Advent calendar and printable activity list

Gone are the days where I will putting little pieces of candy in our advent calendar for the kids. They really don't make the boxes big enough for 3 Hershey kisses anyway!

Thanks to Pinterest I found a lot of awesome advent calendar inspiration.

I wanted something that I could use again, store easily but also create one using several craft items I had around the house! This one cost me less then $7 to make thanks to Michaels coupons and sales!

Here is how you can make your own:

Supplies needed:

cardstock

2" scallop paper punch

1" round paper punch

number stickers

burlap (other fabric or even wrapping paper would work)

16 in x 20 in foam board

hot glue gun

embelishments

ribbon or twine

flat thumbtacks

Using a piece of foam board leftover from a baby shower last year I covered it with burlap from another holiday project that I'll be posting about soon! I attached the burlap to the foam board with scotch tape and hot glue.

I added a bit of twine to the edges for some additional color.

I love the Martha Stewart cardstock that I found at Michaels! It's the perfect combination of colors to fit into our existing holiday color scheme. I purchased the 6.75 in x 4.75 in mat pad to minimize the amount of cutting I had to do.

Cut your paper 4 inches wide. Fold each side in about half an inch and the bottom about 1 inch to make a "pocket." Seal with tape or glue (I used tape).

Arrange your paper pockets. I made mine into a pattern. Symmetry is important to me!

Secure the pockets to the foam board with the thumb tacks.

Use your paper punches to punch out 24 round circles and 24 scalloped circles. Attach your number stickers to the circles.

Now it's time to decorate the pockets using the embelishments. The set I got at Michaels was from Recollections and it had a vintage-y feel to it.

I printed up a list of fun activities to do each day. Some of them are pretty simple (since I work during the week) and I planned out more elaborate ones to do on the weekends.

Some of the activities on our schedule include:

Having a North Pole Breakfast (arrival of our Elf on the Shelf)

Writing a letter to Santa Claus

Inviting neighbors over for a Christmas treat and hot cocoa

Taking cookies to our local fire department

Helping pick out toys for the children's hospital

Make a holiday card for a friend and mail it

If you want to print your own activity cards click HERE and HERE!

Some of the activities go together with my Elf on The Shelf Ideas as well!

If you try out some of the activities or make your own advent calendar post a comment and a link to your blog post! I'd love the check it out!

Happy Holidays!

Design, Dining and Diapers

The 36th Avenue

Elf on the Shelf Activities

In just a few weeks our Elf "Jack" will be making his annual trip down from the North Pole to keep an eye on my kids. Hopefully this little magical story will keep working on them!

Jack typically arrives on December 1st although he's been know to show up early!

Last year we started running out of places for Jack to hide and this year we want to have some fun with it.

There are so many great ideas out on the web I decided to put them all on a simple calendar to keep them in one spot!

 

To access the printable version just click on the calendar above and it will take you to the printable document! 

Due to the amount of requests I have received I am no longer able to email a copy.  If you have trouble downloading the pdf from Google docs please let me know! 

Table makeover and how to make your own chalk paint

Before I go on and on about how much I love my "new" table here is a photo!

I have been looking for what seems like forEVER for a bigger table to replace our round pedestal table. I liked our old table but our kitchen chairs are so gigantic and we only had 4 I didn't want to try and find additional chairs.

I love the french provincial tables and I got this one for a steal ($40 in fact) on Craigslist! It's huge, heavy and was perfect for my first stab at refinishing a piece of furniture.

I got a lot of advice online including from Miss Mustard Seed herself (yes I was totally excited when I emailed her and she replied haha). She's the QUEEN of this kind of stuff! And her table was my inspiration.

Back to the table. It sat in my closet under the stairs for a few weeks until I had time and the weather was cool enough to start. Fall break was the ideal time.

I love it's shape! The old finish wasn't too bad but not what I was looking for.

Refinishing the top was a pretty easy task (thanks to my awesome neighbor Chelsea and her palm sander!). The base and the legs-not so much. Call me lazy but I didn't want to put the effort into getting all the old finish off. Annie Sloans Chalk Paint is all the rage right now since you can apply it without priming the piece and I soooo wanted to try it but couldn't justify the cost for it!

Thanks to the blogging world someone recommended that I check out this website for how to make your own chalk paint!

No Minimialist suggests using powdered calcium carbonate, which I couldn't find anywhere! But plaster of paris was readily available (and cheap!) so I went with that. It gave it the perfect chalky finish that I was looking for and made it really easy to distress.

A little sanding to distress the table and then I covered it with the Rustoleum Satin Poly like I did on the top and it was all done!

After letting it cure for a couple of days I managed to manhandle it into the kitchen by myself!

I was too excited to wait for the hubby to get home from work :) I've turned the table every which way, kept the leaf in, taken it out, put all 4 chairs plus the bench, taken out of the chairs...you get the idea.

I'm still getting used to having such a big table in this space but we love it!

Having the bench (which I got months ago at Marshalls) is great since two kiddos can sit together and when we have more people over we can add the leaf and more chairs!

Now I'm just trying to decide if I should refinish that bench...

Who's ready to come over for dinner?!?!

How to make a cupcake liner wreath

  

I had the opportunity to create another tutorial for Jillian at Catch My Party with the cupcake liner wreath from Madison's Pinkalicious party!

This little wreath will be making a reappearance come Valentine's Day!

Supplies:

Styrofoam wreath

Ribbon or crepe pape

Dressmaker pins

Cupcake liners (I used about 100)

Step 1: Tightly wrap the wreath with either crepe paper or ribbon. (I used crepe paper since I had it on hand.)

 

 

 Step 2: Secure the crepe paper with two pins.

 Step 3: Insert a pin through the center of two cupcake liners and bunch the liners around the pin.

 

 Step 4: Insert the pin tightly into the wreath.

 

 

Step 5: Repeat until the front of the entire wreath is covered.

Step 6: Fluff the cupcake liners to add more fullness.

Optional Step 7: Using ribbon create a hanger and secure with pins.

 

How to make a ribbon topiary

Jillian over at Catch My Party asked me to make a tutorial on the ribbon topiary from Madison's party!

Of course I said yes and I'm posting it here as well!

Supplies:
•LOTS of ribbon!
•Terra cotta pot or any ceramic potspray paint (for the pot)
•Wooden dowel
•Large styrofoam ball
•Floral foam
•Scissors
•Dressmakers pins
•Hot glue gun or gorilla glue
•Rocks/candy/tissue paper etc for the base of the topiary

Step one: Spray paint the pot and allow it to dry

Step two: Add a dab of hot glue to one end of the wooden dowel and insert it into the styrofoam ball about 1 inch.

Step three: Add a dab of hot glue to the opposite end of the wooden dowel and insert it into the floral foam.

Step four: Once your pot is dried insert the floral foam into the pot. This will allow your topiary to stand on a flat surface making it a little easier to decorate.

Step five: Cut cut cut that ribbon! I cut all my ribbon in 3 inch strips and also cut multiple spools at once to save time.

Step six: Make a loop with the ribbon. Where the ends meet insert a pin then push the pin completely into the styrofoam ball.

Step seven: Repeat step six until the entire ball is covered.


Step eight: Once the ball is covered you can add gumballs, tissue paper, rocks etc. whatever coordinates with your theme and that will cover up the floral foam in the base!

Now you have a beautiful little tree that is very easy to swap out for any season!

For more great DIY party projects be sure and check out the DIY page on Catch My Party's blog!

How to make a balloon wreath

I made this sweet little balloon wreath for Landon's Dr. Seuss party using the same wreath and a lot of the same balloons from Susan's baby shower!

I love decorations that can be used over and over again!

Since they are very simple to make I thought I would share how to make one.

What you will need:

LOTS of balloons for this wreath I used about 130

but the more you use the fuller the wreath will be

18 inch straw wreath

2 packs of greening pins (may need more depending on the number of balloons you use)

Instructions:

Leave the plastic on the straw wreath to prevent shedding.

Take a balloon and slightly twist the neck, inserting it into the middle of the greening pin.

Push the greening pin into the wreath and press in tight. (otherwise you'll have floppy balloons)

Continue all the way around the wreath until the entire wreath is covered!

That's IT!

I wanted to add a little something extra to Landon's wreath so I used the "Welcome" sign and Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat symbol from the printable package I got on etsy from Dimple Prints!

A little bit of personalization can really make decorations a little more special.

I think this wreath may resurface around the 4th of July!

Army party

When you are 5 going on 6 it's all about Star Wars and soldiers! Since last year was centered around Star Wars this year the birthday boy chose a soldier theme for his party! I do my best work with girl parties it seems but I gave this one a shot!

Amy from A Boy's Life made these awesome printables for me! I love using printables since you can get really creative with them!

We had fun thinking up names for the mini candy buffet!

The birthday boy wanted to have some fun outside so we created a basic training camp across the street in the greenbelt.

Photos? There aren't any haha. It was a mad dash to get the camp set up once the guests arrived so no photos were taken!

We had a few activities like an army tunnel crawl, box hurdle, rope balance and it ended with a water balloon battle!

The birthday boy was thrilled with how his party turned out and said it was the BEST day ever!

Pinkeriffic 4th birthday!

Like most 4 year olds, Pinkalicious and the series of books are a staple in our household. The fun and silly stories are great to turn into a birthday theme!

My daughter wanted a pink birthday so pink is just what she got!

Kori from Paper and Pigtails had created these fabulous invitations for a previous customer and I knew they would be perfect! I was lucky enough to have Kori feature Madison's party on her blog too! Such a huge compliment to have one of my party gal idols do that!

Since Pinkalicious turns pink from too many pink cupcakes I used the cupcake theme throughout the party. Making this cupcake liner garland was a lot of fun and it was so pretty!

What's a party at our home without a wreath? Not a party that's what! Again I took the cupcake liners and pinned them onto a styrofoam wreath form.

To find out how to make one of your own click here.

A mini treats table was set up for the girls. One side housed all the baked sweets and the other a mini candy buffet.

The cake bunting was a fabulous freebie from the oh-so-fabulous Kim at The TomKat Studio. It was the perfect addition to my grocery store bought cake! I was blown away that my local grocery store could make something so perfect and so inexpensive!

These fun ribbon topiaries graced the arts and crafts table where the girls made candy necklaces. The were also repurposed from a previous party! I love decorations that you can use over and over again! These I'll be saving to use for Valentine's day!

Notice the cupcake and unicorn ribbons? The subtle little detail from the books really can help tie in your theme!

The cake pops were made by yours truly and like always were a huge hit! The cupcake shape is by far my favorite. And the edible glitter was really "icing on the cake!"

We thanked our wonderful friends for joining us with none other then pink cupcakes in mason jars with adorable little cupcake hair clips from Butternut Boutique!

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This was one of my favorite parties to put together. The fun DIY elements really made it a lot of fun!

Hope you enjoyed it!