Christmas Advent Project !!

Its Time for Advent......

 

I wanted something original to do the advent with my daughter this year, and was intrigued by the chalk board paint option so I found a way to add it in to my project. 

Each day we mark the date on the chalk board part of the plaque with the chalk, and then read a part of the original Christmas story from a book she has had since she was very little. "The First Christmas" by Carol Heyer has beautiful illustrations and has been a special part of each year's advent celebration in our house. 

Anyway, after reading, we either clip a treat onto the clip on the plaque or clip a piece of paper with a clue to where the treat can be hunted down somewhere in the house!  

Here's a quick tute on how I put our Advent plaque together:

 

* Ingredients:

* A wood plaque or board

* Paint brushes (large and small)

* Red, white and green paint

* Chalk Board paint (paint-on, not spray)

* Hemp & Eye screws to hang up

* a Clip of your choosing ( I used one from the 7 gypsies collection)

* E6000 glue (or whichever glue is strong  of your choosing)

* Hemp twine - any color

* Holly leaves and berries (I made mine from green paper and red felt)

Paint your background and leave a small circle blank around your chalk board circle if you want to paint a wreath around it...

 

I painted a second coat of white over my letters just so they looked better and used a stencil brush to dab the green wreath with a lighter green paint to look more like a "leafy" wreath....

Then paint the bows whichever color you choose and (after all has dried) use the E6000 glue to attach the clip you have chosen to the bottom of the plaque.

 

After that has dried, probably overnight, just to be safe, use a spray or paint on sealer to finish it all off........

To Hang: 

I attached two eye screws to the top of the plaque (spaced evenly apart) and then braided some green hemp twine and tied the ends to the eye screws to make sure all was secure when I hung the plaque on the wall...

 

 

Congrats, you're done!!!

Enjoy your Homemade Advent and I'll be back with more Christmas projects real soon!!