A Christmas You'll Never Forget

Happy first day of December - the holiday season is officially upon us!  I'm sharing a DIY advent calendar which I'll be incorporating into my annual Christmas tradition.  This calendar is a great activity to do with your S.O. in place of a gift.  If your love language is words of affirmation, then this will be right up your alley!  Unlike traditional advent calendars (where you receive one tangible item each day leading up to Christmas) you'll be writing a message to whoever is participating in the activity with you.  Each day you'll take down the corresponding day's number off of the garland.  There will be mini cards & envelopes for you to write a message and drop it in someone's stocking every day leading up to the 25th.  On Christmas morning you'll have a stocking full of 25 notes of compliments, encouragement, and motivation from someone you love.  I hope you find this tutorial helpful and it inspires you to try it out!

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Things you'll need

scrapbook paper
mini cards & envelopes
ribbon or jute yarn
washi tape
a sharpie marker
alphabet/number stickers
SCISSORS
command decorating clips

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I shopped around at Joann Fabrics looking for the most suitable way to go about this project.  When I came across these mini cards & envelopes I knew they would work perfectly.  The packs I purchased each had 12 sets of cards and envelopes.  Be sure to check how many cards are in each pack, because you'll need 1 set of 25 for each person who will be participating.  In my case, I doubled the batch because Evan and I will be filling out cards for one another.  

step 1

Number each card and its corresponding envelope 1 through 25.

step 2

pick who you are writing to.  write the first day's note.  ​Seal the envelope with washi tape.
*Only the first envelope should be sealed, you'll write the other 24 messages each day leading up to christmas*

step 3

Insert each card into its respective envelope.
Use an envelope to measure how wide to cut each piece of garland casing.

step 4

pick a pattern/ARRANGEMENT for the garland.
I chose the pattern of red, white, green, white, red with 5 cards of each color.
fold each paper in half along the short edge.
you should have a total of 25 pieces to form the garland.

step 5

gather your ribbon.
(THE GOLD FRINGE IS MY FAVORITE!)
You'll use this to string each piece of garland together.

step 6

put sticker numbers 1 through 25 on each folded piece of garland.

step 7

open the folded scrapbook paper and lay the ribbon in the crease.
bundle up each set of cards/envelopes with their matching garland piece.
use washi tape to seal the package together.

step 8​

continue this process with each card through number 25.
​*Since I had a double batch, I put two sets of cards & envelopes in each garland casing.*

step 9

I chose to do mini garlands in increments of 5 while mixing ribbon types.
use command decorating clips to hang on a mantle or wall.  Tie & secure accordingly.

I'd love to hear from you if you have any questions or if you ended up trying this out!