christmas countdown...

Okay, so maybe it's too early. Or way late, but I thought I'd share one of my favourite DIY projects to date. I had seen this idea *here* and wanted to try it for quite some time now. And now I have, using simple everyday items, and some of my great Curtsey Boutique supplies. My take on this sweet advent calendar:

To begin with I painted an 18 inch embroidery hoop with some Antique White Web acrylic paint and let dry. Once dry I traced the inside circumference of the loop onto some sturdy thick cardboard. I cut it out and made sure it was a snug fit inside the hoop. I then cut a circle about 3 inches larger than the cardboard circle and pulled it taught over the cardboard, hot gluing the edges making sure the face of the fabric was stretched and free of wrinkles.  Fit into the hoop and let the fun begin.

I knew I wanted to stick to a few pops of colour but mainly keep it neutral. I started with these great kraft envelopes with journal cards from Curtsey Boutique, along with small tags, small glassine bags, doilies, twine, burlap die cuts, snowflake die cuts and muslin bags. Other supplies included washi tape, bottle brush trees and wreaths, thumbtacks, burlap, felt, mini clothespins etc. Sky's the limit to decorating, so long as you have 24 little packets to countdown to Christmas!

Of course it's a personal choice to decorate how you like, but here I've jazzed up plain white tags with pretty washi and stamped names. Wrapped them in twine and adhered with mini clothespins.

Using confetti I made pretty little see through packets with small glassine bags and closed with washi.Using the same washi tape I adhered it to the mini clothes pin.

Using burlap I cut out a mitten and stocking, and made little pockets to stick instructions in.

And here it is all done. It would be easy to change out envelopes or packets each year to update. I can't wait to use it this year for Christmas.

~Becks

Pin It