Advent Cottage

Last year after Christmas sometime I found a Martha Stewart Craft Kit to make this little advent cottage. I thought it looked cute and the instructions seemed simple, so I picked it up cheap to make this year.

Abby and I got started, and quickly discovered that it was not going to be easy. Or particularly fun. But we kept plugging.

Eventually Dad came in and sat down to help and agreed that it was awfully difficult. There were a couple of problems with the instructions. First, they were overly simple. "...and then glue together." I didn't think it was quite so obvious where and what we should be gluing.

Second, the instructions told us to put the roof on early in the construction of the house, which then made it difficult to glue on the doors and windows, as there was no way to apply pressure to both sides.

There are things that I like about it. Glue was included, which is a small thing, but it was nice not to have to find anything. I knew I could throw the kit in the car and we could do it at the house without hunting for supplies.

The card stock is a nice, the score lines handy, and the glue adhered well.

It's cute and has nice details.

The compartments are generously sized. We were able to fit small nativity pieces, stamps, stickers, and candy in the different boxes. We also copied down the Christmas story from the advent calendar we three girls all used, which is dangerously near to falling apart.

It was disappointing and a little frustrating, but it's always fun to do something together, and the house is super cute, and I think Anna will enjoy opening each of the little doors to find her treats.