Advent Calendars

This world is kind of a heavy place right now, isn't it? Sometimes you just need a good belly laugh. And I have a little feeling you might get just that with this week's Spill the Beans. Enjoy!!

 Click here to listen.

And now...

I know, I know. Thanksgiving isn't here yet, and some of you don't want to talk about Christmas.

But some Christmas stuff requires preparation, so if you're going to prepare, now is the time!

Ryan mentioned in passing (a couple of years ago) that he really likes Advent calendars. I'm not sure if he likes the actual calendar and the countdown to celebrating the birth of Jesus, or if he just likes a free piece of candy every day. It probably could go either way.

But I made note of it and determined that one day...one day!!!...we would have an Advent calendar. But those who fail to plan, plan to fail, you know, and so far, I've been a wild success of an Advent-calendar-making failure.

I determined that this would be my year, and about a month ago, I went to a craft night to celebrate my friend Amber's birthday. I wasn't sure what craft to make, because anymore, I'm solely a scrapbooker and I do those online, but then I remembered my vow to make my husband an Advent calendar.

I wanted something that was meaningful in multiple ways, affordable, and perhaps, in some way, reusable. And I will tell you about ours in a moment, but meanwhile, I've compiled a few other ideas for you in case you're interested in other versions.

Pinterest is a great go-to for such ideas, and I've made a little board that offers some random ideas both of how to construct such a calendar and also what to put on/in it. Not an exhaustive list by any means, but a great start! And as I continue to find ideas, I'll add them!

Your calendar, should you choose to make/buy one, can take on a variety of purposes. In its simplest form, it can be a true countdown to Christmas. A way to answer the endless question from your kids: "HOW MANY MORE SLEEPS???" Go count the paper chain, Baby.

It's also a great way to unwrap a Scripture reading for each day, a treat for each day, or even an activity/act of service to put some purpose and meaning in a chaotic month. You can do any one or all of those things as you choose.

I will tell you straight up that ours is a bit over the top in size. I always get carried away by these things. It's a problem I should probably work on, but I haven't yet.

I wanted something coffee-ish, and if I even have to explain that to you, then I have failed as Shafferland's chief blogger. So after some Pinterest-stalking, I came up with this. Yes. This.

 Why, yes! That IS an entire counter covered in coffee cups. Twenty-four of them to be exact. Isn't it lovely?

For the record, I do not plan to put them there for the Christmas season. I plan to put them up above the cabinets in the back, there. Visible, yet out-of-the-way.

Inside each cup, I plan to put a treat for Ryan {because I love him!!!}, but I also plan to put in a little slip of paper with something else. I haven't decided yet what the something else will be, but my hope is that it pushes us to daily prepare our hearts for remembering the birth of Jesus!

I did find this idea on Pinterest, but the original blog didn't have a lot of detail and it was also written in a language I do not speak. So I was kind of on my own for creating the thing. Just in case there are any other coffee fanatics out there that would like a massive Advent calendar to match ours, I'll tell you how I made it.

{ALSO...there is a way to do this calendar without having 24 separate cups. I'll tell you that part too. Too bad I didn't figure that part out before making the whole set of them, huh?}

FIRST, I purchased the coffee cups. I tried to get them at just the regular store, but all the cups they had were printed with some random decoration, and I wanted plain cups. So I had to go to the party supply store and buy a big bag of white cups and white lids. This was the most expensive part of the project, but as a bonus, we now have some extra disposable coffee cups in case anyone drops by and needs a to-go cup. The party supply store also sold the cups in a variety of colors {all the lids were white}, so if you wanted a particular color of cup, you could switch it up that way.

NEXT STOP was Hobby Lobby for some decorative touches. I purchased six 12x12 scrapbook papers that all had a different Christmas/winter theme on them. I tried to get colors and designs that somewhat coordinated, since they would all be sitting together, and I could have gotten all matching ones, even, but I wanted a little variety. I looked at all kinds of decorative pieces to glue on the front, and finally decided on these little Christmas ornaments from the miniature tree aisle. They came in packs of six, so I got two packs of silver and two packs of gold. Some look more like stars and some look more like snowflakes, so I liked the combo of similarity without matchiness. {I hot glued the embellishment on the front once the paper was secured.} All these supplies were on sale, too, so YAY!!!!

I CUT EACH SCRAPBOOK PAPER into four equal pieces to make a "wrap" for the cups. Because the cups angle, I had to angle the paper in the back, but that was okay. I chose to use leftover silver tape from our moving extravaganza to secure the paper in the back. You could easily use clear tape or even glue to hold them together. This was just my choice. {And I already owned it, so it was FREE!!!!}

I WANTED TO MAKE THE NUMBER COUNTDOWN a little unique. I found this site, which is also a pin on the above Pinterest board, that allows you to print out an Advent countdown in a non-matching set. Different tag shapes, fonts, and numerals vs. words make for an interesting display. I printed the set out on a parchment looking paper, but you could use any design of paper - or cardstock to make it sturdier.

I decided to make the numbers like the little stoppers that coffee shops put in the coffee lids to trap the heat. Popsicle sticks seemed like the perfect method, but alas, they are smaller than the hole in the lid, so they fell right through. I decided to wrap the top 1/3 of the stick in twine to make it bigger than the hole in the lid. I hot glued the twine onto the stick, hot glued the number onto the twine, and put the stick down inside the hole.

NOTE!!!!! Make sure if you're hot gluing as much as I did in this project, that your gun is a COOL glue gun. I got a LOT of glue on my fingers, and if I had been using a full fledged hot gun, I would have had blisters everywhere. {I used to own one of those and definitely received some rough burns over the years. The cool gun is still hot, but tolerable if it gets on your skin. And with all the paper and twine, you'll definitely get some on your skin.}

BECAUSE OF THE EMBELLISHMENTS, these cups don't stack up neatly for storage, but Ryan got all 24 cups, lids and sticks in a copy paper box without smashing anything, so the storage isn't too terrible.

I am really excited to get these filled and start a new tradition with Ryan! I'm excited about EVERYTHING for our Christmas this year - first Christmas in a new house! But this will be a fun addition.

And as promised - if you don't have room to display 24 coffee cups, you could easily make one or two and just swap out the numbers every day after you "do" your Advent time. Refill the cup with the next day's contents, change the number, and have one cup on the counter!!

Happy Advent calendar creating. It doesn't have to be over the top {says the creator of over-the-top}, but I think it will add some memory-making and meaning to your Christmas season! :)