Be Still Life: paper

DECEMBER IS ALMOST HERE AND WHO DOESN'T LOVE A CUTE, CHEAP, AND EASY DIY ADVENT CALENDAR!? GROWING UP, THE ADVENT CALENDAR THAT MY MOM WOULD PUT OUT WAS ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE THINGS THIS TIME OF YEAR. IT WAS A SHELF WITH LITTLE DRAWERS AND SHE FILLED EACH CORRESPONDING DAY WITH DIFFERENT CANDIES. I WOULD ALWAYS TRY TO GUESS WHICH CANDY WAS GOING TO BE THE NEXT DAY. SHE STILL PUTS IT OUT, BUT NOW IT'S MY NIECE AND NEPHEWS WHO GET TO OPEN THEM UP. MY MOM SERIOUSLY IS THE BEST GRANDMA! <3

WELL LAST YEAR I DECIDED TO MAKE AN ADVENT CALENDAR FOR MY HUSBAND, RYAN. RYAN LOOOOVES CANDY, HOWEVER WE NEVER BUY IT, SO I DECIDED THAT THE MONTH OF DECEMBER COULD BE A TREAT FOR HIM. HE ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT LAST YEAR AND SO I AM DOING IT AGAIN THIS YEAR AND SHOWING Y'ALL HOW I DID IT!

FIRST, YOU NEED SOMETHING TO HANG EACH DAY ON. MY AMAZING BROTHER IN LAW, DENNIS, MADE THIS WOODEN TREE FOR ME FOR CHRISTMAS A FEW YEARS BACK BUT YOU HONESTLY COULD JUST GET ANYTHING TO HANG THEM ON. HERE ARE A COUPLE PICTURES OF ONES I HAVE SEEN AND LIKED THAT ARE SO EASY AND CHEAP! MARTHA STEWART ADVENT CALENDAR + THE MERRY THOUGHT ADVENT CALENDAR

I THEN TOOK SMALL KRAFT ENVELOPES THAT I HAD LEFT OVER FROM MY WEDDING AND SEALED THEM SHUT AND THEN CUT THEM IN HALF SO THEY WOULD BE LITTLE OPEN POCKETS. THEN ON THE COMPUTER I MADE DIFFERENT DESIGNS FOR EACH DAY AND PRINTED THEM OUT AND GLUED THEM ONTO THE ENVELOPES. YOU COULD ALSO JUST GET PLAIN WHITE ENVELOPES AND COLOR ON THEM WITH SHARPIES OR WHATEVER. YOU COULD EVEN JUST MAKE POCKETS YOURSELF OUT OF THICK CARDSTOCK! POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS! AFTER THAT I JUST FILLED EACH POCKET WITH DIFFERENT CANDIES. RYAN LOVES GUMMY WORMS AND GUMMY BEARS SO FOR THOSE I BOUGHT LITTLE PLASTIC BAGS TO PUT THEM IN FIRST BEFORE PUTTING THEM IN THE ENVELOPES SINCE THEY ARE STICKY AND NOT ALREADY WRAPPED. YOU REALLY COULD PUT ANYTHING IN THE ENVELOPES- IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE CANDY. A CUTE IDEA ARE LITTLE NICE NOTES OR SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO DO EACH DAY. AGAIN, THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!

AFTER THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS HANG THEM UP HOWEVER YOU WANT AND YOU HAVE A CALENDAR! YOU COULD ALSO ADD A STRING OF LIGHTS IF YOU WANT BUT MAKE SURE IT DOESN'T GET TOO HEAVY!

I HOPE YOU ENJOY MAKING AN ADVENT CALENDAR! HAVE A HAPPY DECEMBER AND A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! <3

For our 1st Wedding Anniversary we wanted to do something with Paper since that's known as the 1st Anniversary gift. (See pic below for anniversary gift chart) So we decided to make a paper kite and fly it. Well July 30th didn't happen to be that windy of a day and I think our homemade paper kite was defective somehow. It never went up ever, haha. So it was a pretty epic fail but we still got some pretty awesome pictures due to the amazing Lee Pfeil!

Fun Fact: The cloth I used for the tail of the kite was the same fabric Adriele used to make my headpiece and flowers for the wedding. I am also wearing the headpiece I wore for my wedding day and the dress I wore when we rode away on the tandem bike after the reception! Also the Giant "A" that we use in the last several pictures is the photobooth prop form our wedding! Right now it's hanging above Ryan's dresser. I still LOVE it.

Below is a cute chart of all the Anniversary Gifts made by www.iloveswmag.com