Brown Bag Advent Calendar
Growing up, I loved when my mom would buy us an advent calendar. We loved flipping up the little flaps with pictures hidden behind them or sometimes, chocolate. Now that I have my own home and have started my own traditions, I wanted to make an advent calendar for our home that everyone could use and see as we count down the days to Christmas this year.
Finding. Tracing. Cutting. Re-cutting. Trimming.
Not this year. This year I had a little help from the Silhouette Cameo. What is it? A machine that can cut out just about any design! It cuts paper, card stock, vinyl, and fabric just to name a few. All you do is open the program, design what you want to cut using their easy-to-use studio, then let the machine go to work. It does all of the cutting for you!
**Here’s the good news**
Silhouette is having a holiday sale Thursday, November 28 through Sunday, December 8! Click on the button below to go to their page and check out the deals! To make it even sweeter, they have given our readers a promo code to get even MORE discounts. Just enter the promo code: BONBON to enjoy more savings! Our readers will be able to purchase the following promotional bundles using the promo code:
*A Silhouette CAMEO®, Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition Software, a dust cover (the color is decided by Silhouette), a $25 download card, a hook, a scraper, a spatula, and a pick-me-up® tool for $229.99. Retail price for all of this would total $406.93 (over 40% savings!)
*A Silhouette Portrait®, Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition Software, a dust cover (the color is decided by Silhouette), a $25 download card, a hook, a scraper, a spatula, and a pick-me-up® tool for $129.99. Retail price for all of this would total $286.93 (over 40% savings!)
*A Silhouette CAMEO®, a Silhouette Portrait®, and two $25 download cards for $299.99. That’s right: If you buy a Silhouette CAMEO® at full price, you get two $25 download cards and a Silhouette Portrait® ABSOLUTELY FREE! Retail price for all of this would be $406.93 (over 40% savings!)
*40% off consumable products at silhouetteamerica.com. This excludes machines, subscriptions, download and gift cards. Cannot be combined with any other offers. Rain checks not available.
FREE SHIPPING on orders over $25
Click below to go to their store and get some great deals!
I feel like I am always cutting things out, whether its for my classroom, projects, gifts, or decorating. When you have a stack of the same thing to do cut over and over it can come a bit tedious.
Plus, I always want to cut out fancy looking things and always mess them up because, well you just can’t cut things that straight, or that perfectly round. With this machine, you endless copies of an intricate design!
I can’t believe the amount of detail you can get with this machine.
I will admit that, at first, I was a bit intimidated. You hook the Silhouette up to your computer and use a program to cut out what you want. After a minute on their program and after viewing their easy-to-use start up guide, I was quickly designing images and cutting away!
Your Silhouette already comes equipped with 50 free designs to start cutting. They also have a huge online store where you can find just about anything you can imagine to cut out.
*Swoon* I have fallen in love this machine.
I love that it is so user-friendly and can cut out so many designs on all different kinds of materials. If you haven’t looked into the Silhouette and are wanting something fun and easy to use for all your project need, then I highly suggest you look into this machine.
Here is my fun and easy Advent Calendar that I created with the help of the Silhouette Cameo. I also made this cute Countdown to Christmas sign on the Silhouette using an old picture frame with black paper in it and gold vinyl to make the Countdown decal.
For those of you who don’t have a Silhouette, read on because there are tips on different ways you can make the numbers for your Advent Calendar.
Brown Bag Advent Calendar
Quick and easy to make, you can design a creative Advent Calendar with items you already have around your house.
What you will need:
* 25 Brown paper bags 25 Christmas ornaments
* Numbers 1-25 ( you can cut them out using a Silhouette Cameo, buy number stickers, stencil them, or write your own.)
* Glue Clothes Pins Twine (you can use twine, yarn, ribbon, etc.)
Directions:
1) Get your numbers 1-25 ready. I cut mine out on the Silhouette using the scallop border and then adding numbers to the middle of each one using the font Stencil. I simply used white paper that I had laying around and cut away.
Tip: If you don’t have a Silhouette, no worries. You can cut out your own, print numbers, draw then on, stencil them on, or buy number stickers.
2) I decided that I wanted my bags to be a little bit smaller so they wouldn’t take up so much space on the wall. A fold at the top of the bag was all it took. Fold about 1/3 the way down, so that the top of the bag just about touches the bottom fold. (see picture above) Now that your bags and your numbers are all ready, it’s time to glue!
3) Add a little glue to the back of each number and press them into the center of each folded bag until all 1 though 24 were done.
For 25, I wanted to add a little extra to make it stand out. The perfect accent was a little tree I made using the Silhouette. (You could use stickers, glitter, stencil, print out, etc.)
Now it’s time to fill your bags.
4) I filled my bags with ornaments so we can open a bag and add an ornament to our Christmas tree every single day. You can fill them with anything you like: treats, little toys, messages. The ideas are infinite. Collect 25 items and put one into each bag. Once the bag has an ornament in it, use the clothes pin to clip it shut.
Now is the fun part, time to hang them on your wall and enjoy.
5) Hang the first line where you want your calendar to start. I hung 5 bags on each line, so I was going to need five lines total. Place a tack on each side of the wall and tie the line to each tack. Make sure your line is tight because the weight of the bags will make it sag. Place all of your bags, 5 per row, along the lines.
There you have it! Your very own DIY Advent Calendar for you and your family.
Beginning on December 1, have fun opening a bag each day! Enjoy your calendar and the joy that it will bring to your family and add to your children’s Christmas memories.
Share the advent calendars you make with us! Post a picture to Instagram using #BBAdvent.
We can’t wait to see what you and your family create!
ABOUT KATIE: Katie spends her days with toddlers, as their preschool teacher. She loves to bake, cook, camp, and read, but she her greatest love is creating crafts and sharing them with kids. Katie and her newlywed husband are living happily ever after on a little island in the Pacific Northwest where she was born and raised. Keep your eyes open for her posts on Bonbon Break, where she will be a regular contributor.
This post was written by Katie Myers exclusively for Bonbon Break Media, LLC
