According to my Google Photos memories, I did my Quacks of Quedlinburg Custom Storage: Broken Token Storage Makeover this time last year. Well, fuck, I guess this is when I get crafty. ‘Cause now I’m doing an Advent Calendar.
I really wanted an Advent calendar this year. I wanted fancy keto chocolates. I found TWO chocolatiers who do keto bon bon calendars. Both in ENGLAND. Only one of which ships to America. Price $60.00. Shipping $22.00. Fuck. So I went on Amazon shopping around for advent calendars I might like. I was about to order one with those metal puzzles, but like, I’d like to mix it up. So I thought about a DIY advent calendar! Now husband aint gonna do that for me — I asked. But my friends would! So I tasked K with a hundred dollars to stuff an advent calendar for me.
So I decided to make myself a reusable calendar. Cause I’m crafty and I could have done paper bags but that would be simple. I don’t like simple. I also found the blank wooden calendars on amazon. They’re cheap crap — but whatever. The photos were obviously AI — whatever. I can paint! So I ordered a cheap wood advent calendar.
I considered modpodge. I thought I’d be able to find a cute christmas bag, or some paper — or better yet, decals. Nope. So I decided to paint mine. First, I had to color it. I decided to stain it so you could see the wood grain. This was fuck me #1. Because the red gel stain dried super light and also slightly powdery. So I had to seal the whole thing. Whatever. It’s red. Also this took two days because it needed two coats.
I decided to go with hanging ornaments. So I put a photo of my red boxes in Photoshop and mocked up colorful balls and garland. Then I spent two evenings painting them. This was the highly enjoyable part. I genuinely looked forward to coming home to work on my advent calendar these days. Painting circles is hard so they did end up bigger and therefore I had to drop one. Whatever. I also repainted the garland and decided I went way to dark on the greens. It is what it is.
I used nail art for the drawer numbers! K and I went to Hobby Lobby AND Michael’s last weekend looking for anything to use for numbers. Wood burning? Only letters. Stickers? Nope. Stamps? Only letters. Charms? Holy shit, so expensive. So Etsy hooked me up with nail art stickers. They ended up CRAZY tiny but they’re there.
Fuck me #2 was sealing everything. Thankfully, I was correct that sealing it would darken the red. I did NOT think to seal it before I painted on the stain. This would have saved me a ton of trouble. Why? Well, that powdery red stain coat turned the clear varnish bright pink! That looks awesome over my painting! So I had to seal and then quickly wipe it off the painted areas. So, of course that was gonna be two coats. Then I had to go super extra and seal all the sides of the drawers too to make them red and not pink. That’s a lot of surfaces.
I’m going to go with fuck me #3 was not spending more on a quality box. This one has a lot of jankiness so some drawers don’t fit well. This led to lots of sanding and numbering after staining. Then it led to a bit more sanding after painting and sealing. There are some tight fits where drawer separators are crooked. Also the different wood types took stain differently and the front shows the particle board. But whatever — IT LOOKS SO GOOD NOW!
I’m actually really happy I went with the stain so you can see the wood grain.
Now I’m going to take it to K so she can fill it with goodies for me to enjoy all December!
These would be fantastic to do if you had kids. Think about growing up with a custom advent calendar and having that keepsake. It would also be cheaper for the parents. You can just buy a bag of candy and bam, advent calendar done. Or, you could be smart and get little trinkets all year and stash them away. Like think of the stuff you stuff in Easter Eggs. Grab it up and save it. Clearance Halloween candy treats.
I really enjoyed making this! I think it would be great with little gold feet too. Like little wood balls or something. But I’m not going to hunt those down.
I’m so excited for my calendar! I’m going to put it under my Christmas Tree!