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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Advent Calendar



I'm on a craft roll this week!  My house is still a wreck, but I'm getting some good projects done.  In the past my children have enjoyed marking the days leading up to Christmas on a little snowman calendar, but this year I wanted to jump on the advent bandwagon in hopes that a little focus each day will help us keep our minds on the Birth of Jesus this Christmas season. 




There are a million different techniques and great ideas for advent calendars out there, but I was putting mine together a little late and went simple.  Aja's cute calendar inspired me and I made a quick Hobby Lobby run for some paper and tags and got to work.


I had a 20x24 frame that I wanted to use and the spacing worked out perfectly.  I cut the patterned paper in 2 3/4 x 3 3/4 inch rectangles and then cut smaller red squares to glue on top of them.  Then I stamped the numbers for each date on top.


Using a scrap piece of mat board, I sprayed adhesive on the board and some burlap cut to size and then stuck the burlap down.  Then, using a mini-hot glue gun I ran a strip of glue down the sides and across the bottom of the rectangle to attach it to the board.


The tags were purchases at Hobby Lobby and I added some thin jute through the hole in the top.  This time I chose to only write messages on the tags rather than tucking treats inside...although some of the tags may contain instructions to receive a treat!

Finally I attached the board inside the frame and slipped a tag in each pocket.  Other than a great deal of cutting (thank goodness for my handy scrapbooking paper trimmer-that never gets used for scrapping any more!) this was an easy and fairly quick project.  I'm anxious to see how my kids react to a new activity this year.  I hope they look forward to checking it each day!





There are so many distractions this time of year that I hope this is a good tool to help us remember what's truly important and worthy of our attention.

P.S.  Happy Birthday to my sister Sarah!  I am so thankful for my youngest sis...she is growing into such a beautiful young lady who helps me with the "techy" stuff for the blog, loves decorating as much as I do, totally pulls off her own fashion statements, and is creative in the kitchen and a lover Star Wars and LOTR.  I love you Sarah! 
(and that's her cutie boyfriend!)

Would you like to comment?

  1. Your version is perfect! I like the customized paper and your choices, of course!
    Happy day to your beautiful sister, too!

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  2. It looks fantastic! I'm sure your kids will love it. Thanks for the mention, too! :)

    Aja

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  3. I love your advent calendar!
    Great job, you are so on it!
    Happy birthday to your sister!
    xo

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  4. This is so wonderful, and it looks like you out a lot of work into it!!

    I also adore your "Pottery Barn" Stocking Pillow below, Bravo!

    Come and enter in my 12 Days of Holiday Giveaways. There are so many exciting Gifts!

    xoxo

    Karena
    Art by Karena

    ReplyDelete

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