On the 2nd Day of Pinterest

My crafty love gave to me...

A sweet Advent Calendar to hang!

Yesterday I shared that we're doing a book Advent Calendar this year, one book each night, so today I'll share our actual Advent Calendar.

 Here's my inspiration from Pinterest...


{Coutesy of kimberlypetersen.typepad.com
 via Pinterest}

So, I went back and found my Life Style Crafts pockets from LAST year and make 25 pockets that are slightly embellished and cut out numbers from different Life Style/QuicKutz fonts!  I used patterned paper (Making Memories from last Christmas) so that I couldn't have to do as much for embellishments!

I clipped each pocket to a chicken wire frame that my awesome husband made me last summer and viola!  Our (child friend) Advent Calendar!  Here's a few close ups!

I attached more of the pockets with Tim Holtz clips because I knew that Adam could unclip them easily.

But, you may remember that I was trying to turn the Advent cards into a learning tool as well as a fun tradition, so let me share what I came up with!

I decided that we'd work on Adam's writing skills, so I made the cards with dot's that spell out a word (either book or car) that Adam would then have to trace and sound out the word before he gets the treat for the night! 

I first cut down squares of solid cardstock so that they'd fit into the pockets.  The kit does come with squares to die cut for the inside of the pockets, but it was faster to just cut with my Fiskars cutter.  I used Versa Magic in black and a pencil eraser to make my dots.

Dip your pencil eraser into the black ink and start making letters with your dots on your white cardstock paper!

This is a "book" card.

I stapled a ribbon onto the end so little fingers could pull the card out easily.  Super easy, super quick and a great way to include writing skills into a fun, Holiday tradition!  I figure that we're practicing number recognition with the Advent Calendar, along with writing skills and letter sounds!  Woot woot!  Here's the little boy giving the whole process a try!

Yay!  I'm pretty sure that by the end of our Advent Calendar, this little boy is going to be able to spell Book and Car in his sleep!  And do you know the first book that he opened??

Yep!  Elf on a Shelf!  So much fun, such a cute book and the mischievous elf is so cute! 

Meet Paddywagon, our Christmas elf (can you tell we have a police background?)! He's already gotten into some elf mischief that we're documenting and we'll be sharing in batches later in the 25 Days of Pinterest!
Have a great day!  We'll see you back here tomorrow!
Andrea