Advent Calendar: Pottery Barn Kids Knockoff

Last year I really wanted to make an Advent calendar for the girls, but I never got off my bum to make one.  This year, I saw one on a blogger's site, Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick, that I loved and hers was inspired from Pottery Barn Kids.  Well, we have plenty of scrap wood out in the garage, so I went straight to my husband to ask him if we had a board I could use.  I was in luck, he had a piece of maple plywood that was 8 feet long and 10 1/2 inches wide!  I didn't need it that long, so Jeremy cut it down to 63 inches in length and then I got to work.

I did have to buy a few supplies from Hobby Lobby, but I was in luck since almost everything I bought was 50% off!!!  There were a couple of options for the numbers and letters, like using my silhouette to cut out the letters, or a stencil, but I decided to just buy the letters and numbers since they were 50% off.  I wanted the smaller clothespins, so I picked up a bag at Hobby Lobby.  The clothespins were the only thing not on sale so I used my 40% off coupon, which made them $1.75.  I wanted to jazz up the clothespins a bit so I sprayed them first with white spray paint and then covered the face with washi tape, that I also picked up at Hobby Lobby.  I did have to purchase the cotton muslin bags as well, which I got them off of Amazon.

Once the board was cut to size, gave it a light sanding and wiped it down.  Then using some leftover gray paint (Sherwin Williams Grayish), I put three light coats on the top and sides of the board and then gave it a light sanding again.  I let that dry for a few hours...actually I went to see Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, which was AWESOME!!

Anywho, the next step was to put the glaze on top to create a little something something!  I used the same glaze we used on our patio table, Rust-oleum Decorative Glaze in Java Brown.  I brushed on one coat using a foam brush, and then wiped off the excess with an old t-shirt.  I wanted it to look a little darker, so I applied a second coat and wiped off the excess again.

The next morning I applied the sticker letters and then moved on to the clothespins.  My nerdy engineer side came out so everything would be straight as you can see in the picture below!  :)  I used a very small amount of wood glue to adhere the clothespins to the board.

     

I forgot to mention that before I put everything on the board, Jeremy put the hardware on the back to hang it on the wall.  He put three of these hooks on the board.  When it came time to hang the board, we put a dab of toothpaste on each one and then pressed the board to the wall so it would mark where to put our nails.

The last thing I did was to add some holly to make it a little more festive.  I really wanted a silhouette of the Holy Family, but for now this was easy peasy and 50% off.  I put a dab of wood glue on the holly and stuck it right on the board.

 

Each bag is filled with a few lines about the story of Christmas and a piece of candy for each girl.  As we countdown to Christmas, the girls will have read about the birth of Jesus and the visit from the Wisemen.  I found a free printable that had the story of Christmas, which I printed at home and cut out.  There are tons of different options, free options, that you could fill the bags with - the ideas are endless.      

Here is a picture of the Pottery Barn Kids version, which is currently on sale right now.

SOURCE 

And compared to mine.

The Pottery Barn version is originally $149, but I was able to make mine for $15!!  I did have a few supplies already, like the board and paint/glaze, but if you had to purchase those items it would still be way under the Pottery Barn version.  And you can say it was made by love from you!

I hope your Christmas and Advent season is off to a great start.  Jeremy and I were talking at the dinner table tonight about each of us creating a project with a silhouette of the Holy family and then letting you guys vote on the best one...hint, hint...MINE of course!!  So stay tuned for our projects hopefully later this week!

With much love,

Kristin



Linking up with:

Place Of My Taste

Christmas: DIY Advent Wreath

I know I am a few days behind schedule on this, but better late than never right??  I have been wanting an Advent wreath, but wanted to save a few bucks and make it myself.  So, this year I did a few hours of Black Friday shopping and while I was out I was able to score a wreath for $1.99 from Michael's and added some cranberries for $1.47 for each stem (plus 30% off).  I already had the Advent candles, but when I purchased them I used a coupon from Hobby Lobby for $1.50.

I did have to purchase a candle holder, here is one similar to the one I found on Amazon.  So for the total cost of my wreath, I spent less than $20!!!  Here are the supplies I used. 

I didn't end up needing all of the berries for the wreath so I actually put the rest in my favored mason jar!!  More on that in a minute…for the wreath I simply cut strands from the berries and stuck them into the wreath.  I wrapped a branch of the wreath around the end of the strand, but that was it!  Then I placed the candle holder in the middle of wreath and placed the candles in their slots.  

For the leftover berries, I added them to the mason jar and placed it in front of my DIY chalkboard frame.  To bring in the Christmas season, I did make a bow and simply attached it to the frame with 3M Command Damage Free tape.  

I love the simplicity of it all, but most of all I love how it reminds me of Christmas.  What about you guys, what special things do you do for the Christmas season?

With much love,

Kristin

P.S. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram (@mybellabugblog) to see what our elf has been up to!