Burlap Advent Calendar {Shutter Door Upcycle}

I know all of these Christmas posts are little too soon for many of you, and normally I would agree.  However, I have learned in the past two years of blogging that I need to get a jump on things or the holidays get crazier than they need to be.  So,  I’ve succumbed to decorating a little early and I’ve discovered that I actually kind of like it.  It makes the day after Thanksgiving a true day of rest for me (since I usually host Thanksgiving at my house) and it’s so nice to just relax and settle in to the holiday season.  

I do have to confess, however, that my home does suffer from a little holiday confusion.  Because I host Thanksgiving I keep the front door and dining room decorated for fall and the rest of the house is Christmas!  (My guests don’t seem to mind.)

I will still be sharing a couple of Thanksgiving related posts next week but first, I want to share this project that needed to get done before December 1st.  My DIY Burlap Advent Calender.

I have wanted to make an Advent calender for my kids for a long time.  When they were little, we printed out a Santa face and the kids glued one cotton ball per day  to fill in Santa’s beard.  It was fun, easy and perfect for small children.  

They outgrew that a long time ago and ever since I have been trying to think of a way to make an easy Advent calendar they can enjoy even as they get older.  This year, I finally figured it out.

 

 

 

I started with some little burlap bags from the dollar bin (2 for a $1 at Michael’s last year — you can also find similar ones here), some clothes pins I already had, and an old closet door that I got from my sweet mother-in-law who found several at an estate sale awhile back.  

 

I was trying to figure out how I was going to use the bags and what to affix them to…then it dawned on me — the old louvered closet door!  

The louvers are perfect for using clothes pins to adhere the little bags.  No sewing or large tools involved – yay!  Plus, it’s not permanent. 

I embellished the bags with some ribbon (I used hot glue) and little wooden circles I bought at the craft store.  The discs were unpainted but I spray painted them silver and then antiqued them with Annie Sloan’s dark wax.  I drew the numbers on with Sharpie marker.  Now they look like kind of like galvanized metal.

 

I absolutely love that it fits perfectly in my entry on this small wall.  

The top rows are still a little high for my youngest so I put a little red stool in front so she can get to the bags up top.

 

 

 

By the way, you don’t have to have a louvered door to make an advent calendar like this.  A bulletin board, a piece of scrap wood…just about anything could work.  You could use wood glue to permanently affix the clothes pins to a board or you could pin ribbon horizontally across a frame and clip the bags to the ribbon.  There are so many possibilities when using little pre-made bags!

 

I have already tucked some candies and notes inside to each bag for the kids to find each day.  Most of the notes include a suggested activity for that day.  For example, “Watch the Polar Express” or “Make hot chocolate tonight.”  

Here are some other ideas for notes:

• Read “The the Night Before Christmas”
• Read the story of Jesus’ birth
• Watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas”
• Look at Christmas lights
• Bake Christmas cookies
• Decorate Christmas cookies
• Decorate a ginger bread house
• Wrap gifts
• Pictures with Santa

Even though my kids are almost 10 and 13 they are pretty excited about the new calendar.  I think it’s going to be fun!

Wishing you a joy-filled day,

 

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