I actually made something I saw on Pinterest!

Like many of you, I am OBSESSED with Pinterest!
Most people I tell who have no idea what Pinterest is, look at me with a weird face.
Its probably because Im rambling a mile a minute trying to describe how ridiculously cool it is, and Im talking with my hands, and no one can even decipher what I am saying
" Just go on  there, TRUST ME, it's awesome. "
And that's the best way I can describe it!

So last week, I told myself I was actually going to make something I had pinned on there, and since this baby will be here soon I am trying to get all my Christmas gifts done early!

So I made it....an Advent Calendar!! My mom bought one of these one year, a store bought one that was only filled with crappy waxy chocolate, and after Day 10- no one really cared about the chocolate or the calendar anymore. But this one will not be ignored, because it rules...or at least I think so:)

It's an Advent Calendar!

I just bought an ugly framed picture at a thrift store for $5, made sure at least that the frame had some detail to it so when I spray painted it white it still had some oomph :)
I spray painted the entire thing white, used a craft punch to make large 3 inch circles and glued them all over the back- for that I used modge podge.
Then I got the 25 white jewelry boxes in 2 sizes, 1 1/2" and 3"- you can purchase these on Ebay or nashvillewraps.com, they cost about 25 cents a piece, depending on the size.
I used scrapbook paper, and embellishments to decorate all of the boxes- make sure to number them 1 through 25.
Then the fun part- filling them!
I filled them with candy, erasers, jewelry, money, temporary tattoos...this was a challenge finding some variety to fit in the little boxes!

I made this one for my nieces and nephew, ages 3, 6, and 10.

There are enough boxes where each child will get to open 8, and then I am going to tell Mom to choose the child who behaved the best all month to open the last box on Christmas Day....a little incentive hopefully for them to behave well for Mom and Dad!

I marked the boxes that had girl related gifts in them with rhinestones, so  my sister in law knows to let a girl open that box.

All in all, it took me about 3 hours to make...but it was a lot of fun.

Im going to give it to them on Thanksgiving, and I will probably be more excited than they are!

This is a really great gift idea for kids who get so many presents on Christmas day!

Enjoy your weekend:)