so now I could give it a go! Instructions needed, though! *Thank God for the internet..* (Btw, great choice of colours Marjukka!! Finnish and Irish flags there..)

Day 6 - Today's random choice gave me these lovely materials! Black lace ribbon, navy blue satin ribbon, thin pink ribbon, and silver grey *hmmmm* I'm not sure what to call that - well, in dollhouse scale it will be rope =) The ends of it would be perfect for hair, if I were to make a "My Little Pony" or a fashion doll for the dollhouse! (Actually, I DID recently make a fashion doll body of FIMO.. I might try and use this stuff to make a hair for her, and she'll need clothes as well.)

Day 7 - A mini jumper! This definitely came to the right house, since my doll family owns a jumper shop! It's nice to have something with a design that's different from my own, and I love the colour, too.

Day 8 - This time I got a lovely basket with fabrics and wool in it! The lady of the dollhouse will like this one =)

Day 9 - Masterpiece!! (And a lovely book, too!) =D Honestly.. These five colour pencils are perfect! They are made of cocktail stick ends, which have the colours painted on them - such a simple idea, but I would never have thought of it! And look how good they look! I'm definitely going to copy this idea and make more of these someday. And the book - it's something harder than balsa wood, and the covers are printies, I think. It looks nicer than the books in my bookshelf, so I'm gonna leave it somewhere in the dollhouse where it's more visible.

Day 10 - Today I got a little white ball with silver stars on it. This could be a nice decorative item around Christmas, and for the rest of the year I can see it either as a toy (it's a good size for a children's ball, and my doll kids didn't have one yet!) or maybe even as some "Chrystal ball" sort of item, in case I happen to make a fortune teller scene someday! The ball looks like a really small roll-on bottle ball, but I've never seen one in this size before! The stars are silver stickers. I've collected bigger roll-on bottle balls for material, and I'm thinking I might even make a bigger version for a "friend" for this one. I haven't actually made anything of them yet, but I have a few I've painted white - I was planning to make beach balls, but I never finished them with bright colours like I planned to!

Day 11 - Oooohh!! An absolutely beautiful white bag! You can actually open it, see the top insert.. A gorgeous sample of the felting technique I'm hoping to learn. Marjukka has promised some instructions, so I'm looking forward to that. I think this bag will go to the jumper shop for now, but I can picture in my head a young doll woman carrying this... So, I think I'll make a doll again, after Christmas!

Day 12 - Today's pressie was a cute little paper bag, with a box of Kellogg's Special K! There was also something that looks like wheat, in the box. That could be something exotic in my dollhouse kitchen!

Day 12b - Here's one picture of the bag as it was packed, and pictures of the individual parts.

Day 13 - Today I got a piece of white satin, and dark green velvet. This reminds me that I must go and buy that fray check!! I've been hoping to make something nice of different fabrics, but I don't have fray check yet. I know where to get it locally, though.

Day 14 - Today's pressie was a gorgeous traditional Finnish table cloth. I can't translate the name of the style as it wasn't even familiar to me in Finnish! I'm gonna have to make a new table for my dollhouse, so I can show this off =)

Day 14b - Since people would ask, anyway.. (LOL) Here's the other side, which gives you a good idea of how it was made.

Day 15 - I got a white satin (?) parasol today! My lady doll will love it as it goes nicely with her white dress =)

Day 15b - Open version of the parasol.

Day 16 - Marjukka must have browsed through my dollhouse pictures as I didn't have a towel in my bathroom yet, and my poor dollies have had to clean themselves without soap, too.. But now it's all changed! I got a lovely soft towel, a soap tray, and a soap!

Day 16b - I like the colours! In fact, when I (eventually) revamp my dollhouse, I might use this kind of "fresh and clean" colour scheme. I'd already have the floor material for it, too (from shopping trip to Dún Laoghaire some months ago).

Day 17 - Four gorgeous roses today! I love getting flowers as I haven't really made them myself much. I'll definitely make more tables, so I can display all the lovely things I've gotten recently..

Day 18 - Todays pressie was a beautiful metal tray full of bikkies! (They're even lose, so I can arrange them in different ways.. like if my dolls are having a tea party, some of them could have a bikkie on their plate, etc.)

Day 19 - Today's pressie goes really well with yesterday's pressie! I got a different tray, this time with gingerbread - very Christmassy! The gingerbread looks edibly authentic..... *mmmmm*

There was a slight break here, because Marja hadn't received my last pressies in time (Priority letter should NOT take that long, from Ireland to Finland.. grrr..). Anyway, it didn't feel fair to enjoy my swap pressies while Marja was still waiting for hers, so I waited with mine as well. I've still marked them for "day 20" *etc*, based on the opening order:

Day 20 - Beautiful linen napkins!! This is a fantastic idea, I'd never have thought of making napkins for dollhouse! I might make a bigger dining table, so I can prepare a tiny dinner party or something..

Day 21 - Two crocheted little towels / pot holders, and a pot coaster! The towels so remind me of Finland, because my parents and grandparents always had crocheted ones in the kitchen =)

Day 22 - A tiny jigsaw puzzle! You can't see it in this picture, but the puzzle surface looks like the picture has been put together of little pieces, and there are still four pieces to go before it's fully completed.

Day 23 - Cute little Christmas decorations for the dollhouse!

Day 24 - Christmas Eve - This is a perfect closing for the advent calendar swap: a cute kitten and a kitty bed!! =D (I love cats..) Sooo beautiful!!

Day 24b - Christmas Eve - A better picture.. I only had one cat in my dollhouse, and after introducing the new kitten, I'm happy to announce that they instantly loved each other, and started playing with the yellow ball! (Visit my dollhouse site for more new pictures before the New Year)

Marjukka actually sent me an extra pressie, since we celebrate Christmas on the 25th, in Ireland (unlike in Finland, where pressies are opened on December 24th). So, here it is:

Day 25 - A cute felted elf, with big moustache and a cute red nose!

Day 25b - Also, a felted red heart, and a wooden box that will probably be a salt box in my dollhouse kitchen.

Kiitos ihanista lahjoista, Marjukka!!