An original Advent calendar to make with the whole family: each day, a new garland is hung along a window, until the 25th... Children can take an active part in the making of this calendar, and each can personalize their garland(s), according to their tastes, colors and favorite day in this sweet season of Advent...

step 1: Preparing hanging decorations

First, prepare the decorations to be hung as garlands.

Smallwooden subjects
Small plywood subjects are painted on both sides, then decorated with glitter glue and copper and gold banding (in thin tubes). Elisabeth, from the Bois et déco gallery, has concocted some adorable wooden Christmas subjects for us: the ice skate, the bell, the star...
At l'Atelier bois, you'll find hanging objects in raw wood, both classic and original, like miniature musical instruments...

Tip: I use a bottle of repositionable paint on glass, white with gold glitter: when the paint is dry, only the glitter remains, and on wooden subjects, it's a beautiful effect!

Paint-on-glass decorations
The repositionable paint technique is used here on a sheet of Rolloïd (thick transparent plastic). Using the stain bottle, you draw Christmas colorings simply by placing the plastic sheet over the drawings you've printed.
You can also draw typical Christmas motifs "freehand": the numbers for the days (we've placed them in circles), the letters of the word "Christmas" (used for the 1st garland).
Hint: As these designs won't be removed for repositioning, you don't need to use a hoop. You can use the paint bottles directly (as is the case for the "NOEL" letters).

For decorations with hooping, you'll need to wait until the hooping has dried before coloring the surfaces. Don't be afraid to use too much gold flake paint... it's Christmas!

We need to prepare the elements we're going to hang on the garlands:

• beads :
• homemade Fimo clay beads, faceted crystal beads for beautiful reflections, heavy beads (hematite is ideal) to place at the end of the garland to give weight and stretch the thread, beads to hang at the end of the garlands
• white polystyrene packing flakes,
• small Christmas motifs cut out of gold or silver corrugated cardboard,
• and of course our decorated wooden subjects and our carefully-cut, painted-on-glass decors
.

Group the various decorations by color, by theme ("gourmand", "stars"...): they will be combined in a single garland.

For each garland, i.e. for each day of the Advent calendar: cut a length of wire the height of the window to be decorated, to which you add about 30 cm. Make a loop at the end, tie a double knot, thread a bead onto the two wires together, and tie a double knot again. immediately insert a polystyrene flake (see below) to mask the protruding thread.

To thread the Styrofoam flakes, use a round-tipped embroidery needle (this is enough to pierce and is much safer for children).
To attach a flake or bead to the thread, tie a double knot after threading. Leave a few centimetres free, then attach another decoration...

The garlands thus created can be added to day after day (using a ribbon threaded through the window rod, for example).