12 Projects: Advent Calendar

As a child, I always loved the chocolate filled advent calendars.  I remember waiting patiently for one each year, and managing to have the willpower to not eat all of the chocolate at once!  It combined the exciting countdown to Christmas Day with the reward of chocolate every day. As an adult this is slightly less exciting, as I can eat chocolate whenever I want, but there is something about the countdown that has stuck with me.  Instead of buying a paper calendar with cheap chocolate shapes, I decided to make my own holiday countdown.

The crafty blog world is full of advent calendars this week. There are some amazing ideas out there, especially for calendars that include a daily treat.  Since I don't have any children around, I went for a simple, grown up, activity based approach, using supplies I already had around the house.

I raided my fun paper stack for holiday papers.  I have a few packs I picked up on clearance after the holidays in past years.  I already had the paper punch, but it was bought on sale at Michaels awhile back. If they arent on sale, paper punches are a great item to use those 40 or 50 percent off coupons on.

 I punched out way more than I needed, so I could display different papers and mess with the organization.

I cut out a special tag for Christmas Day.

I would have loved to stamp the numbers in gold, or even just used a silver sharpie, but I was determined to make this calender with only stuff I have on hand.

I flipped them over, and wrote different activities on the back of each.  I included local events I wanted to attend anyway, like a holiday flea market or craft fair.  I also put down things I love to do during the holiday season, but often forget, like ice skating!  And yes, I looked up my local rink to make sure there were skating times that day.  

I stuck my tags to an empty part of my wall using removable double sided tape.  If you wanted your calendar to be a little more interactive, you could keep all the tags in a box, and put them up as each day passes.  

I like how all the papers go together, and how easily it dresses up my wall.  I hope this little calendar inspires me to make the most out of the holiday season!

I hope you are enjoying the 12 projects of Christmas!  Want a sneak peek at what's next?  Follow me on instagram as sirensfall, I've been posting random shots as I work on each project!

Looking for more holiday cheer?  My good friend Kristi(e) over at Ye Olde Fortress of Awesome has decided to undertake her own 12 Projects of Christmas.  She is focusing on papercrafting and party planning, activities she excels at!  

Are you feeling inspired too?  If you've decided to start your own 12 projects series, leave me a comment, and I'll link it up!

Missed something?  Check out The 12 Projects of Christmas.