- December 11, 2008
- 16 Comments
- Artsy Fartsy, General
I made an Advent calendar with my own two hands.
I nearly glued myself to death, but I lived to tell the tale — look:
You can make one too! Let me show you how! Â You’ll need do-dads and numbers and pockety-envelopes and glue-stuff and ribbon and glitterfication product, and a canvas and a big spot to mess-up and paint and a little foamy-brush-thing — to paint and glue with.
You will need to paint your canvas. Then lay out your envelopes… the picture below gives greater detail:
Then:
Adhere your decorated pockety-envelopes with Mod Podge. I suggest not gluing to the edges of the pocket. Leave a quarter inch or so. It’ll allow your pocket some room to grow when you insert your treats. I made the mistake of applying glue to the very edges. I am able to get one candy kiss in any one pocket. 3 kisses should fit easily if you leave some room for “stretching”.Â
Now fill the pockets! Candy kisses, mints, mini candy canes, have the kids share a Hershey bar (4 squares each!), we did a movie night, paint your own pottery is coming soon… and we’ll be decorating cookies one evening too! Â I added the picture below to give you an idea of the true-life size… That’s my 3 year-old Lucy standing next to our calendar.
If I were to change anything… I might consider a more sturdy pocket. The pockets could tear rather easily because they are paper. We’ve not had any problems, but I’d like this to last several years.
Â
**********
Keep up on the ridiculous, the insightful, the always digressive…
Subscribe to my Jenny On The Spot RSS feed
Subscribe to Jenny On the Spot by Email
Â
16 Responses to “I made an Advent calendar with my own two hands.”
Use the Form Below to Leave a Reply
So Purdy! And you did this all with one big eye??? Very impressive!
You inspire me
I love this!! You have inspired me to make one … now if I can only find the time. I may have to make it and just save it for next year. I love the look of yours.
Your calendar is beautiful!! Maybe some year I will be motivated enough to make one–but for now the 1.79 cardboard and plastic advent calendar with chocolates will have to do!! Call me cheesy–it fits!!
DAMN do you have talent – a woman of many skills!! That really looks great you are putting the rest of us to shame as I personally failed finger painting as a child!!
Look at you and your uber-craftiness!
These hormones of mine and I now have a true reason to cry….your artwork is stunning but the imiginations I see of oozing joy and memories it will create for your trio takes my kleenex box useage up several notches…sweet very sweet!
It’s adorable!
Thanks for all of the technical terms! I won’t remember the names anyway, so calling it a foam brushy thingy works.
Did you use BOTH eyes?
It came out beautiful- but is one side bigger? LOL.
Dang. You be crafty. Just looking at all your directions made my eyes glaze over. I would start that and NEVER finish it.
It is totally adorable!
You finished it!!! HOORAY!! It looks great!! I bet they do love it. I didn’t realize the first time you posted about it that you could have goodies in ALL the pockets! That’s awesome!! (I thought you just moved around the Hershey bar as the day changed and then ate it at the end of the month). Very, very cool, Jenny – you’ve outdone yourself. Go have some candy cane oreos, on me. =)
This defines awesome Christmas craft. So, when can I buy one from you on Etsy? Because it’s not like I am ever going to be able to reproduce your awesome Christmas craft.
That is fantastic! I’m still not creative enough to actually pull one off, but you could make some money off of that, and I’d be inclined to buy one!
Oh my golly! Look what you made! That is truly awesome. You rock, as usual.
Good gracious, I am soooo doing this with my kids. Next year.
Dude, the numbers all out of order!
This is beautiful! I’ve been saving mini cereal boxes all year, planning to make a drawer style advent calender this Nov …. Where did you get all those gorgeous numbers from?