advent calendar...

I wanted to start an advent calendar with Little Bit last year but I just didn't get around to it. Since she has been more interested in the days and knowing when things are going to happen, I decided to get one ready for this year. Plus she is so excited about the holidays, I thought it would be a perfect way for her to countdown to Christmas...and do something fun everyday along the way.

This one was my inspiration and I took off from there. I started out with a placemat from the Dollar Tree. Then I cut 5 rows of felt 2 inches high by 11.5 inches or so....however long a standard piece of felt is! ;) I sewed them on, making pockets evenly spaced apart...about every 2 1/4 inches.

I found a felt bag with a tree on it in the dollar section at Target. It was just hot glued on, so I peeled it off and stitched it on the placemat. I then hand stitched on a few buttons to "spruce" it up. ;)

Next I attached some red rick rack to the top so I could have some way to hang it.

For the numbers, I just bought a pack of number stickers at Michaels and stuck them on the front of each pocket.

I wanted to have an activity or event that we could do together each day. So I used some scrapbook paper and cut little cards to fit in each pocket. Then I wrote something on the back of each one.

A few examples are....watch a Christmas parade, wrap gifts, make a gingerbread house, put together a Christmas puzzle, play Christmas music and dance to it, donate unused toys to goodwill, make cut out cookies, watch a Christmas movie with popcorn, paint our nails, read the Christmas story, etc...

Here she is all hung up and ready to go tomorrow! Little Bit can't wait to see what the first card says!!!