I don't know about where you live, but it's been pretty cold and snowy around here, so our Christmas Market needs a hot cocoa stand. You need a hot drink if you're going to walk around outdoors shopping. Rather than make something new to decorate this stand, I added the little marshmallow family I made for a previous countdown.
Today we're adding poinsettias to the Christmas Market. While that seems very specific to fill an entire stand, they have enough appeal that I feel like it works. To decorate this stand I made some simple flowers from red tissue paper that I inserted into holes in the cardboard.
Just one week left until Christmas! This feels like a good time to add the gift wrapping station to the Christmas Market. And I found this little miniature tape dispenser that fits neatly inside the tube.
Today we're adding a butcher stand to the Christmas Market. While it's not something I've personally encountered, it feels like the sort of thing that you might see in a cozy marketplace. And as luck would have it, I recently got this little chicken (maybe a turkey?) in a fidget collection. It fits right in.
Today we're adding what one might argue is one of the more important stands at the Christmas Market: the toy shop. On the stand I've drawn some standards like dolls and blocks and boats. To go with it I made a peg doll. For my character I chose Aaron from The Little Drummer Boy, my favorite special from childhood.
Today we're adding another tasty stand to our Christmas Market: Christmas cookies. I've added some cinnamon and spice scent to this one. And aside from the stand, I also made decorated cookies this weekend. Last year I made Christmas chickens. This year I made rabbits. By adding coconut I feel like they sort of resemble angoras.
Since today is Sunday I've added a gold stand to the market. This one is for donations. And it didn't seem in the spirit of the thing to make something silly or throw-away to go along with it. Instead, I'm using this tube to collect some cash for donating to one of my favorite charities.
Today's addition to our Christmas Market is an extra appealing one: the candy stand. When I'm wandering little shops I love to look at everything on offer at a candy shop, especially at Christmas time. To go with our stand I've repurposed a Oui yogurt jar as a candy jar. I think I'll be making some of these for stockings this year.
For the Christmas Market stand today I'm adding wreaths. I love fresh greenery in December. We don't usually put up wreaths and I haven't had a chance yet to go out and cut the swags for our front door, but I did make a little felt penguin carrying a wreath as a stand-in.
Today's addition to the Christmas Market is a candle stand. Whether for gifts or seasonal decor, candles seem to be a common element in holiday shopping. To go along with the stand I found this cute cartoon picture of a candle that I colored and hung in my room.
When I was a kid a major part of the Christmas season was my church's Sunday School program where each class would sing a song or do a little skit or something. At the end of the program everyone got a candy cane and each kid was given a paper lunch sack with some fruit (usually an apple or two and an orange) and a handful of peanuts in the shell. I looked forward to that treat for weeks, so for me fruit is an important aspect of holiday celebration. With that in mind, today I'm adding a fruit stand to the Christmas Market. For an extra, I made some fruit themed bookmarks that I will probably put into books that I gift.
Today's stall in the Christmas Market is an ornament stand. I decided to decorate this stand with some glass beads.
You'll notice all of our market stalls so far have been green or red. The Sunday and Christmas Eve stalls are gold. Not only are they a different color, these stalls are also not selling anything. These are activities, putting emphasis on experiences and doing positive things in the world instead of just consumption. So today's stall is a caroling booth. You'll see little music stands all ready for any singers to come along.
Today we're adding a skate rental stand to our Christmas market. It seems like ice skating is something you might do on a weekend while doing some Christmas shopping. Making something skating themed seemed really complicated but I found this little Care Bear Cousin figurine that we've had for as long as I can remember.
Today's addition to the Christmas market is a jewelry stand, a mainstay of craft fairs and markets. I really struggled with an addition to this stand. I have plenty of ideas for jewelry but one of the goals with this year's countdown was to reduce clutter. I already have a fair amount of jewelry and a job where I can't wear it. It would be wasteful to make something I'm never going to wear. Instead, I went through my existing jewelry and found some earrings that I don't wear. I bent the posts into loops so they can be repurposed as pendants or maybe charms for a charm bracelet.
Today in the Christmas market we have a stand selling nuts. Whether it's roasted chestnuts (which I've never actually seen - are they good?) or candied cinnamon nuts there's something festive about them and they feel like they belong in our little market. I suppose I could have made a batch of candied nuts but we have a collection of walnut shells floating around so I thought I'd made a decoration out of one. I decided to use some little scraps of yarn to make this mini knitting basket.
Today's addition to the Christmas market is a snow globe stand. Making a little snow globe to put inside the tube was an appealing but ultimately impractical idea. So I settled for adding a couple of glittery snow globe stickers that I found in my stash.
Today's market stall is the music stand. I had considered making a little drum or something to go with this one but when I got out my peg dolls I spotted Emmet Otter and I knew he was perfect. I suspect he's looking for a guitar.
I'm doing something a little different for my crafty countdown this year. Between work demands and the desire to reduce clutter and waste, 24 distinct crafts seemed a bit much. So I've decided to go a little simpler and do variations on the same thing for each day. I'm making a little Christmas market. Each stall is made from half a cardboard tube with details drawn on. I'll probably be adding some extra little surprises along the way.
Today's stall is knitwear. If you've been to a holiday craft sale you've seen a couple of booths selling hats and mittens and things. There's nothing quite so cozy as a hand knit stocking cap. For extra fun I've made a little ball of some of my rabbit fur yarn that tucks inside.
