Thursday, December 3, 2009

Advent Calendars

My husband and I have a new tradition of having an advent calendar every year. One year we had a Charlie Brown Christmas advent calendar, with stick-on Peanuts figures and props. Another year we purchased an imported chocolate-filled calendar meant for kids, but it was a bit of a disappointment because the chocolate tasted a little off. Well, we are late in buying our calendar this year. Advent began on November 30th and today is December 3rd, so rather than rush out to look for a ready made calendar I decided to make a quick paper calendar using a free PDF dowload from Mibo.



My calendar took less than an hour to make and cost less than $2.50, including computer paper and colored ink. I went for a "starry night" theme. Although I don't scrapbook I do have a small collection of paper, punches, and decorative scissors that I received as gifts some years ago. The only items I had to purchase were a 22" x 28" piece of black posterboard ($.89 at my local craft store), and a sheet of EK Sticko Trees & Holly stickers ($1.39). After following the instructions to cut out and glue the calendar. I cut the posterboard to 16" x 19", and then cut out a 7 1/2" x 9 3/4" rectangle to make a frame. This leaves approximately 4 inches of poster board to decorate on each side. I punched out the stars using the sheet of white computer paper on which I had printed the calendar instructions and glued each one around the frame. And that was all! It's less than perfect, but it was fun. If you'd like to make a similar paper calendar using vintage Santa or Victorian Christmas images, try this tutorial.

There are a ton of advent calendar examples and tutorials around the blogosphere.


Advent calendar by Jordan Ferney

Here are links to some of my other favorites:
Online, you can visit this vintage advent calendar that features historical articles about Christmas and traditional recipes. Candlegrove is an excellent website that traces the ancient origins and traditions of the winter holiday season from Thanksgiving to Epiphany; this year the countdown will take place on Twitter rather than on the website. My absolute favorite online advent calendar, written by the talented Penny Schenk and found at www.catwholaughed.com, features the adorable and inquisitive black cat named Tate. Enjoy!

11 comments:

  1. I've just been thinking about advent calendars, and wishing I had started that tradition sooner. These are some darling ideas! Maybe I'll have to get in gear early for next year. :) By the way, I'm visiting from PEAR.

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  2. OMGoodness how wonderful are these. I have one that I love that looks like a beautiful house, but with four kids it's hard to fill the whole thing up. This year I told them that each door has hugs, so come get one. :)

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  3. This is great! Thanks so much for posting. :) Theresa

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  4. pk @ Room Remix
    I've seen so many advent calendars and it's amazing all of the variations there are of one idea! Yours turned out great and I love the price. Have a good weekend...

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  5. I love how your decorated your Advent calendar. Thanks for all the links and for the info on the online Advent calendars. I'll have to check those out.

    Stopping by from SITS-Happy Saturday SITS Sharefest!!

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  6. Happy Saturday Sharefest!

    I love that advent calendar with the cubbies and wrapped presents. Adorable!

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  7. That is a really cute advent calendar - much better than most you find in stores!

    Thanks for visiting my blog! :)

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  8. I love the advent calendars.... my kids have one with fair trade organic chocolate... so far all the shapes are hearts but they said the chocolate is fantastic....we've had our share of not fab ones....

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  9. We ALWAYS had advent calendars as kids - they are one of my favorite things about Christmas! Stopping by from PEAR... : )

    http://www.readysetcraft.blogspot.com

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