The last few weeks have been full for sure, but today I wanted to stop in and share another craft that I've done on behalf of Jo-Ann from their Holiday Maker's Guide.
These sweet little Paper Advent Hearts are easy and simple and very family-friendly if you have craft-happy kiddos. I feel like Advent activities are such a big deal right now (and can be very overwhelming...thank you, Pinterest), but the true reasoning behind Advent is obviously a great one so I think a simple version like this is worth the time and effort during this busy season.
You can fill these with homemade cookies, candy, small toys, or slips of paper with activities or scripture to do or read each night. I actually love the idea of doing a different Christmas activity for Advent every night, but let's be real here.....I have two small children and do not live in la-la-perfect-land where everything goes according to plan and mom has endless amounts of joy of energy, so I think that sprinkling in a few activities along with treats and verses is about the best that is going to happen in the real world. ;)
For this craft, you will need:
- Various colors of cardstock
- Wax paper
- Coordinating ribbon
- Scissors
- Hole punch
- Chipboard numbers or stickers
- Glue stick
- Twine
- Decorative punches
- Sewing machine (if you would rather do this quickly)
- Basic sewing supplies
- Cardstock heart template (download HERE)
- Wax paper heart template
- Cookies, candy, small toys, lists of scripture or activities
Alright. So first, you are going to print out this heart template that is right HERE. Cut out twice as many heart templates as you want to do advent hearts. I chose to do 12, mostly because that's all I can handle and also because everyone can relate it to "The 12 Days of Christmas". I bought an adorable scrapbook paper pack with gold foil and kraft paper designs to to all of my hearts....LOVE it and super easy.
Take your hole punch and punch about 1/2" apart around two of the hearts (wrong sides together). Take your twine and loop through the holes to sew the heart together. Your goal is for it look homemade--perfectionists, beware!
Leave about 1/4 of it open at the end. Stuff you candy or whatever you choose in. I used M&M's, mini candy canes, and mints. If you are doing baked goods, use the printable template to cut out the smaller heart from wax paper and slip two of those in before putting in your goodies to make sure they don't get grease all over the scrapbook paper.
Stitch the heart closed and tie a handle with the twine. Now for the fun part: embellishments! You can either paint or glue your numbers directly on your heart, or you can do like I did and add a tag to hang separately. I used a 3" scallop punch to cut out my tag for the number. I also decided to attach the activity or scripture to the outside of mine (so we get something sweet every night), so I wrote that on a little slip of black paper with a dressmaking pencil and cut it to look like a pennant. Super cute!
Attach your tags using the hold punch and threading on the ornament hook. Take your ribbon and tie a bow on the hook as well.
Hang on your big Christmas tree for the kids to hunt for and remove each night. Wa-lah! A cute and easy Advent.
I'll be sharing this on Studio 4 today. Can't wait!
Hope you all are enjoying the Christmas season. Oh, and did I mention that we are building a house ourselves? Um. Yes. More on that later!
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