It's almost time to start our Christmas countdown with our favourite advent calendar. It was bitter sweet to see our Aussie Xmas advent fabric sell out, but not to worry we've got plenty of other ideas for some DIY alternatives to the traditional advent calendar that will add a splash of personality to your festive season.

1. Paper Bag Surprise Calendar

Immerse yourself in the joy of DIY by transforming simple brown paper bags into a festive masterpiece. Here we decorated each bag with the playful designs from our Creative Monsoon festive friends advent circles. Fill them with little treats or notes, and voila – you've got a quick and easy daily dose of surprise waiting to unfold!

Create a whimsical mini stocking garland from colourful felt. Begin by selecting an array of fun colours and cut out stocking shapes from the felt, mixing and matching hues for a playful touch. Personalize each stocking with unique embellishments, whether it's sequins, buttons, or even stitched patterns that reflect your creative flair. Once adorned, stitch or glue the stockings onto a length of twine, ensuring they're evenly spaced. Pic Lay Baby Lay

3. Paper Roll Tree Advent Calendar

Begin by collecting empty paper rolls, transforming them into adorable tree-shaped compartments for each day. Paint or wrap the rolls in vibrant, playful patterns then arrange them in the shape of a Christmas tree, securing them together to create a visually striking display. Nestle surprises or handwritten notes inside each roll, inviting a daily unraveling of joy throughout the holiday season. You can wrap the whole thing in tissue paper and write the numbers on, or use our Aussie animals advent circles, just select to scale down the size of the print.

4. Storage Box Advent Calendar

Begin by sourcing a set of plain storage boxes, you can often find these ready to decorate at craft stores or you could piece together some ikea storage, even just some small cardboard boxes. Adorn each box with lively patterns, stickers, festive wrapping paper. Fill each compartment with treats, small gifts, or personalised notes.

5. Bookish Advent Calendar: 

Finally, one for the little bookworms! It might not be the most hands-on DIY, but consider wrapping up books four your kids' in the most colourful paper, creating a bookish advent calendar that's as visually stimulating as it is intellectually exciting. Unwrap a new book each night – the gift that keeps on giving!

The arrival of summer school holidays for children in the northern hemisphere means it's time for fun! But, as the days stretch out, the onset of boredom can dim the excitement. Fear not, creative monsoon has assembled a list of some of our favourite art and craft projects that will engage and entertain, AND ignite their creativity. Check out these five activities to banish boredom on the summer break.

1. Seashell Painting 

Great for all ages. Capture the essence of the seaside by painting seashells in bright, tropical hues. Encourage your child to collect various seashells during a beach trip or purchase them from a craft store. With acrylic paints and brushes in hand, they can transform these shells into miniature canvases, adorning them with vibrant patterns, oceanic scenes, or whimsical designs. Seashell painting brings the beauty of the beach directly into your child's artwork. Pic erinsummer_

2. Yarn-Wrapped Octopus

This cute project combines the joy of working with colourful yarn or wool and the excitement of creating a whimsical octopus. Paint a toilet or paper towel roll, or use our free octopus template to help practice those scissor skills too. Download the template here.

Create your own crazy colourful emu with our cute free printable template of the emu eyes, beak and a fine guide for the neck. Prints onto standard A4 or it's fine to blow up a little bigger to A3 like we did here. Available from the free downloads section.

Self portraits are such a great way for kids to explore their sense of self as well their creativity. But younger children might find the idea of drawing a whole picture of themselves a little daunting - so this version is great as half the face is already there. We picked a photo, cut it in half and printed it out. Then drew back in the missing half for a wacky self portrait. You can also ask kids to surround the image with pictures of their thoughts and imagination which is a great way to talk about feelings and any worries they might have.

After a couple of weeks working on some new bathroom designs and octopus illustrations I decided to put together this quick kids craft project. It’s the perfect way to practice basic scissor skills with some simple straight lines to cut along.

Instructions:

1. Visit the free download section of the shop and print out the PDF template

2. Cut around the outside of the template (parents may want to do this for smaller children) then cut along the dashed lines to create the legs

3. Glue or tape the tab into place

4. Curl the legs out so you octopus can sit down

You might even want to decorate him a little more and add googly eyes

A thumbprint or fingerprint guest book is a fun alternative to your usual guestbook. It can be used at baby showers, weddings, christenings, birthdays and more; and rather than being tucked away in a drawer, after your event it makes a beautiful keepsake to display in your home and cherish forever.  

In the guest book shown above, the flamingo, guests place their fingerprint on the paper to represent a balloon as a symbol of their attendance. The guests could also then sign their name next the fingerprint. Below are a few tips we've picked up over the course of 15years creating fingerprint guest books.

Ink and pens 

To leave a fingerprint guests just press their finger onto a coloured ink pad then onto your design. Our favourite ink is momento dew drop ink. It is acid free, water based and fast drying and even comes is a cute little droplet shape. This is great for a leaf or water drop so in some cases you might prefer to just touch the ink pad straight onto the paper instead of using a finger. It can be nice to have a few different shades for guests to choose from too. Another brand to consider is color box. Fine art and scrapbooking pens are good for guests to sign with, try Faber Castell and Memory Marker. Sharpies are always popular or a dual tipped momento pen. 

Clean up 

Just have a pack of wet wipes and a towel handy so guests can remove the excess ink right away. In many cases that may be all that's needed, sometime, especially with darker inks, guests might need to wash their hands with soap and water at some point to remove the tint. If you're still worried you can as mentioned above use the stamp straight onto the paper or consider a signature only guest book.

Fingerprint guest book top tips

1. For a big even like a wedding start things off yourself or ask your bridal party and family members to. A big empty guest book poster might be a little intimidating to have the first go on. Once a few people have left their print it will be easy for others to follow. 
2. Have a test bit of paper handy. Just an ordinary blank bit of paper guests might like to try their fingerprint out on first. 
3. Display instructions. Let guests know the process or just that it's your guest book alternative with a sign. We have a selection of free signs to download here or you can purchase a printed one along with your guest book. 
4. Consider backup ink or pens. We've been using the momento inks for years and have never run out of ink at an even yet - but, if guests leave the lids off for too long they could dry up. So you may want to consider more than one ink pad or pen just in case. Inks are water based so a tiny dab of water may get them going again if they do dry up. 

 You can find a big selection of fingerprint guest book designs in our shop.

With Easter just around the corner I thought I'd design another FREE printable, this time an Easter bunny treat cone for collecting all those little eggs in.

Instructions: 

1. Visit the free download section of the shop and print out the PDF template 

2. Cut around the outside of the template (parents may want to do this for smaller children especially round the tricky ears) 

3. Fold the tab over then glue or tape it into place 

4. Go hunting for yummy treats