Wooden Tree Advent Calendar Tutorial

The girls and I thought it would be fun to make an advent calendar this year. We were looking through a Pottery Barn Kid's catalog and saw this wooden tree one that we all loved but it was a little pricey and also already sold out. Because the wood looked like it had pretty basic cuts I figured we could make our own relatively easily and I have to say it really did end up being a surprisingly easy project and really didn't take all that long.

 Here's what you'll need

*** 6 pieces of wood. I used 1 by 4's. You will cut them in length in a range from 6.5" to 25.25" for the horizontal pieces of the tree to 38" for the vertical piece of wood.

*** 6 screws

*** 25 mini clothespins (I got mine from Michael's)

*** 25 little bags and tags (I got mine from Michael's)

*** glue gun

*** some kind of star or tree topper (I found a star that was close enough in size at Michael's)

*** stain or paint (I used Rustoleum's weathered gray and then topped that with Minwax's provincial)

The first thing I did was line up my five pieces of wood to make the horizontal pieces and marked off where I needed to cut each one. (you can fine the measurements in one of the photos below).

Then I cut each the end of those pieces at a 22.5 degree angle and laid them out on a vertical 38" tall board. I put them approximately 1.5" apart and then just added in one screw on the center of each board. I didn't worry about the fact that it would be visible because once the little bags go up they will hide the screws. 

We also played around with adding a base. Although we didn't end up using it we did go ahead and paint the boards a weathered white (this picture was from before we painted them) so we can add the base at any point if we change our mind.

 Then we stained it with one coat of weathered gray and one coat of provincial.

 So once it is screwed together and stained here is what it will look like. (You can also see the measurements. The measurements for the horizontal boards are for the longest part of the board. Obviously the measurements for the top part of each board will be a little bit less).

After that we just used our glue gun to glue on each clothespin and then added the bags and little tags. We wrote the numbers 1 -25 on the little tags with a white paint pen.

 Then we just added a picture hanging hook to the back of it and hung it up. We hung it in the dining room so we could get a few photos of it with some decent lighting and then we moved it up to the hallway where it will stay throughout the rest of the Christmas season. These pictures are super grainy because I had to crank my ISO way up but at least you can see the spot we made it for. I also hung the bags to the side a bit once we put some things in them because I thought it looked a little bit better that way. Also our star was supposed to go a little higher but I'll just blame the weird low placement of it on my little helpers. =)

 

We've been asking quite a bit about what we were putting in the little bags. The main purpose of this for us was to bring focus on the reason we celebrate Christmas and the story of Jesus's birth and include one verse in each bag. We've found several options for this by just googling it and so today's project is to actually print them out and add them to each bag. I am probably going to go either with this option or this one. We also included two little candies into each bag. One for each of the girls. Mostly chocolate kisses but a couple of bags have bite sized Reese's and then one bag each week has a little "prize". I actually didn't want to include any little "prizes" in the bags and wanted to just focus on the verses and have a little kiss in there for each of them but we have a few days this month that will be a little bit challenging so we decided on those days to have a little prize to make getting up those mornings a little more enjoyable.


Okay, that's it! I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday! We'll be back tomorrow morning with our Christmas house tour!

Happy Saturday

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a Happy Saturday!

I had hoped to have the tutorial for this advent calendar up this morning but I didn't get it finished. Hopefully I will be able to finish it up tonight so I can post it tomorrow morning. And then Monday we have our Holiday Housewalk Tour! Here's a little look at the advent calendar.

I put it here just to take some pictures. It's actually upstairs in the hallway which I will show you tomorrow. We don't get practically any natural light up there though so those photos are quite grainy. Once I took these photos though I put our "And His Name..." sign back up in this spot.

I hope you all have a fabulous rest of the weekend!

Jason's Christmas Living Room

As I mentioned in Saturday's post when we went up to NH earlier this fall we had a little fun adding some of our Christmas decor to Jason's house (you can see a before and after tour of his house here). We kept it very simple and thought it would be fun to show how just a few little touches can help make a space feel more festive.

 

Wall Color - Galveston Gray by BM in a matte finish
Trim - Simply White by BM in a semi-gloss finish
Doors - Wrought Iron by BM in semi-gloss
Bricks - Revere Pewter by BM in matte finish
Sofa - IKEA Ektorp
Pillow with Text - Twin Elm Farm Peterborough, NH
Striped Pillow and Black Pillow - White Home Market Wilton, NH
Antler Pillow - Birch Lane
White Pillows - HomeGoods
Notre Dame Sign - Dear Lillie
Chair in Front of Sign - HomeGoods
Throw on Chair - Ikea
Little Side Table - Target
Vase - HomeGoods
Chairs - Joss and Main
Rug - Pottery Barn
Coffee Table - Joss and Main
Vase on Coffee Table - HomeGoods
Books on Coffee Table - One was our grandfather's and the other ones from thrift shops
Lamps - Target
Drapery Panels - IKEA
Curtain Rods - Target
Industrial Looking Bookshelf - Dear Lillie
Tennis Racquet - Was our Grandfather's
Truck - Was our Grandfather's
Rest of Items on Shelf - HomeGoods
Mirror above Fireplace - Was Left in Garage by Previous Owner of Home
Both Wreaths, Paperwhites and Amaryllis - Savvy Home and Garden
Star Pillow - Gift years ago from my mother-in-law
Sled - Antique shop in NH
Stockings - Pottery Barn - eight or nine years ago
Little vases on mantel - IKEA

And you can see more photos of this room at Jason's decorated for Christmas here in this post:

 I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday! And have a lovely Thanksgiving tomorrow!

A Few Photos of Our Master Bedroom and New Gold Silent Night Sign

This morning we are excited to introduce our newest hand-painted framed wood sign, "Silent Night" (it will be available at 10am). This one has a lightly handpainted gold frame and lightly handpainted gold lettering on a soft white background. We added this one to our bedroom because we thought it would look nice above our dresser. and go well with the other gold touches we have in our room.

We just added a few other simple Christmas touches in here. The gold angel wing and gold ornaments are from Hobby Lobby about nine or ten years ago and the sparkly tree was from HomeGoods.

And over on this nightstand we added some bottle brush trees from Target.

I'll have more picture of the rest of the room soon. 

Source List: 

Wallcolor - Moonshine by Benjamin Moore in Matte
Trim - Simply White by Benjamin Moore in Semi-gloss
Nightstand - Made over from a Tarva dresser from IKEA (you can read all of the details here)
Lamps - HomeGoods
Bed - Ballard Designs - fabric 10 oz linen natural
Euro Shams and Duvet - Ballard Designs
Pom Pom Shams - Ballard Designs
Quilt and little pillow in front - IKEA
Rug - Pottery Barn (about 7 years ago)
Three Ring Chest - Soft Surroundings
Drapery Panels - IKEA Ritva Panels
Drapery Rods - Lowe's

Roman Shades - Lowe's (they are now discontinued which is disappointing because I had hoped to gradually add them to all of our window)
Lamp - the base was from Hobby Lobby I think about 7 years ago and the shade is from Target
Silent Night Sign - Dear Lillie

Tray - HomeGoods

Candle - Target 

Tall Sparkly Tree on Dresser - HomeGoods 

Picture Frame - a gift about 6 or 7 years ago

Framed Antique Sheet Music - gift from my mother-in-law
Chair - was my great uncles and got passed down to my parents and then down to us about six or seven years ago

Ottoman - Target (about 4 or 5 years ago)
Gold Oval Frame - have had for years
Little Gold Vase - was originally a candle from Target, once it finished we now use it as a vase
Bottle Brush Trees - Target
H - gift
Knit Pillow - Soft Surroundings
Blanket - made by my grandmother
Little Table Next to Chair - Target 7 or 8 years ago, painted Ballet White
Gift Wrap - HomeGoods (maybe? can't remember for sure)
Chevron Ribbon - Michael's
Gold Scissors - Target

I hope you all have a fabulous Monday!

New England Christmas Bedroom

Now that we have made some progress at Jason's house we thought it would be fun to add a few Christmas touches (or I should probably say I thought it would be fun, haha!) We kept it really simple and just added some greenery and paperwhites throughout the house and a few other small touches. Today I thought I would share with you the girl's bedroom with the added Christmas pieces.

Source List:

Paint Color - Soft Chamois by Benjamin Moore
Trim Color - Simply White by Benjamin Moore
Door Color - Wrought Iron by Benjamin Moore
Wallpaper - Wallpaper Direct, Delphine in Charcoal
Curtain Rods - Target
Drapery Panels - Ritva from IKEA
Beds - Passed down from my grandfather's house and painted in Annie Sloan's Graphite from Lady Butterbug
Coverlet and far back pillow - Joss and Main
Gray Pillow with the Pom Poms - Ballard Design
Front Pillow - IKEA
Star Pillow - gift from my mother-in-law many years ago
Little piece with the baskets between the beds - Joss and Main
Miniature Pram - Antique shop many years ago
Paperwhites - Savvy Home and Garden
Striped Blanket at the End of One Bed - IKEA
Rug - Target
Trunks at End of Bed - IKEA
Frames with Silhouettes - From Hobby Lobby about 7 or 8 years ago
Dresser - Passed down from my grandfather's house and painted in Annie Sloan's Graphite from Lady Butterbug
Canvas - Dear Lillie
Wire Basket - Little antique shop in Vermont
Boxwood Wreath - Savvy Home and Garden
Wrapped Presents - wrapping paper and ribbon from Ballard Designs, purchased a few years ago
Metal Pitcher - Joss and Main
White Shelf - Target (six years ago)
Horseshoes - Little antique shop in Vermont
Stocking - Pottery Barn 8-9 years ago
Little Bottles - White Home Collection; Wilton, NH
Cedar Wreath and Plaid Ribbon - Savvy Home and Garden

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!