Advent Calendars

In hindsight this is a very difficult project. The boys love it, but I probably won't be making this again next year. You can make it a family tradition.

Anyway, I think it's time for some Christmas-y projects. I didn't even know this kind of thing existed until I saw a video and someone had one. It's an Advent Calendar that you can tear open the compartments and get a little treat.

Box tear open Advent Calendar

I was instantly inspired to create my own since the store bought kind are expensive. I'm not even sure where you can buy them. So DIY-ing is the way to go for me.

You'll need:
2 Cereal boxes (12 days per box)
Contact paper
Thin cardboard
Duct tape
Clear tape
Sewing perforating tool
Candy (optional)
A lot of patience

The candy is optional depending on what you want to put in your calendar.

Measure the dimensions of your box and cut out your cardboard accordingly. Once you have two long pieces and four short ones make notches in the cardboard halfway through each piece where they should connect. Duct tape the bottom one on. Trace the sections onto a piece of paper.

Basically what I'm trying to say is do this.

Make sure it fits into your box. 

We have a tradition of doing little Christmas things almost everyday in December leading up to Christmas. So I put in little slips of paper that say what we're going to be doing each day. Along with a Bible verse for each day. I also put in a couple of pieces of candy for the boys.

Before putting everything in your box you need to decorate it. I used two layers of plain white contact paper. Then Using the paper I traces the sections on I drew three sided squares where the openings for each day are. 

(Make sure to use Sharpies for decorating since anything else will wipe off or smudge really badly.)

Slowly row by row put your cardboard grid into the box adding the items for each row as you go. Don't shake the box or turn it upside down or drop it or anything or the things inside might get mixed into other sections. 

Once you've put the goodies into the box make sure the sections and straight with your lines you can perforate the sections. I only did three sides so the fourth could be a sort of hinge.

Make sure to keep your numbers/days straight. That means what's labeled has to match what is inside that section. 

Like I said before this is a complicated project, but so rewarding the boys love it and beg to tear open the Advent Calendar everyday. I still probably won't be making another of these next year. I'm going to look for an equally affordable yet easier version.

Christmas Bunting

One of my favorite things about Christmas is the decorating. I like to find new ways to make my house more festive. This year I was inspired by a video I saw about ways to update your room. I thought it would be a cool thing to make with Christmas themed scrapbook paper.

You'll need:
Scrapbook paper
String or Ribbon
Tape
Sissors
Something to hang it. (I used command hooks.)

You'll probably want to figure out where you want to hang your bunting so you'll know how many you'll need to make, and how long you'll want your string. (Allow for sagging.)

Get your scrapbook paper and fold the top two inches down.

Then fold the corners at the bottom  to make it a triangle shape.

Once you get a shape you like tape all the excess paper behind the triangle.

Here are all of mine finished.

Just tape the sting or ribbon to the back of the top corners and hang it up!

To cover up the not so pretty command hooks I used little gold bows that have twist ties on the back.

You could if you wanted cut out a piece of cardboard to fold the paper around before you tape it up so the sizes of your triangles will be uniform. Or cut out several to wrap the paper around permanently to keep them stiff.