In the past, to count down the days until Christmas I had a small wall hanging that looked like Santa with a long beard. It had a little wooden star that moved from pocket to pocket. Cute, but boring. This year, thanks to Pinterest, I made an advent calendar with small bags that held a little goody or activity card inside for each day. I found a free printable for the number stickers on Pinterest and the little bags were made with a Stampin’ Up trick I learned from my sister more than 15 years ago when she was a demonstrator. Why buy small paper bags when you can make them from envelopes you already have? Here’s what I came up with:

Envelopes in the red & green bushel basket that once held pine cones from Milwaukee with love.

Small paper bags in the red & green bushel basket that once held pine cones from Milwaukee…with love.

The 1st bag contained a card that said “Hug Mom and Dad.” Audrey was good and did what the card said and then exclaimed that it was the “worse card ever!” I think I would have to disagree with her!