On The First Day Of Christmas... My Broke Ass Made For Thee....

12 days to go till Christmas... and I am still dead broke, but I am apparently not allowing that to stop me from at least trying to make something for two of my favorite kids, Leif (12) and Olin (9). Tonight I created an advent calendar from the most random things... but it was pretty easy, and kinda fun. 


So easy that I am about to share the goofiness of this project with you....

(that's Olin, Leif, & I last weekend when I took them to go get Olin's hair dyed blue (even though it came out green, which was just as cool)... these kids are so freakin' awesome!)

First I went to the thrift shop to see if there were any muffin tins. I was looking for one for baking 12 muffins. I do realize that advent calendars are supposed to be 24 days long... but times are tight! This is my "The Economy Sucks, And I'm Broke, So I Can Only Give You A 12 Day Advent Calendar" calendar....

First... I found myself a muffin tin. (Even brand new they are pretty cheap)

Next.. some red spray paint that I had in the basemement. (For like under $4.00 you can get some)

   (this is the one I used)

I tried this paint technique where you put some salt down and it is supposed to look like snow flakes after the paint dries and you wipe the salt away... it didn't work... AT ALL.... but I was okay with that...

Next.... (after I let it dry, obviously).... add some treats. I threw in little candies, chocolate coins, wee toys etc. Really, this stuff doesn't cost all that much. Maybe like $10.00, and that's only because I had to buy larger packages of certain things since I live on an island and it is very hard (and very rare) to find exactly what you are looking for here. I have to improvise... A LOT. (hence my retarded craft projects)

Now... How to cover the lil' cubbies?.... I was going to use tissue paper, and cut out little numbers and things from random magazines/catalogs I have laying around... which anyone can and could do beautifully... but I just went ahead and made a bunch of numbers in Photoshop (4 per page)  and printed those out. Though, first I had to figure out how big they needed to be, so I searched my kitchen for round items I could trace to cover the the lil' cubbies. I scored the perfect size with a glass that I've had since I was a little kid.

So.. I traced around the numbers and started cutting....

 

Then I had to figure out how to attach them over the cubbies.  First I tried glue... but all I had was Gorilla Glue®.

I don't know if you realize this, but Gorilla Glue® is retardedly strong. Like the Big Bad Granddaddy of Krazy Glue. This stuff could be used, in lieu of nails, on rooftop shingles on a house on Mt. Washington.

So, yeah... I tried Gorilla Glue®.. and it wouldn't stick to the muffin tin! (That "no-stick" thing is NO JOKE! ... WTG! Bakers Secret®!)

I ended up just using a bunch of Christmas stickers I had. I love that stickers worked, but freakin' Gorilla Glue® didn't. The only thing the glue stuck to was me, more on that in a moment.

Next up I found a strand of that wire Christmas decor/ribbon (I have a large stash of seriously random stuff, for real)... and decided to use that as well.

And... TAA DAAA! My "The Economy Sucks, And I'm Broke, So I Can Only Give You A 12 Day Advent Calendar" Calendar is done!

Quit laughing! I made it for KIDS!! They will appreciate it!
Meanwhile... residual red spray paint, and enough Gorilla Glue® stuck all over my finger tips to render my fingerprints nonexistent, ended up making my fingers look like something pretty tragic happened...

Seriously, how awesomely gross looking is that??!!