Earning Our Stripes: holiday traditions

11.13.2012

{Holiday Traditions} DIY Advent Calendar

I'm all about enjoying one holiday at a time, but some crafts need to be done early to have them in time for December.

After feeling inspired by all the Advent Calendars I had seen online, I decided to try and make my own!

Supplies:
Large Frame
Spray Paint
Chicken Wire
Muslin Bags (from here)
Stencils (from here)
Mini Clothes Pins (from here)
Permanent Marker

It is pretty self explanatory how to make this with all the supplies listed above, so I won't go into great detail. The large frame was one that we had found from C's grandfather's house. After a light sanding and two coats of spray paint, it was the perfect red for a Christmas Advent Calendar.

We stapled the chicken wire to the back, pulling it as tight as it could go. To stencil the numbers on the muslin bags, I used a cardboard insert so that the permanent marker wouldn't bleed through to the other side. Craft paint would also work well, but permanent marker made the muslin bags look weathered & worn.

This year, I plan to put the name of the book we'll read that night in the bag (see this post for our Christmas Book tradition). As A grows, it will be fun to use this for small goodies & candy. One of my favorite memories of our childhood Advent Calendars was discovering the little chocolates hidden inside, so I plan to do the same for A!

I'd love to hear about the crafts you guys are working on for the holiday season!

Linking up with
Debbie Doo's
It's Overflowing
Savvy Southern Style
DIY By Design
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Live, Laugh Rowe

9.05.2012

Christmas in September {Holiday Traditions}

Last summer, I stumbled across a post about a wonderful holiday tradition: giving your child(ren) one book, everyday, beginning December first and continuing until Christmas Eve. A Christmas Book Advent Calendar... what a great idea! I'm an avid reader, and hope that A loves to read as much as I do. His book collection is massive, and we have books in almost every play-space, the diaper bag, and in the car. I immediately started looking for Christmas books anywhere I could find them, and slowly started growing our collection.

Although A was a little young last year to understand the meaning, he smiled at a lot of the stories, and C and I loved reading them to him. We plan to continue the tradition this year, and thankfully, will not need to buy a lot of new books. There are few that we plan to replace as A gets older, but many of them will last for several years - if not through his entire childhood.

I was so thankful that this idea was posted over the summer, so those of us who were interested in starting this tradition with our own children, would have enough time to gather all the books before December. I thought I'd pay it forward, and share the books we purchased last year!

A few of these books were purchased from Borders during their store-closing clearance, and a few others were purchased through Totsy, Gilt or HauteLook flash sales. Below contain links to the books through Amazon. Amazon occasionally offers 4 for 3 promotions on children's books (buy 4 books, and get them for the price of 3). I took advantage of that promotion a few times to finish our Christmas collection. And of course, if you are an Amazon Prime Member, you can take advantage of free shipping on most (if not all!) of these books!