ADVENT CALENDAR SWAP 2003 - SENT

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 I sent to Marja:
Marja from Turku was the swap partner who got my surprises. Here they are, in the numbered order:

Hmmmm, what will Marja find in these...

Three gingerbread cutters made of nightlight coats. These three shapes are quite traditional in Finland, for Christmas time gingerbread.

Day 1 - packed nicely..

Day 2 - materials.. Marja's baby doll is my only godchild, so maybe Marja can make some nice framed pictures for the baby's room using this stuff (or maybe she'll want to use it for something else). I bought the multicolour pipecleaner for toilet brushes *etc*, and I heard that they don't sell it in Finland, so I included some in case Marja wants to make colourful cleaning products, too - or something else!

Day 3 - A nice fattening breakfast should keep the dolls going when they get ready for Christmas.. Including one of my famous "glow-in-the-dark eggs" (I couldn't find white FIMO for ages, so I had to use lemony white that glows in the dark - you'll never lose these eggs, just switch off the lights and you should find it!)

Day 4 - This floral surprise is not meant to be opened - it's meant to look like someone in the dollhouse has just received flowers. I made these when our neighbours brought us gorgeous Italian bikkies that were individually wrapped. The paper instantly reminded me of the wrapping paper used by many florists..

Day 5 - materials.. I don't know if they sell these mint strips in Finland.. I love the way they melt on the tongue, and the package makes a nice "in tray" for a little office!

Day 6 - A mirror tray with some perfume bottles made of beads..

Day 7 - A bag of toffees and a chocolate bar (which can be unwrapped to reveal a proper little FIMO chocolate bar)

Day 8 - materials.. A colourful selection of beads.. The upper row are glittery beads, and the lower row are neon colours (except for the last one, which is silver)

Day 9 - Coasters to protect dollhouse surfaces..
Day 10 - Marja didn't take part in the decorative item swap, so she didn't have one of these candles yet..

Day 11 - materials.. A selection of pre-dyed craft sticks. (Hmmm.. maybe a little children's xylophone for my godson?)

Day 12 - materials.. A selection of funky foam in different colours and sizes.. I've used this for dollhouse mouse mats, for example.

(Days 13-19, on their way to Marja...)

Day 13 - I made some "Mayan art" for my godson, since he is apparently from that part of the world..

Day 14 - materials.. A little bag of fishtank pebbles and some seashells.

Day 15 - Felt sock to give that Christmassy look for a little fireplace or so..

Day 16 - I made two of these little elves.. Marja got one, and one stayed with my dolls.

Day 17a - I think Marja is into paperdolls, so I tried to make a doll and her wardrobe in dollhouse scale (or at least as small as possible..)

Day 17b - Wearing the purple dress..

Day 17c - Going to the beach..

Day 17d - Casual jeans..

Day 17e - Brrr, it's a bit chilly, let's put a jumper on..

Day 17f - All packed..

Day 18 - Make-up for the dollies. An eye shadow palette and a lipstick. (I've pixelated out a FIMO item I didn't want to be seen in this picture)

Day 19 - These are from Yellow Brick Road (Dublin), the Celtic bead has 14 carat gold coating, and I think it looks like a little jewellery box or a pill box.

(Days 20-24, on their way to Marja... There were some changes from my original plan - more about them later on..)

Day 20 - Two cheeseburgers. There's a few photos of these as this page also works as my personal reminder of my "cheeseburger recipe" (lol), since I didn't make this version for myself yet, and I know I'll want to make them again one of these days =)

Day 20b - For some reason, I think in this picture the cheeseburgers look like they're just about to start talking.. (Or is it just me?)

Day 20c - This is how I "served" them, with wrapping..

Day 20d - No sign of junk food brand names..

Day 20e - Not for big hunger!

Day 20f - Before bakin picture..

Day 20g - And another close-up..

Day 21 - The first part of today's pressie.. I've seen better fish (lol), but aren't these just so exotic! Maybe Marja can start that fishtank with these monster fish - I recommend plenty of plants..... The orange goldfish and the red platy have mouth and eyes, but I didn't really manage to get them in a good position for the picture, without holding them..

Day 21b - Slightly different angle..

Day 21c - And the second part of today's pressie, which is not related to the fish in any way, but I didn't think either of these would have been enough for just one pressie. These silver snowflakes are from Arnotts, and they'll make nice Christmas decorations *etc* for dollhouse. You could use them for festive coasters as well.

Day 22 - A framed ballerina. The picture is from a photo resource catalogue, and I've framed it with pre-dyed red craft sticks.
         
Day 23 - A "roombox" for dollhouse! (It was really hard to get a good photo of the finished item, so there's a few pics to explain it a bit more..) I got this idea from Marja's messages in our group.. She's been talking about those 60's ball chairs, so I thought I'd try and make something with that.. This was probably the first item I started making for this swap, yet it turned out to be the one that nearly caused my last pressies to be late! (It took AGES for the glue to dry, when I'd put it all together!)

Day 23b - Close-up of the chair (before the final coat of paint) and the lady.. The doll is from a set of "model railway people", and the chair is made of FIMO. The ball part is red FIMO, which I've painted with white acrylic paint after baking. I thought this was the easiest way to get the red interior for the chair. The leg is white FIMO, and is actually not like in the original 1:1 design.

Day 23c - Front view..

Day 23d - Side view.. (sort of)

Day 23e - The floor is a round piece of balsa wood, which I painted with golden glitter nail polish. There is a low coffee table next to the chair, which is made of a blue bead (for a leg) and a "mirror" piece. Behind the table, there's a flower pot, which is from a model bell set, and the plant is made of "autumny" red landscaping material.

Day 23f - Gluing the "glass" cover in its place.. It's actually a see-through plastic cap from an old mousse conditioner bottle! I made a "modern lamp" of some small blue beads and metal string..

Day 23g - She's a bit Christmassy, actually! With all that red and white.. LOL

Day 23h - You can *just* see the table leg..
         
Day 23i - I didn't have time to properly finish the bottom edges with golden glitter as the glue took so long to dry =( ... It wasn't even 100% dry by the time I had to wrap it, and Daniel JUST got it posted in time! I hope it survived.. (then again, by the time I make this page public, we'll know!)
         
Day 23j - This picture shows the "lamp" a bit better..

Day 23k - Top view..

Day 24 - Yes! It's the Nativity Scene you may have already seen on my site! I had planned on making that ball chair scene pressie #24 (the last day of the advent calendar, Christmas Eve), but with its glue not being totally dry, I wasn't SURE if it would survive in the post. I didn't want the last pressie to be a disappointment for Marja, so I decided to give her this scene for day 24. It's more fitting, anyway! (I'll make another one with all that sand next year, and send it to my parents)


Some additional packing material.. ;-)