Easy Advent Calendar

With just a click here or there on the internet, we are introduced to so many fabulous ideas to inspire creativity from sites like Pinterest and other random crafty blogs.  This year, with the help of my GREAT 8-year-old, behind-the-scenes motivator, I wanted to make an easy, yet attractive advent calendar we could use for years. My girlie wrote a count-down-to-Christmas list.  Just about every day in December had an activity assigned to it.  We just needed a great way to display her ideas.

I found the following idea from Simple Mom.  We made some changes and created our own variation of the advent calendar.

Begin with an empty frame.  We happened to have one just stashed away awaiting a good use.  It already matched our decor.

Attach ribbon to the back.  At first I tried a glue dot, but it wasn't heavy enough to hold the tags.  I then tried tape.  Fail.  Lastly I pulled out the big guns and used Gorilla Glue.  The ribbons are now secure.

Our ribbons were about 2.5" apart

I found K & Company Brenda Walton specialty paper at JoAnne's.  In the paper pad it had a couple sheets that had numbers 1-25 on it plus some other holiday/Christmas designs.

I purchased paper tags measuring approximately 5.25" X 2.5" and placed a number and the activity on each tag.  Next, position the tags.  We used two colors; white and manila tags.  It wasn't part of the original plan, but as crafts go, the craft store only had one tag pack left of each.  Turns out, I like the look.  We added a couple more events in between the numbered dates.We then clipped them to the ribbon using red metal binder clips found at Staples.

Positioning the tags

Each year we can adjust the activities as desired.  It's a fun project, that was quick to complete and adds Christmas cheer to our living room.