DIY Advent Calendar!

So now that Thanksgiving is over, I've got Christmas on my mind!

This is the first year that my four year old will *really* understand what Christmas is about. We've been talking about how it is Jesus' birthday and I really want her to understand that Christmas isn't just all about gifts and Santa and elves (although we'll do all that fun stuff, too!) but that it is a season of giving.

My first two years of teaching I worked in a private Christian school. I would always go to the mall and pick a boy and girl angel from the Salvation Army's Angel Tree. My class would donate money or gifts toward the child's wishes. We bought bicycles, games, clothes and a lot more! I loved teaching my students about giving of themselves and compassion for others. They were only 4 and they really seemed to get it.

So now that my little girl is 4, I want to reinforce the same in her! We were in the car the other day and she said "The peace that passes understanding is in your heart with Jesus" made this momma proud! So, this year for our advent calendar we are doing "Random Acts of Christmas Kindness" or "RACK"-ing. I'm so excited to bless others and my child with the gift of giving! I read a lot of blog posts about it last year, and I'm so excited to incorporate it into our Christmas traditions for years to come!

First things first, we needed an Advent calendar. I had an old picture frame sitting in the garage, so I spray painted it.

The inset piece of it was ugly, so I covered it with some chevron fabric (from Hobby Lobby)

I found some *awesome* little mini- rick rack in the ribbon section at Hobby Lobby and hot glued 4 strips to either side of the frame so that I could hang the envelopes on them.

I slid the chevron-covered back piece on and the clipped on the envelopes. (Mini clothespins and little paper sack both from Hobby Lobby)

I had some green and red sparkly scrapbook paper (also from Hobby Lobby) that I cut into circles with my Cricut. A circle cutter would do the job, too! I made some labels for the Avery 2" circle labels and printed them out. I love how it turned out!

{here's a little close up of the labels}

If you want to snag the labels to make your own Advent calendar, here they are!

 {be sure to click on both pictures to get all the numbers}

graphics from Ashley Hughes, DJ Inkers, and KPM doodles.

I will post more about our RACK-ing journey as December goes on and what is actually IN each bag of the Advent calendar!