Monday, November 30, 2009

How to Holiday: Advent Christmas Countdown

So Tuesday starts the countdown to Christmas. I completely ran out of time to make the little stockings that I intended to use for the countdown. So the other day when I was in the craft store I decided to pick up a piece of foam core board and stickers. I already had the little pegs, the envelopes, and the ribbon. Originally I was going to glue the pegs on but then I thought I would be better off using ribbon and clipping them on. I again got my kids involved. They colored and applied tons of stickers. They loved it. I was going to paint or stamp the numbers on but in the end I just wrote them on with a Sharpie marker. You could do so many fun things with this. Lots of possibilities.

Supplies:

-1- 20"x30" foam core board
-1 spool of ribbon
-24 assorted envelopes
- stickers, crayons, paint, etc. go crazy here
-24 small wood pegs
- decorative scissors, regular scissors, marker, tape
-An awl or some other tool to poke a hole through the foam core board

How to:

1. Take all of your envelopes and lick them shut, fold, then cut in half vertically. You can use decorative scissors or regular ones. Your choice.

2. Decorate in whatever way you choose. Have fun with it!

3. Eyeball or measure 2 inches down from the top and two inches in from the sides and poke a hole with your awl on both sides. Attach a length of ribbon to one side and leave enough room for hanging and attach to the other. I just tied a knot.

4. Lay out the envelopes on your board. I did 3 across by 8 down. I then got out my ribbon and attached with tape on the back while the envelopes were still laying on the board. Just so I made sure they were in the right spot. Repeat up the board.

5. Attach envelopes with the pegs and hang your countdown.

Here are some of the things I am doing for the countdown:

-make cookies
-cut down the tree
-make gingerbread
-make xmas cards
-cut out and decorate snowmen
-go out to dinner
-go out and look at xmas lights
-eat ice cream after dinner
-watch a xmas movie before bed
-make a xmas garland
-decorate the tree
-candy
-go to the library and borrow 2 Christmas books/movies
-sing xmas carols
-attend a holiday event at the school

1 comment:

jacqueline said...

Dear Dana, this is such a wonderful idea! I really adore the idea of using paper, form, clips and stickers to make a count down advent board! Thanks for sharing this idea and making the wonderful tutorial for us! Have a lovely merry happy day and love to you!