countdown to Christmas - make your own advent calendar

Can you believe it's almost December? I swear I just put away my Halloween decorations (no really, I put them away last week, much to the dismay of my five-year-old). We had grandiose plans for coming up with a cool advent calendar to share, but the craft fairs got the better of us, I'm afraid. Luckily, a few other bloggers are on top of of it this year. Here are a few ideas we LOVE and are trying to make time for this weekend! If I'm a few days late, I doubt my kids will care. They'll be thrilled to get more than one treat in one day!


I had this calendar idea on my list to share for the new year, but I couldn't pass up sharing this gorgeous version by Teresa McFayden. She's postd a tutorial on her blog just in time for December. Teresa is the extremely talented founder of Paper Bella and the original creator of Foof a La, a popular scrabooking line. If you love her style as much as I do, check out her awesome ezine, 12 Days of Comfort and Joy, available beginning Dec. 3. It's packed with 12 beautiful papercrafting project tutorials, including pictures, giveaways, and downloadable freebies. You can subscribe here.

The Purl Bee has done it again with this retro felt advent calendar, perfect for the craft lover. Love it! This one could definitely be completed this weekend!

I think this calendar and Little Birdie Secrets were MFOE(Made For Each Other)! The three birdies definitely need a little birdie advent calendar this year. And Skip To My Lou is offering the pattern for free! She is so sweet!

This yo-yo calendar is actually a wall-hanging. Sunshine Creations is offering this tutorial in a two-step installment, so check back with her for the final project!

This adorable envelope advent calendar is another one you could easily complete this weekend. Each day you take the paper ornament out of the envelop and hang it from the button. Love the red stitching on the white felt!
Burda Style always has great patterns. Their free pattern and tutorial is for a stocking advent calendar, with enough room to stuff a sweet treat each day. It's like Christmas morning every morning!

This year I'm going to do a separate countdown for my kids--the countdown to Grandma's house! We'll be celebrating with family in Utah this year, and my kids are more excited about seeing grandma and grandpa than Christmas. We'll work on something this weekend and post photos on our Flickr pool, so check there soon! And if you've got a great advent calendar idea, post a picture of it on our Flickr pool, too! We love to see what our readers come up with!