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hey there! I'm monica 

I pride myself on making amazing style and design accessible for everyone, regardless of location, budget, or ability! My design philosophy is rooted in authenticity + attainability - If I can do it, you can too! My work has been featured in countless publications, but I take the most pride in homeowners that have been personally inspired by my DIY ideas and have tried something in their own homes!

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I know, I know, you haven’t even stuffed yourself with turkey and stuffing, or gone Black Friday shopping yet, and here I am talking about beginning a Christmas countdown. But let’s be honest, once Thanksgiving is over, December is pretty much here and it’s time to bring out the ol’ Advent calendar. Our family had an advent calendar growing up, and I remember running downstairs and arguing with my sisters about whose turn it was to move the mouse from it’s current pocket to the next day’s pocket. Ahhh memories.
Last year was the first year I thought about doing our own Advent calendar because my daughter was at the perfect age, but I literally pulled the whole thing together at midnight on November 30th, so it wasn’t perfect by any means. We ended up stringing it up on the curtain rod above our slider door, which was SO not convenient since we open those curtains every day. I did love the numbers, (which I downloaded for free but can’t remember where-sorry!) and the little bags, so I wanted to reuse them this year. You can easily create your own numbered circles on Picnik using this tutorial. So here’s what I came up with for this year:
It love the simplicity of this Advent calendar, and how easy it was to make!
DIY Advent Calendar
I started with an empty frame, some jute twine, mini-clothespins, and my trusty hot-glue gun:
 I laid out the bags in five rows in the frame to figure out the placement of the jute rope.
Next, I measured the opening of the frame so that I could space the rows evenly. For this frame, I placed the jute every 4:5 inches apart.
(Ignore the pen pointing to 7 inches! I wasn’t thinking when I took this pic!)
As usual, I used my hot glue gun to adhere the jute rope to the frame. You could also do this with a staple gun.
I clipped my cute little bags to the rope…
And added fun activities to do as a family and leftover Halloween candy to the bags!
Finally, I hung it in our entry hallway for a touch of Christmas! It will also be the one of the first things my kids see when they come downstairs and head into the kitchen.
I love that you can see our Advent calendar as soon as you open our front door! (And no, my house is not decorated for Christmas yet, I just have a winter wreath on my door from our last Nate Show project- more on that later this week!)
My daughter can hardly wait to get started counting down the days until Christmas!  I also scoured Pinterest for other fun DIY Advent ideas and found these for your viewing pleasure (click on the link to go to the tutorial):
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AdventCalendarIdeas-Books
I’m totally doing that last one: wrap a Christmas book to open and read each day. However, I’m doing the 12 days of Christmas books so I don’t have to spend a fortune on books! (Tip: Your local thrift store probably has LOADS of Christmas books for sale)
What do you do to count down the days until Christmas?

The comments +

  1. Adorable! I’m working away on my advent project as we speak (after a few false starts).

  2. What a fun little advent calendar! I remember loving ours when I was little too… such a great thing for kids!

  3. What a fun little advent calendar! I remember loving ours when I was little too… such a great thing for kids!

  4. Lori says:

    I saw the book idea last year and snagged most of them at 75% off after Christmas. I bought a few from book orders and now I only have 3 to buy at full price. I hope my kids are excited because I’ve sure spent a lot of time planning it.

  5. Katie Adams says:

    Thank you for sharing, I love this idea. I have created a round-up of all my favorite Advent calendars and I have added yours! You can check it out here http://www.thecraftyblogstalker.com/2012/11/25-diy-christmas-advent-calendar.html If you would like me to remove your feature please let me know and I will take it down right away. Oh, and please stop by and grab a feature button and wear it proudly! You deserve it!

  6. Alyssa says:

    Love this idea, just wondering where you got the little bags from?

  7. Stefani says:

    Hi, i was wondering what size frame you used? 🙂 thank you, love it!

  8. […] Calendar @ Carrot Top x 3   Advent Christmas Present Calendar {tutorial} @ My Decoupaged Life   Countdown to Christmas @ East Coast Creative   Advent Calendar Cookie Sheet @ The Best Kid’s Crafts Dollar […]

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