Advent Calendar Boxes

I have been trying to get myself organized so that I can start posting some of my favorite Christmas projects. I've been making a lot of my Christmas gifts this year and it's been a lot of fun! I've also been making quite a few decorations. One of my favorite things at Christmas is Advent Calendars. I stumbled on this one on Ali Edwards' site earlier this year and was so excited! I had a bunch of these Papier-mâché boxes laying around.

http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2007/11/christmas-proje.html

So I decided to make my own version with as much stuff as I had on hand as possible. I did buy paint (Apple Barrel "Burgundy" and Jo-Ann Craft Essentials "Spanish Olive") chipboard numbers and a few boxes, but otherwise I was able to use up a lot of my craft supplies.

First I painted my boxes. I debated on whether or not to paint some of the boxes a chocolate brown, but laziness won out in the end and I just left them their normal kraft color. I really like them though. The numbers were probably the hardest part. It's really hard to find stickers or chipboard that is all numbers, and I didn't want to have to buy 10+ sets of alphabet stickers (Need lots of 1's and 2's!). I finally found a set of chipboard numbers fro Colorbok, although all of the fonts were different and random, I decided I'd work with it. I painted them white and then I also used some white Foam Thickers from American Crafts, some stencils and a few were hand numbered by yours truly :)

Another challenge? Attaching them to the wall. Because I'm not living in my own house at the moment, I decided that I didn't really want to put dozens of holes in the walls. So instead I bought a sheet of 1/2" foam core, cut it down to a manageable size and attached the boxes to it with thumbtacks. And no, my thumbtacks don't match; and yes, it is bugging me, but with the lids all on I'll be fine :) I wasn't about to buy a bunch of thumbtacks that I didn't need. I'd much rather use that little bit of money for crafty things! So now I'm debating whether or not to attach the foam core to the wall with foam poster tape or just setting it on one of my painting easels. We'll see...

I filled each box with a note for an activity for my little girl. There were things such as:

• Driving around to look at Christmas lights
• Picking out a tree
• Playing a game
• Watching a Christmas movie
• Making gingerbread houses
• Singing Christmas songs
• Helping me make a treat, etc.

I also put a chocolate Kiss or other candy or a small gift (princess stickers and lip balm in the three biggest boxes that look empty). So there you have it...my first Christmas craft!