DIY Advent Calendar!

This is one blog post I have been eager to write...and with December less than a week away, today seemed like the perfect day to share!

I have fond memories of counting down the days to Christmas through use of the highly sought after chocolate advent calendars. However, through my ever changing family unit, and thus ever changing family traditions, I have longed for a way to bring new tradition to the Christmas season. Enter the new and improved DIY Advent Calendar...sans chocolate.

The final project...I wonder what's in each envelope?

I started this project by 'washing' an old piece of douglas fir with red paint. ( I wanted the wood grain to show through so I just made a water and paint mixture that almost stained the wood).
 The douglas fir was picked up by my husband from a timber framing company he used to work for. It has, and will continue to come in very handy for this DIY family!

The project in it's early stages... was still working on the layout and envelope designs at this point!

I then began decorating each little envelope with a countdown day! I found the great little brown envelopes on Etsy  for about $20.00 including shipping. Although that seems expensive, this was my only expense for this project so I easily justified it!

I then made the activity inserts for each envelope. Some of the activities I included were, "have a no TV day", "bake cookies with the whole family" "go on a shopping trip for the food bank" and so on... I made those using good old and most importantly, cheap shipping tags from staples!

I had so much fun making this project and decided to send it to a friend instead of keep it for myself so I can't comment on it's success. I can however comment on the fact that a year later, I look at this picture and feel very proud of the project! So proud in fact that I might even tackle another one this year...only a bit different...stay tuned and cross your fingers I have the energy to create something new before that countdown to Christmas begins!

--As always, thanks for taking time to check out my blog :)