Just in time for December I got my act together and achieved a long held desire to have an lovely advent calendar for Boris and I. As a child my mom would put up an advent calendar strung with chocolate treats for my sister and I to countdown our way to Christmas. It was made by one of my aunts and featured cross-stitched elves on it with plastic rings to attach the treats.

I bought this Christmas-tree-with-drawers version at DeSerres a few weeks ago and decided I would customize it with my own designs. It comes in plain wood, is pretty roughly made, and needs a fair amount of sanding before you paint.

I painted with red acrylic, and gave the entire piece one coat with two coats of paint on the front of the drawers and the outside of the tree. I asked Boris to help do some of the painting so things would go faster. I drew on each drawer with metallic silver gel pen, and made each drawing unique. This was the part I found most challenging and fun. It’s awkward to draw on such a small surface, but I loved coming up with twenty-four different designs.

Boris and I each need to select twenty-four tiny treats to put into the drawers for one another. I think this is going to be the best part.