I don’t often do a DIY, but that’s not to say that I don’t enjoy. Trust me when I say that I pin plenty of them from Pinterest.
So, when my kids asked if they could each have a separate advent calendar for Christmas I looked around. From Pottery Barn to Michaels and everything in between. Nothing looked quite right, had the right sized boxes or was what I wanted to spend. So, I thought to myself, what would Martha do? Well, she would make her own. Wouldn’t she?
I perused Pinterest and got a few ideas, but the actual design was my own. I started with these little favour (or favor depending on your country) boxes which I bought at Michaels:
When you put them together, they look like this:
They are not what I would call sturdy little boxes, but I figured I could make them work. With a 50% off coupon, I think the cost was around $10.
I searched around on Pinterest and found some creative people that love to share printables. I found these numbers in Christmas colours that were a perfect match for my boxes and printed them at home on my colour printer:
After cutting them out and using my new best friend:
the boxes looked like this:
I used the Mod Podge to paste the numbers on the front of the boxes and to give them a little more strength.
I then played around with the shape, the order of the numbers and realized that I wanted the calendar to be able to stand or balance on its own. A little LOT more Mod Podge to stick them together and voila!
This is the final result:
This whole project cost about $15 for the white boxes and Mod Podge. The kids think it is great and I’m hoping it will last me a couple of years. If it doesn’t, the good thing is it can go into the mixed recycling bin.
I think Santa will be proud of me and Martha might like it, too.
linking up with: The Jenny Evolution, The Pin Junkie, Design Dining and Diapers, Curly Crafty Mom, Happy Housie, Provident Home Design
Such an awesome idea, thanks for sharing 🙂
check out my DIY for Holiday Wine Bottle Vases, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it 🙂
http://www.fortheloveofblonde.com
Thanks – the kids like it so I guess that’s all that counts!
I’ve always wanted to make one of these! Yours turned out great!
This is cute! Have to remember them for next year! Thank you for sharing your Holiday craft in the 12 days of Christmas Blogger Tour Link Party!