new printable advent calendar + giveaway

Can you believe December is almost here? I can't! I've been gearing up for it, though. One thing my kids love during this month is a daily advent. I put together some advent envelopes to use this year and they are now available here in my shop at ScrapMatters. I hung them up as a garland on a banister in our hallway. You could also string them up on a wall, stack them in a cute basket, or even use them as tree ornaments! I am going to write a fun activity to do as a family on each of the cards and let my kids take turns each day opening the envelopes to see what we will do for that day. You could also write a thought or a scripture for each day on the cards. I think it would be fun to write a part of the Christmas story (or the coordinating scripture reference to look up and read) on the card.





I would suggest printing the envelopes on a thinner paper (even just normal copy/printer paper would work) and the card inserts on cardstock. I had some used grocery sacks in my recycle box that I pulled out and decided to repurpose into 8.5x11 sheets that I could run through my printer. I took some photos of the process and put together some simple instructions below if you want to try this. It's actually quite simple, and I love the look of the envelopes printed on the sack paper.

1. Carefully undo flaps on bottom of sack (if this bottom part tears, no worries, you're going to cut it off anyway). Cut along one corner of the sack so it opens to one big flat piece. Cut off bottom part. *Note: At this point, it would probably be easiest to iron the whole sack to flatten the creases. I cut first and then ironed each piece, but I think it would make it easier to cut if it were ironed first.
2. Cut bag into 8.5"x11" sheets. You'll need 12 sheets if you are going to print all 24 envelopes. I was able to get 6 sheets from one sack, so you'll need 2 sacks. (You could also do the 12 days of Christmas instead and only print envelopes 1-12.) When I laid out my unfolded sack, the short end was approximately 17 inches, so I just cut down the middle to make it 8.5" wide. I then cut those 8.5" wide strips into 11" lengths. I used a paper trimmer to get nice straight edges so it would feed through the printer easily. Some of them were up to .25" smaller on either dimension, but they worked fine.
3. If you didn't iron in step 1, you may want to iron out the creases of each piece now... it makes the paper more easily go through the printer.
4. Print all your envelopes on your newly cut sack papers... make sure to print on the blank side of the sack. Print the card inserts on the cardstock color of your choice.
5. Assemble the envelopes according to the instructions included in the printable (found here in my shop).
6. To create a garland out of the envelopes, clip them to a piece of twine, string, or ribbon. (I found my snowflake clips at World Market). You could also punch a small hole in the top of the envelope instead of using clips. If you don't want a garland, it would be cute to stack the envelopes in a little box or basket, or you could use them as tree ornaments.

I think these would also look great on regular paper (white, tan, kraft... whatever color you want!) if you don't have grocery sacks handy. You can grab these printable envelopes/cards today at ScrapMatters for 25% off through today!



Do you want to win this printable set of envelopes and cards? Just leave a comment on this post by the end of today (11:59 pm MST)! Get extra an extra chance by posting about this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook or your blog – or all three. Come back here and post links in the comments section. Post as a new comment each time so every entry counts towards your chances to win. (If you buy the printable envelopes while they're on sale at ScrapMatters and are chosen as the winner, I will give you a gift card to my store for the amount you spent.)

I'll announce the winner sometime on Tuesday. Good luck!