Simple Advent Calendar DIY

Simple Advent Calendar DIY

For Christmas decorating this year, we decided on a theme of “neutral natural.” At first I wanted ALL THE THEMES — Scandinavian black and white, midcentury pink and teal, rustic ski lodge, traditional plaid… you name it, I wanted it! I’m kind of crazy like that, but obviously I really had to narrow it down. Andy’s no help because he really does not care. As long as it doesn’t cost a lot he’s fine. So I decided to stick to something that’s simple, easy to live with, and uses a lot of pieces that we already own – yay! “Neutral natural” to me means an emphasis on white, black and metallics, with lots of wood and burlap. It’s modern country. My first decoration is this simple DIY advent calendar.

(Are advent calendars silly when there are no kids around? Whatever, I like them. Because there’s candy.)

I started with some basic, small, white paper bags from our local craft store, Pat Catan’s, and drew some numbers on them freehand. I used a black oil-based paint marker because the bags are slightly waxy and I found that a regular Sharpie didn’t work well. For me this was a fun project to do while Ruby was napping. If you aren’t confident in your writing/drawing skills, you could even run the bags through your printer using a cute font. Inside each bag I put a piece of candy. I mean, obviously.

At first I taped the bags directly onto the wall with washi tape, but the white bags looked boring on our white living room wall. So I looked around our garage for something to use as a backdrop and found a large piece of cardboard that we had leftover from the box Ruby’s crate came in. I cut out one panel, wrapped some burlap around it, and taped the burlap on the back with duct tape. The burlap is actually some table runners from our wedding that I will be re-using F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Then I strung white yarn across the front, taped it in back with duct tape, and used some regular old-fashioned clothespins to attach the bags to the string. Easy peasy.

And now we have an excuse to eat candy every day for 25 days! In case we needed an excuse? And also, can you believe there’s only 23 days until Christmas??!!

— Kerry