CHEER: ADVENT CALENDAR DIY

Today is the first day of Christmas Cheer! AND the first day of December. Tonight I'm having a group of couples come over and Jon and I are hosting our first holiday dinner party. I woke up extra early to make my traditional Oreo cheesecake goodness. There will be fancy table settings, bread rolls, champagne, turkey, potatoes...I can't wait! Tricky part is, I only have a table that seats 6 and there will be 12 people dining with us this evening, but Jon and I are grabbing the fold out table from upstairs and putting together two tables of 6. It'll be a little squishy, but the yummy food and friends will make up for it. :)

This is the first year I decided to make my own advent calendar. In the past, I've picked up one from Target, stuck a few pieces of candy behind the doors and ended up forgetting about it. This year I was inspired by so many beautiful pins on Pinterest and Jenny's handmade advent calendar (which you can see over on her blog later today!), that I just had to give it a shot and make my own.

I was originally inspired by an advent calendar DIY on The Marion House Book because of the simplicity and organic feel. I decided to take supplies I already had to create my own.

Supplies// For this advent calendar I used a piece of plywood I've had sitting next to a bunch of boxes for months. I had intentions of doing something with it sooner, but decided it would be a perfect piece for an advent piece. To match the look of my home, I stained it. You'll also need 25 nails, paper tags and found objects that can be turned into ornaments. I also picked up a letter and number screen print pack via Martha Stewart from Michael's craft store and some gold paint.

Steps// 1. Stain or paint your wood. Let it dry overnight. 2. Number 25 tags//paper with the color of your choice. Since I don't love my painting skills, I just used a screen printing pack and they all turned out beautifully. 3. Gather 25 ornaments. I used things I found outside, mini ornaments I already had, cinnamon sticks and bells. Put them all on twine. 4. Evenly nail 25 nails onto your board. It helps to use a measuring tape and make dots where you want the nails to go, so everything looks even before nailing it in. 5. Hang your tags and ornaments on the calendar! 6. Each day you can either turn over a number or place the ornament on your tree. :)

I'm also loving these advent calendar DIYs: 
* Mini Tree Advent Calendar by Oh happy Day
* Magnetic Holiday Advent by Twig & Thistle
* Simple Advent Calendar by Charm Stitch 

Happy first day of Advent and happy first day of Christmas Cheer! You can follow along on our Facebook page where we will be posting each post from my blog and Jenny's blog and adding additional pictures. You can also follow along on Twitter and Instagram with our hashtag #12DaysofCheer. Are you as excited as I am about the holidays!?