Christchurch craft maker to have her alternative advent calendar judged by ‘Sex and the City’ star Sarah Jessica Parker

A huge fan of cult TV series ‘Sex and the City’ is “thrilled” to be having her entry for the Etsy Design Awards judged by its star Sarah Jessica Parker.

Emily Carr, from Christchuurch, has designed an advent calendar that has made it through to shopping site Etsy’s global finals after beating thousands of other entries

The American actor will be a judge at the awards, which celebrate the online shopping marketplace.

“I absolutely loved Sex and the City so I can’t believe Sarah is actually going to be looking at my calendar,” she said. “I watched the show all the time.”

Her advent calendar features a brightly coloured board and a ready-made set of papers with activities written on which can be inserted into the board’s slots. Parents can also write their own activities or memories.

The calendar retails at £37 and can be reused year after year.

Emily, a pharmacist, and started doing craft work in her spare time.

“I began making wooden cufflinks and trinkets for family and friends,” she said. “I found I really enjoyed it; then I started to sell them on Etsy and they did very well. But it is the advent calendar I am really proud of.

“I have children and I always thought advent calendars were such a wasteful thing full of plastic and cardboard.

“They just got chucked away after the chocolate had been eaten or all the toys taken out. I wanted to create something a bit different and more sustainable.

“The activities are things like, ‘Let’s make Christmas cookies’, or ‘Let’s take some Christmas photos’.

“As the children get older you can change the activities to more grown-up ones.”

As Emily’s business, CreateGiftLove, started to take off, her husband Tony gave up his job as an aerospace engineer to join her in it.

Emily said: “We had a unit in the garden for storage and the kitchen table was overflowing with craft stuff. Now we have a workshop and offices in Ringwood and a team of 14.

“I can’t believe how big it has grown.”

The Etsy awards final is to be held on 31st July. Twenty UK finalists have made it through, along with 150 worldwide. There will be a grand prize of £20,000.

Emily added: “There are so many amazing sellers on the website, so it feels amazing to have gotten this far.”