Friday, December 7, 2012

Advent Calendar {Christmas Tutorial}

I am very excited about Christmas this year. My oldest son, Aidan, is finally at the age (2 1/2) where he gets it! He knows who Santa is, the Elf on the Shelf is his newest buddy and he loves looking at all of the twinkly lights and Christmas decorations that we pass by while driving in the car.

So, I've decided that this is the year that we introduce the Advent Calendar! I've pinned quite a few for inspiration and finally got up the nerve to construct my own. 


I knew that I wanted our Calendar to have fun activities that we could do together as a family.  Many are more oriented towards Aidan, since Connor, at 15 months, is still a little young. I also opted out of putting candy in our calendar, like many do, simply because my child is super hyper and does NOT need the extra sugar! :)

What You'll Need:
* Frame
* Spray Paint
* Staple Gun
* Cotton Twine
* Scrapbook Paper
* Glue Stick
* Gift tags
* Pinking shears (or other fun scissors)
* Foil stamped numbers 
* Mini clothespins


First, spray paint your frame the color of your choice. I had actually all ready painted my frame this color (Catalina Mist by Krylon) last year and decided to keep it. Not exactly a Christmas color, but it goes well with our decor this year.

Next you'll want to staple the cotton twine to your frame. This didn't go exactly as I had planned, as the twine slipped right out from underneath the staples. So, I improvised.

I left myself extra twine on the ends and knotted the twine to the staple on either side, pulling tight so that the "line" isn't droopy.  Worked like a charm!

 

Then it was time to work on my tags. If you have a Silhouette, or any other crafty cutter, you could easily cut out tag forms onto scrapbook paper of your choice. And honestly, that's what I was going to do.


But, then I spotted this cute bundle of Martha Stewart tags at JoAnn's and just HAD to have them. That Martha, always forcing me to buy her stuff! The colors were exactly what I was looking for and they were only $2.99 for 32 tags. Score!

I had also picked up a packet of foil stamped numbers and got to work numbering my tags. 25 in total. :)

 

Next, I typed up 25 Christmas activities for Aidan and I to do together. Anything from decorating Christmas cookies to donating toys to wrapping presents made the cut. 

 

I printed them off, glued them to extra scraps of scrapbook paper, then glued them onto my numbered tags.
 
 

Then I hung them with mini clothespins onto the twine.  


And there we have it! I'm looking forward to doing all of these fun activities with my little guy(s) this holiday season!

Have you made an Advent Calendar? It's not too late to get started!

Linking up with The Nester, Serenity Now and Centsational Girl

6 comments:

  1. Cute cute cute! I'm a sucker for advent calendars...so I had to come check this out!

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  2. This is so cute! This caught my eye at Kate's Link Party...I don't really know anything about advent calendars, my family never used them growing up, but I find them so intriguing! I love this because it's nice and manageable...nicely done.

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  3. Thanks! They're a lot of fun. My family actually never did them either growing up. But, I decided it'd be fun for us to start a new tradition! :)

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  4. Love it! I may have all the supplies on hand already! :)

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  5. Size of frame? I didn't see that mentioned anywhere. Thanks!

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