Since today is December 1st, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you the Chalkboard Advent Calendar I have been working on for the last couple of weeks. Last year we did the Lego calendars and not only are they expensive, they don’t give me a chance to get the kids engaged in family activities together. Also, I was dying to come up with something creative for our Advent calendar this year, so here you go!
When I went on Pinterest and did a search on Advent calendars, I fell in love with the muffin tin idea. However, I really wanted to come up with something unique and since I am in love with chalkboard crafts right now… I thought why not mesh the two! I went to Michaels and bought a pad of Christmas paper and then I already had a pad of chalkboard paper in misc. colors. Since Elfie and Samantha (Samantha is Elfie’s little sister that he brought back with him this year- please visit me on Instagram HERE for more details on that!) have been at our house since the day after Thanksgiving, I thought it would be wonderful for them to bring the Advent calendars on December 1st!
First, I selected four different Christmas papers with the colors mint, gold red and black in them. I had these colors in my chalkboard pad as well, so it worked out really well and they all went together. Then, I used my Cricut machine to cut out shapes and then I glued the chalkboard circles onto the Christmas patterned paper.
Then, I wrote numbers in chalk on each circle. I freehanded these, but tried to follow a font I found on Pinterest. I REALLY need to get a chalkboard pen, using regular chalk is a pita if you ask me. Don’t worry, I hinted to Brian for a chalkboard pen for Christmas. Yes, they sell chalkboard pens on Amazon! Don’t ask me why I don’t just buy one myself, but it would make an awesome stocking stuffer. Hint, hint.
Here is what the covers looked like after I was done. I was really pleased with how they turned out!
I really love the mint chalkboard paper, such a pretty color.
Then, I came up with a list of what they would find inside the tin on each day. Here are a few ideas that I used:
Two Hershey Kisses (one for each kid)
Go see Santa
Make Christmas cards for your Grandparents
Make homemade snow globes with Mom
One free iPad mini game (haha!)
Look under the tree for a surprise
Read about the birth of Jesus
etc.
Fill the tins with the little treasures
Secure the cards to the tin. This is tricky, scotch tape did not work well when I tried to tape it underneath. I wish I would have had some holiday washi tape on hand… that would have been fun to tape the top and bottom with a colorful piece of tape. So, since I was short on time… I sealed each card to the tin by gluing around it with a hot glue gun. It is kind of neat, because they’ll have to peel it open… and, it really doesn’t look all that bad since I didn’t use a lot of glue. So, I’m happy with it.
I have to say… I love, love, love how this turned out… I used some old plate holders that I used to display my wedding china on and they hold the pans up on display on our coffee table in the living room. Elfie and Samantha will greet the kids with a sprinkle of hershey kisses around them and the chalkboard Advent calendar muffin pans. So fun! So exciting! YEAHHHH!!! (Golly, I sure am in the Christmas spirit tonight!!)
Elfie is SO silly, he has a hershey kiss on his head! Sure the kids will LOVE that.
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