Last year, I made an Advent calendar from a couple of things I found at different yard sales. This year, I was inspired to make a new one. I love finding new ways to create Advent calendars. This DIY Rustic Advent Calendar came together very easily with found items and a little DIY.
I was inspired to make this Advent calendar by a box of goodies I bought at a church sale. This box of place card holders was 25¢. I couldn’t pass it up. I didn’t know what I was going to do with them when I bought them but once I started brainstorming new Advent calendar ideas, I knew exactly what they would become.
(You can find similar holders 
Somebody hot glued plastic apples to these holders.
I didn’t think it was going to be hard to take them off, but they were a pain to get off!!!
Once I had the apples removed, I spray painted all the holders black. Then, I chose a piece of wood to put them on. (Matt was playing around with his own design idea for this Advent calendar. 🙂 )
I wanted something simple so I went with five rows of five.
I painted the board a light gray color and distressed it a bit. Then, I attached the place card holders with construction adhesive.
I made small cones with burlap and hot glue and put them inside the place card holders.
I love it!!!!
It looks better than I imagined, but then I thought, “What can look bad if you have burlap, old, distressed wood and black accents put together?”
Of course, you can’t have an Advent calendar without numbers, right?
Another church sale to the rescue!
(Have I ever mentioned that church sales are some of my favorite sales to go to?)
I picked up these numbered tacks at a different church sale. They aren’t tacks, they say “window markers”??? I don’t even know what that is. They looked like tacks and since there were 25 of them, they would be perfect for a Christmas project.
This DIY Rustic Advent Calendar was that project.
(I found some 
I bought 
I can’t tell you how exciting it is for me to have a project come together with different pieces I have picked up here and there.
I put small treats in the calendar for this picture. There will be other things added, but I didn’t want to ruin it for the kids too early.
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The burlap cones are small which is good because I don’t have to fill them with tons of things. That is not the reason for the season. Many of these cones will be filled with little notes of things we will do as a family throughout December (movie night, hot cocoa night, Christmas cookie night, etc.). There will be some treats and small trinkets as well, but I like to keep it simple and more about why we celebrate the most magical time of year.
Do you have an Advent calendar or Christmas countdown? What kinds of things do you put in yours?
If you like this DIY Rustic Advent Calendar, you will like these ideas:
Advent Calendar Made From A 25¢ Board
What a cute idea! I just love the build-up to big fun holidays!
Me too! Thanks Carlee
Lindsay, now this is a clever reuse of church sale finds and a fabulous advent calendar – love it!
Thank you Marie! We are enjoying it!!
Just FYI..the numbered tacks were used to mark shutters on houses many years ago. If the shutters were taken done for any reason, cleaning, painting etc. the number tacks made it easy to put them back on the correct window and on the correct side of each window.
Thank you for telling me! I love learning about the treasures I am finding.!
Love Love the Advent calendar and want to make it. The ‘window markers’ , cannot seem to find them, tried Google and Amazon, all I get are all type of markers, crayons, etc.
I linked to these in my post: They were the closest thing I could find. I think they would be even cuter! http://amzn.to/2Bw3v9d