Handmade Advent Calendar

 

Watch how to make this advent calendar out of crafting tubes and Christmas paper.
Buy candy in bulk and add slips of paper with silly little prompts on them—customize them for age. (For example: For a three year old...What do you think Santa eats for breakfast when he gets back from delivering all the presents?)

An example of another color scheme.

How to Age Paper with Coffee and Salt

Below is a video on how to age paper using instant coffee and salt. This is the technique I used for the EPIC pirate party we threw last year. The paper shown in this video was used to make the book pictured.

 

Materials:

• Instant coffee.
• Baking tray or dish large enough to hold paper.
• Cardstock (preferable) cream color. (recommended)
• Table salt.
• Paper towels and old dish towels (they'll get stained.)
  

Tips:

1. The pages don't need much soaking time. If the water is on the hot side—the paper accepts the coffee very quickly. If the water is very hot you will see splotching that you may not like...this normally goes away after the paper dries.
   
2. For deckled edges: create the edges before dyeing, not after.
3. Give yourself room to experiment. No two papers will be exactly alike!

Dowel Tree Advent Calendar

 

Here's a fun idea to help with the countdown to Christmas day. Try making a simple tree using just a few dowels and hang packets of candy from it. A bonus is that the tree can be disassembled for shipping.

Also included in each packet is a slip of paper with instructions for a very short activity for the family to do. For example: "Family Hug! Wish each other a happy holiday. Now eat your candy!"

These packets each hold a different candy from the other—one for each person—and the kids can easily rip into them since they're made with napkins! 

WHY NAPKINS you ask? First, napkins can be sewn up using a sewing machine, and it's easy to find holiday patters which often include fancy foiling, so why not? Unless you want your advent calendar to last from year to year—which I don't—consider using napkins.

Here's another an alternate example of what the advent tree calendar could look like.

 

Below is a link to a FREE printable PDF with illustrated instructions and a supply list so you can make your own advent tree calendar. I've also included some activity ideas—you can cull from those whichever ones will fit the family you are crafting this advent calendar tree for. I hope you enjoy your crafting time!

Download and print FREE instructions here.

Alpine Advent Christmas Calendar

Looking for a simple, modern Christmas craft? Here’s a tutorial on how you can make this Alpine Advent Christmas calendar—plus, it comes with free templates for the trees.

The calendar is made up of three sizes of trees. I also recommend using at least three different colors of paper. They could be different greens, as I have used, but they don’t have to be. You could use red, black or even a patterned paper if you wish. 

Supply List:

• Number stamps (or you could use number stickers or paint them by hand.)

• Elmers rubber cement (I prefer this glue because it dries without wrinkling and you can rub off any excess.)

• Colored or patterned paper

• Gold craft paint

• ruler

• Optional: 1 package of .75 inch wooden blocks (to be used on the small trees)

• Optional: 1 package of 1 inch wooden blocks (to be used on the big trees)

• Hot glue gun and sticks

• Scissors or Exacto knife

• Bone folder or other scoring tool

First, print the templates onto your paper. How many trees you print on which color is totally up to you. CLICK OR TAP HERE FOR TREE TEMPLATES.

Next, cut out your trees along the SOLID lines. The dashed lines are for folding.

Then, using your ruler and scoring tool, score along all the dashed lines. (You can, but don’t have to score the tabs)

Now you can fold along all the dashed lines. Fold the paper IN so the dashed lines will be on the inside of the tree. Then you can stamp, paint or stick your number on the middle triangle as seen in the example above. Here, I’ve painted gold paint onto my number stamp and stamped it onto the paper.

Spread rubber cement on the two areas shown in the image. Then stick those two edges together—glue facing glue—to make a triangle shaped cone. Rub any excess glue until it comes off.

You can now fill your trees with candy! I made these to send to a family of four. I wasn’t sure how much candy would fit inside the trees so I took one of the smallest and one of the largest trees to a store with candy bins (this is by FAR the cheapest way to get a variety of candy.) This allowed me to see about how many treats I could fit into one tree and buy accordingly.

Once full, close up your trees by inserting the tabs into the slots.

Using a paint brush—I used a fan brush—swipe some gold paint on all three sides of the top tip of each tree. Now, you could stop here and call it done! But...

If you decided to buy “trunks” you’ll use hot glue to attach a wooden block to the base of each tree. Use the large blocks for the large trees and so forth.

And now you’re done! Your Christmas Tree / Alpine Advent calendar is ready to give away or use yourself! If you missed the link to download the tree templates, click or tap here.

Painted Acorns for Autumn Decorations

Do you have hundreds of acorns falling out of your tree every autumn? Do you wonder what you could do with all of that free crafting supply?! I’ve got a couple of natural autumn decoration ideas to help you use up your acorns. A full list of supplies you’ll need can be found at the end of this post.

Yes, this photo was taken on our driveway after we swept up all the nuts that had fallen. There were so many I decided I needed a project to use them. It’s a free and lovely resource!

Rinse the nuts, dry them and then bake. Spread the nuts in a tray lined with foil. Bake at 200°F for two hours. Turn them every 30 minutes.

It’s likely you’ll have to clean each nut by hand. Throw out any that are broken or have holes in them.

Maybe sanding is all you’ll need to do to get a natural color you like from your bowl. Maybe you found a new bowl at the store that needs no alteration. But the wood on my vintage nutcracker bowl was too dark for me, and still dark after sanding. So I bleached it, by applying it with a sponge. It took bleaching three times to get it as light as I wanted. And the natural looking result was pleasing!

This brand does not list color on the can! The copper looking one was the color I ended up liking most and using in my projects. (The sticker price with the barcode on the shelf should list the color.)

Primer: This is optional. I did not use primer on my acorns but will do so in the future. The spray paint surprisingly scrapes off very easily. So if you want to skip primer, handle the nuts with care after they’ve been painted.

Spray the nuts in rows starting with the row closest to you. Then turn the whole thing and start again—keep going until you’ve rotated to and sprayed all four sides.

(Those orange seeds pods are called Putka Pods. Super cute and PERFECT for fall right?)

BONUS PROJECT:

This autumn wreath was made using a wreath form found at the dollar store. Cut it in half like a bagel, then wrap one half with either a dark cloth or ribbon (I recommend black or dark brown) so the green styrofoam doesn’t show. Use hot glue to attach all your ingredients. It’s quite easy, just take your time!

I hope this helped you think of some autumn projects to spice up your home this fall season.

SUPPLIES FOR BOWL CANDLE HOLDER:

Pillar candle

Wooden Bowl

Acorns

Putka pods (about 1-2 oz)

Small pinecones (1 bag)

Bleach (if needed)

Hot glue and gun

SUPPLIES FOR WREATH

Small styrofoam wreath form

Acorns

Putka pods (about 1-2 oz)

Small pinecones (1 bag)

Medium small pinecones (at least 5 but more is better)

Hot glue and gun (this takes a lot of glue)

Dark ribbon or cloth, enough length to wrap around the wreath form

Ribbon for bow and hanging

Throw an Epic Pirate Birthday Party, Perfect for Adults

My husband has a man crush on Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. So when said husband turned 40, I threw him a pirate costumed dinner party. He dressed up as Captain Sparrow and guests were invited to dress as any other pirate (generic or cosplay.) For simplicity, all my inspiration and details came from only the first movie in the series. 

Here are some ideas on how you can can throw an epic pirate themed costume dinner party like ours that's perfect for adults or can easily be tweaked for kids!

The Invitations

It always adds a bit of je ne sais quoi to build up anticipation for a party and put forth a task or problem to be solved. For this pirate themed birthday party, send out invitations to yer mateys under the premise that Captain Jack Sparrow is looking for a new crew and there will be a chance to show their mettle at a specified time and date. Be sure to outline the dress code and tell them to come prepared! (See wording example in the image below. Illustration was purchased here.)

Our invitations were coffee stained, edge burnt, rolled up, tagged and tied with a piece of leather. Then they were hand delivered to each person’s mailbox whom we wanted to invite. (See how to age paper with coffee and salt here.)

The Decorations

Before guests arrive, post another bit of paraphernalia outside your door to build more anticipation for what might be awaiting them inside. Did you notice? The wording on the posting shown below comes from the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie! (Illustration purchased here.)

Upon entering the house, guests can be greeted with a large pirate flag (which becomes a perfect spot for photos), and ragged black sails undulating from the ceiling above (black plastic tablecloths with slashes in them. A very cheap trick with major impact.) This pirate flag was handmade by  projecting the skull image onto a black king size sheet, traced with chalk and then painted with inexpensive acrylic craft paint.

Cover any large space, like a bar, with netting and empty liqueur bottles stopped with candles and corks. (I had spent a few weeks ahead of time collecting the bottles from friends and neighbors.) The fish netting I found here.

Another wall could hold a pirate map (found here), or any other pirate information you think is interesting or humorous. 

Since this party was for adults, I thought it might be of interest to post bits of information about real pirates in history. And since pirates often had nicknames, I made up this chart (which you can download and print on your own cool paper here) and posted it among the historical pirate information. It was a hit!

If you don’t have skeletons, I recommend borrowing a couple from a friend if you can. They'll fill up any empty spaces you have and infuse humor into the room. The fellow shown below, I positioned holding chocolate gold coins, one in his mouth and a couple in his hand. 

Halfway through the evening I noticed someone had eaten the chocolate offering from the skeleton’s hand—something I thought was both funny and totally appropriate! 

And lastly don’t forget the mantle. Place more bottles, books, candles and whatever else you might have laying around that feels pirate, ocean, or ship themed. On mine, I made sure to include portrait skulls of the pirate brethren, Morgan and Bartholomew. 

The Centerpieces and Place Settings

Since we’d set up three, 6 foot tables end to end, I created two different centerpieces and set them out in an alternating fashion down the row of tables.

First, you can’t go wrong with skulls and drippy candles for a pirate theme.

The black skulls seemed to disappear on the black table, so using a dry brush technique I painted gold on areas that needed highlighting. The little skulls needed to look less like white plastic and more like bone. So those got covered in wood stain, then I wiped it off in places where I wanted it to be lighter. Both techniques worked well. Here’s a link to a helpful video with instructions.

Second, platters of apples MUST be included too. This is the only food we see Captain Jack Sparrow eat in the first movie, and captain Barbosa would literally kill to eat one, so it makes for a very fitting table decoration idea.

And as for the place settings, I suggest you put the first activity (a questionnaire) folded upon the plate with a feather pen. (These are cheap to make if you buy a box of pens and a package of feathers at your local craft store and make them yourself.) It gives guests something to do while waiting for the party to get started...this activity will be explained shortly. 

ALSO on the plate, under the questionnaire, place a small score card for keeping points. Here’s a link to print the score card.

Four Pirate Party Activities

Since the pirate guests are essentially “trying out” to become Jack Sparrow’s new mates, each person will be earning points throughout the evening. Those with the most points at the end will be the new crew!

1. SCROLLS FOR EXTRA POINTS

First, DO NOT let the birthday boy or girl know what is written on the scrolls. In fact, don’t tell them about this activity at all. 

As guests begin arriving, welcome them and ask them to draw one scroll each. The scrolls contain a small task that can be performed at any time during the evening and will award them an extra 5 points. (The guest may choose not to do it as well.) The guest can trade scrolls but can only do one scroll that evening.

Some examples of tasks include:

• Raise yer glass and give a toast, end it with “Drink up me hearties yo, ho!”

• Bend the knee and kiss a ring on Captain Jack Sparrow’s hand and say, “Captain Sir, ye have me loyalty.”

These ended up being hillarious! Our Captain Sparrow was happily caught off guard, as were the guests, when most of these tasks were performed. Here is a link to the tasks you could consider including in your evening. 

2. HOW WELL DO YE KNOW THE CAPTAIN AND THE PIRATE WAY OF LIVIN'?

Remember the pamphlet I had at each place setting? Here’s a better look at the front.

Each one had a different quote from the movie printed on the back.

The instructions inside tell the  players to “Try to to make yer answers match those of [the birthday person’s name].” They get points NOT necessarily for answering the questions correctly...but if their answers MATCH those of the party’s captain. Now there’s a twist!

Give guests time to work on this as you are waiting for others to arrive, they can also work on it during dinner and you can give them time a little after. Then go around the room, and have each pirate say aloud their answer to each question in turn, the captain answers last. In our group, some answers were funny, silly, and even revealing! 

I can’t give you the link to the front or back of the pamphlet because I paid to use the stock illustrations. But I’ll share the link to the image on the front so you can purchase and create the pamphlet yourself. Link to skull ring image (front.)

3. FINDING GOLD

First you'll need a gold piece to show everyone. This could be a chocolate gold coin, or a piece of Aztec gold emulating the one from the movie, whatever you want as long as it’s gold. Just don’t make it any smaller than a quarter. Explain to your pirate guests that Captain Sparrow needs a crew that is good at finding gold—obviously. If you are the MC for the evening, you'll be hiding the gold coin first. Send the pirates out of the room while you hide the coin. Bring them all back and play starts.

Rules: The coin must be hidden in plain sight. Make it easy. Players shouldn't have to touch, move, open, or stand on anything to see it. The coin will be hidden within a certain boundary (our boundaries were the living room and the dining room.) Don’t try to be too tricky in finding a hiding place, else you run the chance of game play taking too long. After some searching has gone on hints can be given.

The first person to find said coin will leave it in place, and shall quietly sit down without revealing where they saw the coin. The second player to see it does the same. If you have a small number of guests, play can go until everyone has found the coin. We had 12 people in our group, so play ended at 6 people finding the coin otherwise it would have gone on too long. Assign points accordingly. (In our game, the first person received 3 points, the next 2 people got two points, and the next 3 people won one point each.)

The next person to hide the coin can either be the looser of the game or the pirate with the most points so far that evening—not fair but—pirate!

4. PIN THE X ON THE MAP

You can’t have a party theme that inherently includes eye patches and a map and not play “pin the X on the map!” (Map found here.)

But this game gets a little tweaking. Explain that if the pirates want to be part of the crew they need to know how to read a map so good they can do it with their eyes closed AND guess where the Captain might want to go next.

Pass out the Xs and have the players write their name on them.

Then, tell the birthday person pick out a place on the map without revealing it to anyone. Now the players must guess where that place might be and put their X in that spot while being blinded—or rather, while wearing TWO eye patches (patches purchased here.) AND they must get to the map while walking a plank! Each time they step off the plank, they loose a point. Guests may shout out “ to the left” or “right a little more” to help their mateys.

The plank can be outlined by masking tape on the floor.  I recommend the plank be about 10 inches wide and around 5 adult steps long. (Ours was bit too long and way too narrow. We ended up guiding the players by hand so they wouldn’t tip over. Though, it was a little funny—we all looked a bit drunk wobbling down the path but there wasn’t a drop of alcohol being served that night.)

After all Xs have been placed, the Captain goes last, blind like all the rest, and tries to place his X on the location he picked out earlier. All the players with the closest Xs to the Captain’s gets points.

Remember, no feeling around on the map. The first touch is where the X gets placed. But DO warn the player when they’ve reached the wall. And don’t forget to spin them before setting them free.

A link for a print out of Xs you can cut out is here.

WINNING AND ENDING THE EVENING WITH PHOTOS OPS

Have yer mateys add up their points. Those with the highest scores get a place on Captain Jack Sparrow’s new crew. You can give prizes or not, and I’m sure you can think of all kinds of ideas for that.

The map and the flag double as a great place for your new crew-mate photos. Do this toward the end, maybe while cake is being served, and don’t be shy—play a little for the camera!