Junkle Bells in October

So, this project started out to be a tutorial on how to make a scrappy junk advent calendar.   First you pick up a cooking sheet or tray.

Then you collage over it with vintage text book papers

Next give it a coat of paint.

Here the tutorial ends, but the lessons begin.

Calendar without the dates added

*You can click and click to see the pictures closer*

Lesson 1:  Don't give up when the first paint you choose is ugly.

Don't give up when you smear the lines because you didn't let the paint dry.

You can keep painting over it.

Adding little pieces of this and that and more paint if you want.  

Lesson #2:  An advent calendar MUST have five weeks to it.  So when Dec. 1 is on Thurs. next year you still have room for Christmas on the Sunday of the next week and so on....

I do realize that this is really a 25 days of Christmas calendar and not all of Advent.

That was a tough lesson learned but I kept on as I'd put so much work into it already.

I was so enjoying putting the little scraps together and stamping dates with my old library stamp.

All my pieces were done.  Just to glue on the magnets...

when lesson #3 was blazoned on my brain.

Lesson #3:  If you plan a project with magnets...MAKE SURE THE PIECE YOU WILL BE STICKING YOUR MAGNETS ON IS NOT, I REPEAT, IS NOT ALUMINUM!!!

So, how are those little calendar dates staying on you wonder?  Well, I have the strongest little magnets so I added a magnet to the back.  Unfortunately, that means that should someone pick up a piece off the board the little tiny magnet on back will fall down.  It also means that when you store your little pieces to put up on the board all that magnetizing power will be annoying.

Yes, annoying.  The pieces were to be stored stuck on the back of the calendar until each day we pulled the next one out to slip it in it's place on the front of the calendar.

So, no tutorial, as no one would want to duplicate the steps I took, but plenty of lessons.

I may just magnet (can that be used as a verb?) my pieces in place right now, and just leave them in place.  I am quite happy with how the painting and pieces turned out.  At least there is that! And, if four years there will enough room on it again.

Now, anyone want to join in on the fun?! I'd love to see your junk Christmas project!  Link up below!!  I'll leave it open for a week so you have time to join up.