Paper Bag Advent Calendar

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!  Mine wasn't so great on actual Thanksgiving Day as I was too sick to partake in the festivities! :(  I'm trying not to be too big of a baby about it and move on!  There's always next year!

I'm part of a great mom meetup group and a few of them came over a few weeks ago to learn how to make cards.  It was a lot of fun.  They wanted to do another get-together and make some kind of an advent calendar.  I came across this one by Julie Ebersole on Ellen Hutson's blog and thought it would be perfect. 

I bought a pack of the Kraft bags she mentioned in her blog, but they look way smaller than the ones she used...but I made them work. Here's my finished product.

Here are some close-ups:

I used snowflake and "swirly-q" stamps for the background design.  I used mostly Memento's Rhubarb Stalk ink.  I tried a gold and white on a few, but they didn't stand out like the red did.  I used my 2" circle punch on the green Christmas paper that goes behind the numbers.  I needed to make 5 sets of numbers 1-25.  I was trying to figure out how to do that since I didn't have any number stamps.  I remembered my Fiskars templates and that I had a number one...thanks to a great friend who had given them to me a while back!  So I started cutting numbers!  I ran my numbers through my Xyron Create-a-Sticker contraption so I wouldn't have to mess with gluing the back of each one.  Love that sticker maker! 

Since we already have an advent calendar for Olivia to open each day and get some kind of little gift or treat....

For the paper bag advent calendar I decided to put a slip of paper in each one with an activity or craft we're going to do that day.  I'm still working on that list and making sure I have supplies for each project on the day we need it.  Luckily, I have the supplies I need for most craft projects. :)

Last week we were at Target and Olivia saw a Gingerbread House kit with the house all done up and she went crazy over it.  So I bought one and that's going to be one of our activities.  She asks about it every day, so I'm sure that's going to have to be one of the first things we do. :)

Lastly, I'm so excited to have a few of my friends come over and craft with me today!  Gotta get the potato soup in the crockpot and Rick Krispie treats made!  Yay!

Hope you all have a great week...Go Get Your Craft On!
Cheryl


Supplies Used:

Mini Clothespins	ATC Mini Kraft Bags	Xyron Create-a-Sticker
Fiskars Number Template	Ultra Shape Express Cutter

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