I enjoy making advent calendars every year. I usually buy my supplies at craft stores, but this year I decided to get creative and use some items I already own. We all know that Christmas decorations can get pretty expensive, so I always think it’s a good thing when I can make something for my home while saving some money.

Supplies:

• Decorative Window Pane (currently sold out at Kirkland’s)
• Small Paper Bags
• Miniature Clothes Pins
• 3M Command™ Decorating Clips
• Faux Ivy Garland
• Jute Twine
• Small Candies
• Christmas Stickers

Directions:
1. Adhere six of the decorating clips to the front of the window pane (3 on each side).

2. Cut three strips of the jute twine. Tie the ends of the string around the clips. As you can see, I turned the frame upside down. I like having the handle at the top instead of the bottom.

3. Use the mini clothespins to clip the paper bags to the string. I placed eight bags on each row. I bought some Christmas stickers from Hobby Lobby last year, so I used them for the numbers.

4. Wrap the wire LED lights around the garland.
5. Place more of the clips on the top and sides of the frame. Now drape the combined garland and lights around the frame. Use the decorating clips to secure them in place.

6. Insert a small candy into each bag. Anything heavier will make the bags fall off the clothespins. I also added more leaves for decoration.

Here’s what the project looks like with the LED lights turned on:

And that’s it! I love the way this calendar turned out. I’m especially happy that I didn’t have to spend extra money on supplies. I find myself spending entirely too much cash during the holidays. I sometimes forget about most of the things I buy, so it was fun to actually use this window pane decor instead of letting it collect dust in storage.

I’m going to challenge myself in the upcoming months to continue creating new projects out of items I already own.

Thanks for reading!

~Adrienne