Halloween "Advent" Calendar

As soon as I saw this Halloween style "advent" calendar I knew I needed to make this for my husband. I think the number one reason why he loves Christmas is because of the advent calendar! Let me preface that I realize that "advent" really isn't the correct word for this project since the word advent has to do with: "a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas." I would prefer to call this more of a countdown then advent; however, this is the project that I choose to model after another, so I don't feel it's appropriate to change the name! 

Ok... now with that being said. Let's carry on: 

... I was even more excited to see that Oopsey Daisy had a download with all the numbers already designed and ready to be printed out, cut, glued, and placed on the cookie sheet. Yep, that's what makes this "advent" calendar so cool. The numbers are magnets that can be changed each and every year. This was pretty easy to make; however, cutting out all 31 numbers and then glueing them was probably the most time consuming part of the project! I used the Designer's Calendar cricut cartridge, and cut out the word "October" using both the script and script shadow features. I adhered it using a few zots *and realize that this may not be salvageable for years to come! Now thinking back I should have mod podged over the "October" as well, so that it would "laminate" it. 

You might be thinking to yourself... so where's the candy? I haven't added it yet. When I first showed my husband he just figured it was a calendar for the month of October... that's when I explained what it was, and instead of him being grateful for my hard work and thoughtfulness he simply replied "but there are no boxes hiding the candy--what's an advent calendar that isn't hiding the daily prize?" (something to that magnitude). Of course I replied something along the lines of "well then, this can be my countdown calendar, and you can construct your own countdown calendar using 31 little boxes, and lots of wood and more of your time that you don't have"! So that was the end of that story. I think he became instantly grateful for my thoughtfulness, and I know he will appreciate it even more once there is candy on it (and it's the first of October). 

The complete tutorial along with the free print out numbers can be found on Oopsey Daisy's blog! 

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