Hello 2023! Wow.... it's definitely been a while!
I wanted to kick off the year with a creative project and as someone who can't resist an advent calendar....or two, I thought why not create an advent calendar for the romantic season of Valentine's Day.
The idea came about as I was packing away my Christmas advent calendar (that we made in 2020 - blog post here). I was looking at the red baking tray and suddenly thought that I could create a similar type of advent calendar for Valentine's Day. I then started to look on Pinterest to find some ideas but nothing really jumped out at me, so then I delved into my craft stash to see what I could find to inspire me.
I pulled out a die set by Tim Holtz called Gift Card Bag.
Once I saw this die set, the idea to create an advent calendar that included daily activities to do with your loved one sprang to mind. However when I looked at the size of the die, I knew I wouldn't be able to fit 14 of these bags on the baking tray, so I started to think how I could alter it in some way.
I then looked at cropping it to a smaller size and began experimenting.
I measured the size of card that I thought would work and then laid out the die. I knew that I would need to create my own bottom tab once I had die cut the paper so made allowances on the measurements for this.
The above photo shows how the bag came out once I had die cut it and added my own tab. Once folded up, it creates a cute little pocket that will fit a 2x2 inch card inside.
Once I had assembled all my pockets I got to decorating them and printed out some photos, approx. 3cm x 4cm each and then added some romantic words and most importantly the advent number. I decided for ease to just use some gold Thicker stickers that I had in the cupboard.
To make the activity cards, I typed up some activities that would fit on the 2x2 inch cards. I chose a range of activities that I knew we could fit in around our day to day lives and didn't have to be too extravagant.
I will include a list of the activities I chose below as it might help as inspiration for your own advent calendar:-
1. Tell each other the top 5 things you love about one another.
2. Learn how to say I Love You in a different language.
3. Tell each other your favourite memory.
4. Go for a romantic walk
5. Watch a movie together
6. Give each other a massage
7. Sit around a log fire and look at the stars
8. Buy each other a sweet treat
9. Spend the evening dancing together
10. Go on a brunch date
11. Tell each other a wish for 2023
12. Each pick out your favourite photo together
13. Play a game together
14. Have a romantic dinner for two
I hope this post has given you some Valentine's inspiration for your own crafting projects this month.
N.B. The paper I used is from the Carta Bella My Valentine collection
