Advent Calendar Tutorial

I know it's a little late to start an Advent Calendar for this year, but I still wanted to share this one that I made.  I love the way it turned out and the best part is that it was easy and cheap to make!  If you want to make your own, here is what you will need to do:

Find an old picture frame that you don't use anymore, or go buy one at a thrift store.  You will also need some spray paint (under $4 at Walmart), clothespins ($1 at the Dollar Tree), twine (I used hemp jewelry cord, which was 50% off at Hobby Lobby, making it 74 cents), scrapbook paper (less than $1 at Hobby Lobby), and hot glue.  The total cost of this project was less than $7!

Remove the glass and cardboard from the frame.  Spray with primer if you want to use less coats of spray paint.  Once the primer is dry, spray paint the frame in the desired color.   Note: I don't recommend painting your grass...whoops.

Next, spray paint the clothespins.  I highly recommend spraying them with primer first.  I didn't use primer and the wood just kept soaking up the paint...which meant more coats of spray paint (and more time lost).

Once your frame and clothes pins are dry, you will glue some scrapbook paper to the cardboard backing of the frame.  Next, thread your twine through the metal loops on the clothespins (pictured above). Add however many clothespins you want for your first row.  You will probably want to have some of them upside down, because it easier to space the numbers out.  I learned this after it was too late and had to redo them!  Now, hot glue the twine to the back of the cardboard, making sure the twine is pulled as tightly as possible.

Add however many rows you need, in order to fit all 25 clothespins.  Don't worry about spacing them out until you have the numbers attached.

Use scrapbook paper to make the numbers, then attach them with the clothes pins.  For our advent calendar I printed out 25 different activities to do each day and attached them to the back of each number.  About half of them are various Christmas scriptures to read, but there are also things to do that will be fun for the kids (go look at Christmas lights, watch a Christmas movie and decorate cookies are just a few).  I'm happy with how it turned out and it's definitely something I will use again next year. Also, if you are looking for another fun Christmas craft, check out my Gumdrop Wreath tutorial!

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