Christmas Gifts

I was quite lofty this year when it came to my homemade Christmas gifts for my siblings. Typically, when I consider a homemade gift, I think it will be quick, easy, and inexpensive. For some reason, I thought making 5 Halloween advent calendars would fit into these expectations. I must have been totally crazy...or more likely, totally naive. I saw said Halloween advent calendar at a gal's (whom I go to church with, and also lives down the street) home at the beginning of October. I thought, "What a lovely idea for Christmas gifts for my siblings!" My friend was very encouraging, so I thought, "This will be no problem!"

The first step was finding all the little decoupage boxes. I wanted 6 different shapes: square, circle, star, hexagon, oval, and rectangle. No problem...I only had to order them from 3 different websites because there wasn't 1 website that carried all 6 shapes. That should have been my first red flag...but I pressed on! "This will be SO fabulous!" 

It took me until AFTER Thanksgiving to get around to spray painting said boxes with black spray paint. Holy COW!! What a chore. I ended up with 217 boxes to paint (a few friends found out about my adventure and asked me to order them boxes as well...no problem!! I figured I'd might as well paint them for them while I was at it!!). Had I only known.... I started out with spray paint from Wal-Mart. Don't do it. Spend the extra $.02 a can and get it from Home Depot. The Wal-Mart paint was horrible. It took 3 (sometimes 4) coats to get full coverage, and the trigger was really, really tough. As opposed to the Home Depot paint with an easy trigger, and took 1 good coat with a real quick 2nd coat to get any missed spots. I had a blister on my pointer finger when all was said and done and I think I went thru almost 25 cans of paint. It took me a about a week to get them all painted (a huge thanks to another friend, Lana, who painted the ovals for me).

Here are the hexagon boxes.... Imagine me, black gloves, spray paint...in the yard with my trusty broken down box as my table. Somehow Harlee knew to stay far away from me and my boxes...good thing...for her sake.

So I was kind of mad at the boxes after that. I ordered Halloween paper and embelishments off of OrientalTrading (lovely website...and pretty affordable..except when you buy WAY more than you need...which is exactly what I did), then I ordered 500 magnets off of another website (cheaper to buy in bulk), then I went to Hobby Lobby to buy the frames at 50% off, then I went to Home Depot to buy the metal to put IN the frame, and then I called up my friend Shannon, to ask her to cut me some vinyl numbers with her Cricket. By the time I finished with all of THAT, my supplies had come in the mail, and I had no choice but to start decorating boxes. (Thank Heavens for Lana...again...who came over and helped me get started) I kept it simple for myself...I made 5 of each box, so that everyone would have the same decorated boxes...except #31. Everyone got a different #31...different shape, and uniquely decorated. Other than that...it was very much like an assembly line. Modge Podge and I became BFF's. I stayed up WAY too late WAY too many nights...but I was determined to see this project thru. 

And so here you go. These are the finished products. It was NOT quick, easy, and inexpensive, but hopefully it will last for YEARS and my little nieces and nephews, as well as my own children, will find great joy every October getting to open a box per day to find a little trinket or treat inside. As much work as it was...I really did enjoy creating them...it was quite liberating giving my creative mind something to do...it had been too long!

L-R: Cari's, Martin's, mine, Mitchell's and Wesley's

My Advent

So you can put the boxes in numerical order, or you can just have them up there randomly. The idea is to put a little candy or trinket inside each box. For each day in October, there is a box. So everyday you match the number on the box to whatever day it is, and you open it to get your treasure for the day. Apparently my friend's kids LOVE it, so I figured it would be a perfect gift...and it was. The other lovely thing, is that you can take the boxes off and just use it as a magnet board in your home the other 11 months of the year.