24 Activities of Christmas...

Each year around Christmas I try to think of ways to make our family feel in the holiday spirit, and I LOVE traditions. This year a friend and I made these magnets; the 24 activities of Christmas! It is a sort of advent calendar with holiday inspired activities, both big and small. I think the magnets look like cute little ornaments - Enjoy!

For a list of the activities we used, and a printable sheet please email MommyBrained@live.com - I am happy to share!

You will need:

• Paper, ribbon in choice of colors.
• Craft glue.
• Magnets - make sure yours will stick to a surface on both sides I found packs of 10 small round magnets at my local craft store.
• Large and small circle punches (example: 2" and 1") and number punches 0-9, or similar paper cutter like a Cricut (this can be done with scissors but will take longer and you will need to add a step below to print/draw for outline). We used a cricut for the numbers and large circles and small punch for the activities.
• Hole puncher, we used a special ribbon puncher with two lines like II to thread the ribbon but a standard punch would work.
• Printer.

What we did:

1. Cut/Punch out 48 circles, in the large size. I did 24 red and 24 green - and alternated colors. Example of front/back below.
2. Cut/Punch out numbers 1-24.
3. Cut ribbon to desired length - I did the exact width of each large circle, and trimmed after the glue dried.
4. Print out your list of activities, ensuring they will fit within your small circle punch - and cut/punch out.
5. Assemble front pieces: Glue a piece of ribbon and number along each large circle - let dry. I alternated top/bottom for the ribbon.
6. Assemble back pieces: Glue the activity (small punch) on another large circle - do not glue to the back side of your initial large circles. You will have two large circles for each day.
7. Glue together: place a magnet in between each pair of large circles and glue (make sure you have the activity you want for that day picked out). For mine I have green on front and red on back - or visa versa. Let dry.
8. Punch a slit out of the top of each circle - thread ribbon and tie.
9. Arrange on magnetic surface 24-1 & count down with a fun activity each day!

Variations: I have seen other cute magnet advent calendars, such as the 'mini muffin tin' advent calendar that you can put little goodies inside. Note: you will need magnet sheets for this project, not the small rounds we used.

Let me know if you have any questions about this project, or suggestions on variations for other crafters!

Happy Holidays!!!