Thinking Ahead for the Holidays...

     I've always enjoyed having an Advent Calendar to mark the approach of Christmas. Some years we've had simple paper calendars with flaps that open, some years we've had the German ones with little foil-wrapped chocolates inside, and some years it's just been a simple paper chain that one of the kids has made. Now that my children are older, I wanted something more personal that I made especially for our family and that we could use year after year.
      This is a basic tree constructed from dowels and wood findings that I have painted and mounted in a 6" terracotta flowerpot ( I decoupaged the flowerpot).  For each day beginning December first and leading up to Christmas, I aged and decorated a shipping tag. One side has the number of the date and the other has a vintage holiday layout. I made two sets, one has the numbers cut from decorative papers and vintage cards (as shown above). On the other set, I used my printer to print the numbers using the Steamer font. Some of those are shown in the other photos. Each one has a satin ribbon tied to the top of the numbered side.
     Beginning on the first day of December, one tag is flipped around to display the pictures. The whole tree is close to four feet tall, so it looks great on a table top and can even be used instead of a pine tree. For those of you who don't like the hassle of pulling the ornaments out and putting them away again, or those who may be allergic to real and artificial trees, this might be the solution to your holiday dreads!
      Pattern and kits are for sale at my etsy shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/RabbitHillEmporium

Close-up of decorated tags.

Close-up of printed numbers.