Picket Fence Family Tin Can Advent Calendar

I know I promised a hedge planting post and some painted cane furniture. I really hoped I'd get both these things done this week, but life got in the way and I had to push these tasks sideways. I did however take some time out to do some crafty things with the Picket Fence Girls.
We made an advent calendar . Very easy , we used , some tin cans, bits and bobs an old door and a glue gun.
 First , save 25 cans or buy 25 cans of something cheap you can use and freeze the contents. Tomato soup   all round in this house.
 Wash them , admire their shiny exteriors and pop them aside.
 A salvaged door. Here it is before I painted it with one coat of  Dulux Antique White USA.
 Some paper numbers.  1- 25
 Fabric strips of your choice. Which I then cut into small squares. 25 small squares ;)
 Some ticking 25 pieces...about the circumference of the can in length
25 Vintage buttons.
 Cut up 25 pieces from a cardboard box. I punched holes in them and then changed my mind and didn't use the holes. Ignore the holes. I covered them with buttons ( a quick fix)
 Ready to begin. Heat your glue gun and thread some string through your buttons. Purely decorative.
Drill a biro size hole in the back top area of each can. Or enrol a husband to do same while you photograph his oh so gorgeous hands ;) Thank-you Mr Picket Fence xx
 Glue your ticking on the cans.
 Get that glue gun out again and stick a piece of cardboard on, followed by a snip of fabric and then on top, stick a number. Glue your button on. I glued my button over my accidentally punched holes :) I think it actually held together more securely because of the holes. A happy accident!
 Hang your cans on the louvre door  in random order with small sized "s" hooks. To the top, I added a poly resin angel I had tucked away ...you could add whatever makes you smile or just keep it simple and add nothing.
Fill each can with a treat a day to count down until Christmas. We are going to have little scrolls of paper with activities and recipes in each can. Topped off with a wrapped home made  toffee,  I think it will be quite a countdown, thats if baby Picket Fence doesn't raid every can within reach.
Feeling festive yet ? I'm off to eat soup and dream about planting that hedge . See you soon!!

Sharing with Sarah at A Beach Cottage

17 comments:

  1. all i can say is wooooowzer! xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is so adorable!!! Wow, I lllloooovveee it very muchly!!! With this as inspiration I will now scan my home and see if I can somehow do something...anything!!...for an advent for my kiddos!! They're 17 and 13 but still love things like this!! Thank you for sharing!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. That has to be one of the coolest advent calendars I have seen...amazing!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fantastic idea! Very creative.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Hope to see you on my blog:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is so cool Ava, I have all those things, might need a few extra cans though! I am busy getting ready for our Home Ed registration tomorrow and I am busy writing reports (with a bit of procrastinating and blog reading thrown in, but I might be able to do something tomorrow after he leaves, I promised the kids some Xmas decorating!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cool, I love how every one helped - adding you to EARLY PLAY AUSTRALIA Christmas Craft roundup right now

    ReplyDelete
  7. hello ava
    thanks for visiting my blog .
    what a wonderful advents calender.....i love the idea,really wow!!!!
    greetings,regina

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a fantastic idea.. I was dubious when I saw tin cans, but it really came together and looks so lovely! Your children are so lucky! Ps: I love my husband's hands too :)x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh I love this idea - we'd never get through the soup though!!
    I love that the tins are big enough for treats too - my little matchboxes are too weeny for words!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy hellos to you Ava,

    What a fab-u-lous creative idea, it's lovely. I bet your little peeps had a great time putting it all together. I love the idea of activities and recipes going into each can with a little treat too! Bless.

    It's always such a busy time of the year and I haven't posted in a while ~ hopefully I will be back on track soon. Have a great weekend. Haizi xxx

    ReplyDelete
  11. WHat a cute, cute idea! Added to my to-do list, which is already way too long!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. what a cute idea!! I was thinking you could just go ahead and start seedlings for Spring in it next!

    ReplyDelete
  13. what a really cute idea...my baby girl has a little "tinkerbell" advent calendar & is now waking up so early each day, just to see what she gets!! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  14. Very creative Ava, and I love the fact that the whole family is in on the act! Have a great week, love Linda x

    ReplyDelete
  15. How cool! It looks great! Such a neat idea : )

    ReplyDelete
  16. This advent is so creative! I love how the whole family helped with it too!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I wish I had read this sooner. Such a pretty calendar, you clever thing. I'm more farty than arty these days...I think it's lost somewhere with the laundry.
    You've inspired me to do something today.
    x Marnie

    ReplyDelete