Christmas Advent Calendar

I try to do something Christmas related with the kids every day in December.  It doesn't always have to be big, but just something special that we can do together.  I wanted to create an advent calendar to hold little notes for them that would explain the daily activity (I can then add these notes to my December daily album!).  There are so many cute ideas for advent calendars out there.  It was hard to decide what to do!

On one of my many shopping trips, I found this Making Memories advent calendar kit at a local scrapbook store. 

I loved all of the different papers and envelope shapes but didn't really like the banner style that it was designed as.

Inspired by a canvas calendar that I had seen at another scrapbook store (Treasury of Memories), I bought a 24x24 canvas to mount all of the envelopes on.  I am quite happy with how it turned out!

Like all of the projects that I have been doing lately, this should have been a fairly quick project.  That being said, it ended up taking FOREVER!!!  When it comes to projects, I am not particularly patient, and I have had huge issues with actually finishing projects lately. 

MATERIALS

• 24x24 canvas
• cream and red paint
• painter's tape if you would like to do edging on the front of the canvas
• Making Memories Advent Calendar or other numbered envelopes
• glue (i.e. Quick Grip) or other strong glue to adhere the envelopes to the canvas.  (I just used regular scrapbooking glue when making the envelopes).

HOW TO
WARNING: This is a rather long set of instructions.  Learn from my mistakes, and it should not take multiple days to complete!

Day 1 - I started off by painting the canvas cream.  This should be a very easy task but I had a very curious cat that was not happy about his lack of attention.  Grey hair and cream paint do not mix well.  Had lots of fun picking off hair and re-painting. Time for a break.

Day 2 - I wanted to paint the border of the canvas red.  I don't know if it is just me, but I find red a very difficult colour to work with.  I just can't seem to get the right shade.  Three different paint colours later (and four coats of that paint!) it was done.  Break.

Day 3 - I layed out all of the envelopes on the canvas and figured out where I wanted everything to go.  I inked the edges of all of the envelopes and embellishments ( I have to ink everything!) and glued the numbers on.  About half way through gluing the envelopes to the canvas, I ran out of my Quick Grip glue.  I must say that I LOVE this glue.  It pretty much glues anything and, as the name says, bonds very quickly.  Well, I ended up using some other glue to finish up but it definitely did not work as well.  Lots of time spent pressing and holding things down to dry.  Okay, time for a break.

Day 4 - Will this project ever be finished????  After my envelopes were glued on, I thought that the canvas looked too plain and decided to paint a red border around the edge on the front of the canvas (I had just painted the sides on Day 2).  For some reason, my brain did not think back to my red problem two days earlier.  I tried to free hand the edging but this did not work well for multiple coats.  I will not go in to how long this took me but I ended up using painter's tape (which I should have done to begin with) for a thin outline around the front of the canvas.  Break time.

Day 5 - By this point, I really just wanted this project DONE.  All that was left to do was the vinyl.  As excited as I was to receive my Silhouette last week, I have not really used it yet for two reasons:

1. I have spent all of my free time painting canvases.
2. I really, really hate reading manuals. 

Well, I am happy to report that this was the easiest part of the whole process.  There a few things that I would have done differently, but not bad for a first try.  Vinyl applied.  Project done!!! (Well, I still might add something to the vinyl but done for now!)

UPDATE: I really wasn't liking the space between the letter for the vinyl so I moved the 25 days part down and added a flourish.  Much better!

If you would like to try your own Advent Calendar, keep your cats out of sight, use painter's tape for the edging (and paint all the red at one time!), and make sure you have some good glue.  It should then be a fairly easy project to whip up! 

Check back later and I will be posting some of my other favorite advent calenders from around blogland as well as activity ideas for what to put in them. 

I have linked up with The CSI Project, Uncommon, Scrappy Gifts, A Little Lovely, I Heart Naptime, Along for the Ride, Young and Crafty, Funky Junk, Under the Table and Dreaming, CRAFT, Me Making Do, These Creative Juices, Polly Want a Crafter, Support Blog for Moms of Boys, Skip To My Lou, Craft-O-Maniac, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Night Owl Crafting, Someday Crafts, House of Hepworths, Child Made, Paisley Passions, Somewhat Simple, Paper Issues, and Tatertots and Jello.   Head on over and check them out!

Have a great weekend!