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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

DIY Advent Calendar

Advent is just nearly upon us - the meaning of the term means coming or arrival.  We celebrate the joy of the birth of our Savior, the truth and power of his presence in our lives and anticipation and hope we have of Christ's return.  We did this together as a family last year and I am so looking forward to taking the time each day together to remember what this precious time of year is about to us.  We put a passage of scripture in each package to read together each day and even though Silas is just two my prayer is that these little moments are the beginning of a foundation of faith he will one day have.

So here's our little DIY Advent Calendar I made this year...

                              

It was super easy and I used some things I found at the dollar store, some things I already had and some things I had ordered from a really sweet etsy shop.

1.  I got all of these sweet little goodies from Paper & Present on etsy.  She had great prices and great customer service!  I received my package really quick - check her shop out!
2.  I found these red and white striped treat boxes at the dollar store.  They came in packs of six and also come with round tags (which I used) and clear little baggies - which will be really cute later on for little christmas cookies and such (double score).

So I decided to do twelve red & white striped boxes and twelve black & white chevron bags - here's how I assembled them:
1. I used leftover chalkboard tags that I had made for this project (I made extra in case I ever wanted to use them for other things).
2.  I also decided to use the round tags that came in the package - I just flipped them over, used a black permanent marker and a little red & white bakers twine to pretty it up.
3. I rummaged through my paper scraps and found some red & white checkered paper to used with the chevron bags and simply wrote the numbers on them as well.  
4.  Yay!  All of my little countdown packages were coming together.  
5.  Next thing was to grab the twine and decide on how many little spots I needed to hang things on.  I simply used duct tape to keep these little guys up - I'm keeping it simple.


The last thing was to hang up my little packages with clothespins (I used both mini and regular size) and I was all done!  Now its just waiting for us to fill them up and start counting down.


I'm so excited its now christmastime, I just love every part of it.  Do any of you have advent calendars or other Christmas traditions?  Do share!!

PS: Our Advent Calendar from Last Year  - here.

Linking Up Here:

Happy Hour Link Party

Whipperberry
The Humble Brag Link Party

23 comments:

  1. Hi I am following you from the GFC hop and like this idea. It is a good way for the kids to follow the Advent season. I saw another one with an open card to countdown the days. I am going to definitely try one of these ideas.
    I would love for you to follow along.
    Jillian
    http://puzzlemecomplete.blogspot.com/

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    1. Thanks for following Jillian! You should definitely do an advent calendar - its so fun and meaningful to do with the kids!

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  2. I think your advent calendar is adorable! I'm really excited about this time of year too :)

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  3. Way cute! I would totally buy this from you!

    Emily
    http://faithmusicandbedtimestories.blogspot.com

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  4. It's so cute Megan! Love it! :)
    I still need to make my library pocket advent calendar...

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    1. Thanks Melissa!! You totally need to do that! Show me pictures!

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  5. LOVE this! I seen one similar I wanted to make.. however with all the painting and finishing touches we've been putting on our house I hardly have time to sleep and shower, let alone craft. Totally bums me out, especially this time of year!

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    1. Laurie, you have so much going on!! Don't stress and just enjoy this time of year - no fuss!

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  6. So cute! I love it! I really need to think of something to do for our advent calendar this year!

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    1. Thanks Ashley!! I love looking at what people come up with!

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  7. This is adorable! Love it and thanks for the tutorial! Found you through a GFC Blog hop and excited to be a new follower! I hope you will stop by my site if you get a chance!

    Chrissy
    http://www.thetaylor-house.com

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  8. Absolutely FABULOUS!! LOVE this and love how you worked in the chalk! ;) Stopping by from the Whipper Berry linkup!

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  9. I love your calendar! It looks absolutely fabulous! I so want to do something similar.

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  10. This is so so so cute! How adorable. Great job and thank you for sharing :)

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  11. Adore this! Featured you! (:

    xo

    http://lollyjane.com/30-diy-christmas-advent-calendars/

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  12. so so cute, Megan! I may do with using my chalkboard next year. love it.

    Thanks so much for linking up last week at The Humble Brag!!
    The Silhouette Cameo giveaway is still going strong and you can get MORE ENTRIES by signing up for link party email reminders, sharing the giveaway on FB with your readers, and linking up again. Hope to see you there tomorrow.

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