advent calendar & christmas banner

I'm going homemade this Christmas, from decor to gifts. I'll probably change my mind on Christmas Eve when I'm still up finishing up last minute touches but for now, I'm so excited to see the finished products.

I have a few friends that have been making Advent calendars so I decided to try my hand at it. One thing I knew for sure was I didn't want to spend a fortune on this. I used a scrap piece of lattice my father-in-law gave me for the base of my calendar. Now, this is not how I want it. I envision it framed out, painted antique white, and then roughed up to all it's glory. Getting that done around here before December 1st just wasn't going to happen so, here it is.

I purchased these little white boxes/bags from the Dollar Tree. To string the boxes on I used ribbon and tied them on each side.

Thanks to my new birthday present, a Cricut!!!!!!!, I cut my numbers, the circles, and squares out. Add some little stickers and other embellishments and viola! This whole project cost me under $10 to make....gotta love that.

Remember that Halloween banner I made? Reverse it, add new ribbon, and now it's a Christmas banner for the amoire.

Don't you just love when your ink pad decides to come lose and smear dark, dark ink on your lovely creations? I guess it's time to rough it up some. At first I didn't think I wanted to but now seeing in pictures I think an antiquing will do it good.