It’s me! Yes … I’m still here! Have had a fabulous, terrific year but ran out of energy somewhere around July! I saw this beautiful post on  Makinglemonadeblog.com  about photo advent calendars and was totally motivated to make one of my own. (Calligraphic of course!)

I was so pleased with how it came out, I decided to share the love with my bloggie friends. So included below is a download of the tags which you can print out for yourself and make into your own advent calendar.

I love this idea for so many reasons. It’s simple but decorative, it’s fun to see pictures from throughout the year, and it creates a great photo display by Christmas. You can change the photos every year or keep some – very customizable! You can hang it on a ribbon, on a board, or on the tree.

I decided to use photos taken throughout this year but you could use your favorites from throughout the years, favorite holiday photos, etc. I rarely print photos anymore so this is a fun opportunity for the kids to see some of the pictures I took throughout the year and relive those memories.

Supplies needed:

Kraft cardstock – I purchased mine at HobbyLobby. I considered it a 2-fer as it included 50 cards and 50 envelopes for only $9.99 ($5.99 using my 40% off coupon). Now I can use the envelopes for my Christmas cards!

Mini clips – purchased at Walmart for $3.88

Reinforcement labels – again Walmart for $1.00

Ribbon (3 yards) – found an awesome one with baubles at Big Lots for $2!

Photos – size 3.5×5

So for about $15 I have an advent calendar I love!

Yes – that’s my real cat – who is a complete scaredy-cat but manages to get in every photo I try to take around the house!

More good news … leave a comment below to enter a drawing to win one of the advent calendars – all made – just add your own pictures! I will draw a lucky winner on Thursday, 12/6/12, at 11 p.m. and ship on Friday, 12/7/12.

You’ll still have about a good two weeks to display before Christmas. Or you can keep for next year or give as a gift! Please remember to check back on Friday morning to see if you are the winner so you can email me your mailing address! I can’t mail it if I don’t know how to contact you.

One winner – ribbon may differ from that in the photo – shipped to continental US only (sorry). But you can still download the files for free below!

The files also include a bonus – 3 gift tags!

Hope you enjoy! Happy Holidays!
Truly,
Erica

These tags are formatted to print on the 5×7 unfolded kraft cards which is 10×7. You then trim them to 3.5×5. But you can also print them onto 8×10 cardstock and then trim to size.

Tags 1-8

Tags 9-16

Tags 17-24

Tags 25 & gift