Picture frame advent calendar

It might be a bit early to start actually decorating for Christmas, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about it. I made this advent calendar to give to my sister this year. I sewed little bags, one for each day in December leading up to Christmas. I made similar bags for myself last year that I hang on my garland going up the stairs in my front hallway. They were a big hit so I thought I would make some for my sister too. She doesn't have an area to hang garland going up her stairs, so I thought the empty frame was a good solution. This way she can hang it on the wall, or set it on a table and lean it against the wall.

I started with an empty picture frame I got for $10 at the antiques market a couple of weeks ago. I gave it a couple of coats of white paint and used a staple gun to attach chicken wire to the back of it. I used a bead of hot glue around the edge of the chicken wire on the back of the frame so there would be no sharp edges. I also sewed 24 small bags using some left over Christmas fabric from last year and I used iron-on transfer paper and my printer to create the numbers for each bag.

 

I attached the bags to the chicken wire using the same small clothes pins that I used on my chicken wire photo board. Here's another picture of the advent calendar. I hope my sister will like it...