A disclaimer: I am not a professional crafter nor a professional photographer.
A holiday tradition that I have delighted in since a little girl, is the count down to Christmas calendar. I enjoy the anticipation of Christmas, and the calendar is a fun way to build up a crescendo for Christmas Day. This year finds me spending more time at home and drinking more tea. I decided to make my own Christmas count down tea calendar. My self induced stipulations were to use common materials that I had around my house, and make it easily replicated for fellow tea drinkers who may want to make their own calendar. 3 hours + 2 pieces of chocolate + 1 cup of green tea = a Christmas countdown tea calendar.
My muse was a cardboard triptych (a piece of cardboard folded into three parts) that was used in a shipment box. I decided to make it into a free standing easel of sorts. Next, I gathered materials that I thought I would need to make the countdown calendar. True confession time; I also used a hot glue gun and a ruler. Both of which are not pictured below. I then wrapped the cardboard in the festive holiday wrapping paper; making sure to wrap front and back of the piece of cardboard. I folded the piece of wrapped cardboard into an easel shape and hot glued the top together. Next, I covered the top seam with sparkly red ribbon.
Intermittently, I would burn my fingers on the hot glue, or take a sip of tea, or munch on some chocolate! I was half way through and burned fingers or not; I was determined to finish this craft. My next step was to cut out the printed off numbers and tape them onto an assortment of tea bags. Afterwards I hot glued the red curling ribbon across the easel front, horizontally, in four evenly spaced rows. I then glued little bits of green curling ribbon vertically from the red ribbon so that I could hang the tea bags from the green ribbon. I was almost done. All I had left to do was to hot glue the tea bags to the little bits of green curling ribbon. I decided to decorate the back of the easel. It was the perfect place to display Christmas cards.
I was finally done with my Christmas countdown tea calendar. I survived a craft project! I think next year I will drink the tea, eat the chocolate, and probably just buy a tea calendar.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
About The Author
Leslie Sundberg is a World Tea Academy Certified Tea Specialist, a World Tea Academy Apprentice Tea Sommelier, a Specialty Tea Institute Level IV trained Tea Specialist, and a Tea and Business Etiquette Specialist. On any given day, Leslie can be found teaching, speaking or sharing in the joys of a cup of tea. No matter what Leslie is doing or where she is, one thing remains constant: 4:00 in the afternoon is tea time!
