Editor’s Note: Usually the last Friday of the month is reserved for Bevin Clempson’s witty Green-e-ology column. Not to worry, she’ll be here on Sunday talking about her conversion to reusable water bottles and coffee mugs. But, today we have a bit of a special feature that couldn’t wait.

Vanessa Falle of Lotus Paperie – a wonderfully creative scrapbooking and paper art blog – is here all the way from Whitehorse to bring us a great tutorial on making your own Advent calendar.

The key to Vanessa’s gorgeous, reusable holiday calendar project is the Karen Foster Countdown Calendar – which I am told is sold out for the season (they have flown off the shelves due to their obvious awesomeness).

But, I have a secret source. It ends up that, if you head on over to Scrapbook Central at 14th and Cliffe, Diane has a secret stash of them available for purchase. She also has a good selection of lovely holiday papers (make sure to ask about her stash in the back). So, you can pick up everything you need in one place.

Wohoooo! It’s not what you know, it’s who you know (hehe). All silliness aside, I am off to make and stock this gem of a calendar today with notes, treasures and all things purple (I’ve been given the “only purple” edict from the preschooler).

Vanessa is giving away the calendar she made for this tutorial to one random commenter today. It won’t ship for the holidays. But, you could have a gorgeous gift for someone else, or something special to stash for next year. So, please jump in and talk calendars today.

Enjoy. Here’s Vanessa:

So here it is, the holidays, and you’re wondering how you can savor the countdown till the big day without getting your kids all jacked up on sugar and caffeine from the chocolates found in store-bought calendars.

This 3-D calendar is a fabulous solution while still maintaining the excitement of opening each drawer to reveal a little treasure each day before the 25th.

Not to mention it’s totally reusable and can be easily customized to suit your style. Each drawer is 1 1/2 x 1 1/2” so the only really tricky part is finding the goodies that go inside (actually, I really enjoyed hunting for those treasures).

Here’s what you need:

• Adhesive runner (glue gun) and glue pen (no glue sticks, they don’t offer a reliable bond)
• 3 sheets double sided 12×12” scrapbooking paper
• 3/8” circle punch or scissors
• Pencil & ruler
• Karen Foster Countdown Calendar

Directions:

1. Begin with your papers. Cut one strip from each sheet of double sided paper measuring 1 1/2 x 12. Cut each strip in half so that you have six strips that are 6” long.

2. Next, cut each 6” strip into 4 1 1/2 x 1 1/2” squares. Mark the center of each square and using the circle punch, cut a semi circle for the finger hole on each drawer. If you don’t have a circle punch this size, there’s a template on the back of the package that you can trace onto your paper and cut out with craft scissors.

3. Once you’ve got all your paper squares ready, you can go ahead and adhere each square to a drawer using your glue pen. Not all the finger holes will align perfectly. That’s okay. Perfect is overrated anyway! Line up each square with the top edge at the finger hole and most squares will require a teeny strip to be trimmed away at the bottom edge.

4. Once you’ve adhered all your squares, you can randomly stick all the number stickers to the boxes. The calendar is more fun when the numbers are all jumbled up. These stickers come in the package with the calendar. You will have one box without paper. Don’t panic!

5. To finish the sides of your calendar, using the leftover papers that were used to cover the fronts of the boxes, you’ll cut 3 strips from one sheet measuring 1 1/2 x 12”. Snip off one square (1 1/2 x 1 1/2” for that last remaining square. Follow the above steps to make it fit that last box. Stick on the last number sticker. Adhere each of the remaining strips along the outside edge of the calendar using your adhesive runner, slightly overlapping the ends of the strips. You can add the child’s name on the top edge using letter stickers.

Some alternative ideas for advent calendars include the cookie sheet design which features a grid in the center (five rows of five squares) and numbers 1-25 on magnets or a large canvas (18×24ish) with small jewelry boxes for each of the twenty-five days. Here are links to a few examples:

- Ali Edwards Advent calendar boxes

- Cookie Sheet Advent Calendars (the Google image search will blow you away)

- The Jenny Chesnick Advent canvas

Really, all you have to do is a Google image search for advent calendars and the options are just crazy!
Go on, have fun….make something!