diy advent calendar

When I was a child, we had a felt Christmas tree advent calendar that my grandma had made for us. Every day in December, I would race down to the tree (had to beat my brother and sister :)) and hang a new ornament on the felt tree.  By December 25th the tree was full.  I have such fond memories of this simple advent calendar and decide to make something similar this year.

A felt tree is a great idea, but I wanted to make something that was more my style.  Plus, I will never be able to sew like my grandma, so I chose a super simple wood diy.

Supplies ~
-One 36" x 24" piece of wood.  I chose the most inexpensive option Lowe's.  It was about $8. You can easily choose something larger or smaller to fit your space.
-Paint.  Use any color you love! I used the emerald Pantone color from Lowe's for the tree and gold for the trunk.
-Small nails (to hang the ornaments) and thumb tacks or glue to secure the paper bags.
-25 small ornaments.  I chose to create ornaments in Photoshop (free printable below!) but tiny ornaments from the craft store or Target would also work.
-A few small paper bags to hold the ornaments.  I got mine at the craft store. You could easily use small envelopes or any other light weight bag that can easily be tacked or glued to the wood.
-brushes and painter's tape

Steps ~

This diy is super simple.  Almost too easy.  First, create a triangle tree and a rectangle trunk with painter's tape.  Paint the tree and the trunk and let dry.

Once the paint has dried, remove the tape and hammer 25 small nails to the tree.

If you wish to create your own ornaments, you can use these that I created.  Just right click on the photo, open it in a new tab, and print.  I printed my ornaments on card stock and used spray glue to glue the sheets down to thick cardboard.  Finally, I cut the ornaments out and punched a hole in the top of each one for hanging.

Finally, tack a few small paper bags or envelopes on the board below the tree.  Fill each bag with ornaments and hang one each day in December.  By the 25th your tree will be full :).

Happy December everyone!

Easy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Like many of you out there, I have become a Pinterest addict.  A few weeks ago, I spent hours pinning holiday cookie recipes.  One that kept popping up on my radar was a chocolate cookie made with devil's food cake mix.  It looked super easy -  so I made up my own variation.

Enjoy!

Easy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies {makes about 4 dozen cookies}
-1 box of devil's food cake mix 
-2 tablespoons of melted butter
-2 eggs
-1/4 cup water
-crushed up candy canes...or you could use mint chocolate baking chips
-sprinkles {optional}


1. Put everything {but the candy canes} in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon.  The dough becomes very stiff, so be prepared to get an arm workout in.
2. Once all is combined, fold in the candy cane pieces.
3. Spread parchment paper out on baking sheets and spray with a little non-stick cooking spray.
4. This dough is stiff, but also very sticky.  To avoid making a mess of everything, I used two small spoons to spoon the dough out onto the baking sheets.  I filled one spoon up with dough and used the other to push it onto the baking sheet.  These cookies will spread, so only use about a quarter sized amount for each cookie.
5. Sprinkle with red and white sprinkles {optional} and bake for about 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
6. Remove pans from oven and allow to cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before removing.