Merry Merry Photo Advent Calendar

It's me! Yes ... I'm still here! Have had a fabulous, terrific year but ran out of energy somewhere around July! I saw this beautiful post on  Makinglemonadeblog.com  about photo advent calendars and was totally motivated to make one of my own. (Calligraphic of course!)

I was so pleased with how it came out, I decided to share the love with my bloggie friends. So included below is a download of the tags which you can print out for yourself and make into your own advent calendar.

I love this idea for so many reasons. It's simple but decorative, it's fun to see pictures from throughout the year, and it creates a great photo display by Christmas. You can change the photos every year or keep some - very customizable! You can hang it on a ribbon, on a board, or on the tree.

I decided to use photos taken throughout this year but you could use your favorites from throughout the years, favorite holiday photos, etc. I rarely print photos anymore so this is a fun opportunity for the kids to see some of the pictures I took throughout the year and relive those memories.

Supplies needed:

Kraft cardstock - I purchased mine at HobbyLobby. I considered it a 2-fer as it included 50 cards and 50 envelopes for only $9.99 ($5.99 using my 40% off coupon). Now I can use the envelopes for my Christmas cards!

Mini clips - purchased at Walmart for $3.88

Reinforcement labels - again Walmart for $1.00

Ribbon (3 yards) - found an awesome one with baubles at Big Lots for $2!

Photos - size 3.5x5

So for about $15 I have an advent calendar I love!

Yes - that's my real cat - who is a complete scaredy-cat but manages to get in every photo I try to take around the house!

More good news ... leave a comment below to enter a drawing to win one of the advent calendars - all made - just add your own pictures! I will draw a lucky winner on Thursday, 12/6/12, at 11 p.m. and ship on Friday, 12/7/12.

You'll still have about a good two weeks to display before Christmas. Or you can keep for next year or give as a gift! Please remember to check back on Friday morning to see if you are the winner so you can email me your mailing address! I can't mail it if I don't know how to contact you.

One winner - ribbon may differ from that in the photo - shipped to continental US only (sorry). But you can still download the files for free below!

The files also include a bonus - 3 gift tags!

Hope you enjoy! Happy Holidays!
Truly,
Erica

These tags are formatted to print on the 5x7 unfolded kraft cards which is 10x7. You then trim them to 3.5x5. But you can also print them onto 8x10 cardstock and then trim to size.

Tags 1-8

Tags 9-16

Tags 17-24

Tags 25 & gift