Woman's Day Specials

 Woman's Day Magazine contacted me over the summer about contributing my 2009 count down calendar to a special holiday issue. Exciting stuff! They were absolutely wonderful to work with in every way.

I've been scanning the supermarket magazine racks for the last couple of weeks to no avail, but then a huge box arrived on my doorstep last Friday. It contained everything I had sent down to NYC for the photo shoot, including two copies of the freshly printed magazine. Whooot!  It's filled with great ideas for winter crafting, so keep your eyes peeled in the check out line.  There are some other  familiar,  I spied within the pages, and it feels great to be a in such nice company. Most of all, I'm happy to have my advent calendar back in time for this year's count down. I'm planning on making a new design, of course. That's become my tradition, but I figure it will be nice to have one set for each child. So, now you have a head's up good and early this year: start saving your toilet paper rolls again!  If you'd like to make the one right here,

 

Count Down Calendar

Materials

• 24 cardboard tubes (or as many as the days you will count.- for example: only 8 for Chanukah, etc.)
• acrylic craft paint
• security envelopes
• snowflake hole punch
• sewing machine, stapler, or glue gun
• cork board
• mini clothespins(available at craft stores)
• ribbons or lace
• fabric for covering board
• stamp pad and numeral stamps

Make

1. Close one end of your tube. I loved running mine through my sewing machine with a zigzag stitch. Quick and satisfying. Alternately, use a stapler or a glue gun.
   
2. Decide if you want to paint them. I knew I wanted a snow and frosty blue palette and opted for white. We painted them on a blanket of newspaper next to our wood stove to speed up the drying process and stay cozy. (Please ignore my not so tidy floor.) This is the perfect step to enlist a helper. (My assistant got bored with white quickly and shifted over to a cracker box in perfect pink.)
   
3. The next step was everyone's favorite: punch out snowflakes (with our brand new Martha snowflake puncher) from blue security envelopes, of course!! I have a feeling we'll be making snowflakes all winter.
   
4. Adorn your tubes with whatever suits you. We pasted our snowflakes right on. Although we kept our decorating simple, this is where you could go to town with rickrack, pompoms, buttons, etc.
   
5. Number them. Numeral stamps are easy. Printing numbers on stickers would work nicely, too.
6. Choose your method of display. Ideas: suspended on a ribbon, hung from branches, or on a cork board. My first thought was to just tack them all on a cork board. That seemed super easy, but needed a little oomph. When I went in search of a scrap of white fabric for covering, I spotted my suitcase filled with vintage lace. I bought a collection of crocheted pillow trims at a church sale years ago. They were cut right off of the pillow cases to salvage all of the hard work someone had done. They've felt too special to use, until now! I could use them without cutting into them.

I wrapped my fabric around the cork board and then tacked the loops of lace in rows. You could do this with your favorite ribbons.

I'm even in love with the raw edges and even fancy the delicate, drapey backside.

All that's left is to attach your little numbered pockets.

We'll fill ours with new time tickets and bits of chocolate. Have fun! I'd love to see yours if you give it a try...