Tag Archives: upcycled decor

Burlap Advent Calendar {Shutter Door Upcycle}

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Julie

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: