Friday, November 29, 2013

K-Cup Advent Calendar


So I saw this neat tutorial by Vicki over at Making Our Sustainable Life on making an Advent Calendar out of used (but cleaned) K-Cups and a shirt box.  If you don't know, K-Cups are those coffee pods used in the Keurig coffee makers.  And if you have a Keurig coffee maker you have a lot of used K-Cups; which I do, which is why Vicki's post caught my attention. So I decided to try to make this Advent Calendar myself.  This isn't as thorough a tutorial here since Vicki did such a nice job but here goes.

You will need:
1 shirt box
24 K-Cups
Hot glue gun
Something to cut holes in the shirt box top (I used an x-acto knife)
Wrapping paper pre-cut to the correct size to wrap the shirt box
Small trinkets to fill the 24 K-Cups
Numbers 1- 24 (I cut mine out on my Silhouette but stickers or markers work too)
Ribbon or other decoration you want to put on the wrapped box.

First I cleaned out my K-Cups.  No photos.  What a mess.  Just be prepared for coffee grounds everywhere.  Do this over the sink. 

Next I marked out circles on the top of a shirt box.  My shirt box was 9.5" X 14".  Try to space out four rows of six circles evenly.  You want a circle that is the same measurement as the inside diameter of the K-Cup.  This will make the cups fit snugly in the box top.  I found the circles in my box where about 3/8" apart.  Once all the circles are drawn on the top of the shirt box cut them out.  I used an x-acto knife to cut out my circles.
In these two photos you can see the top of the box, above, with some of the circles cut out and the K-Cups in place.  Below are the same cups from the other side.  I placed my K-Cups in the circles as each circle was cut.  This help stabilized the box lid while I was cutting.
 It took awhile to cut out all those circles.  Below is the top of the shirt box filled with K-Cups.
 Next each K-Cup needs to be hot glued in place.  I glued each K-Cup in four placed like spot welding.
Once all the K-Cups were glued in place, I flipped the box lid over and put the shirt box lid on the shirt box bottom then hot glued the top and bottom together. The K-Cups are slightly taller than the box so once the top and bottom of the box were glued together the cups were held snuggly.

Next I filled all the cups with chocolate coins and small trinkets.  Anything that fits will work. 
Next I put hot glue around each and every K-Cup on the top of the shirt box making sure to not get any inside the cups.  I needed to work fast on this step so there is no photo.  The purpose of the hot glue is to affix the wrapping paper to the top of the shirt box. My daughter will be poking her finger through the wrapping paper into a K-Cup each night of Advent.  I do not want her to be able to see into the other cups or have the trinkets shift around out of the K-Cups.  So glue all around each cup to keep everything in place.  Before the glue dries, press your piece of precut wrapping paper down into the glue on the top of the shirt box.  Make sure it adheres around each cup.

The last step is to finish wrapping the box and number the cups.  Again, each evening my daughter will push her finger through a number to get the surprise inside.  Once the box is wrapped, you can feel the circles the K-Cups make through the wraping paper so you can tell where to put the numbers.

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Merry Christmas!

Epic Mommy Adventures
Shared with:
Creative Home and Garden Hop; Inspiration Monday Party; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; Motivation Monday; More the Merrier Monday; Homestead Barn Hop; What to Do Weekends; All Things Christmas Link Party; The Scoop; Turn it up Tuesday; Tuesday with a Twist; PINcentive Blog Hop; Wonderful Wednesday; Fall Into Fall; Wow Us Wednesday; Homemaking Link Up; Wildcrafting Wednesday; Treasure Hunt Thursday; Home and Garden Thursday; The Homeacre Hop; Thursday Favorite Things; Sweet and Simple Friday; Grace at Home; Create It Thursday; TGIF Link Party; Blog Strut Owl Style; What to do Weekends; The Merriest Blog Hop; Christmas Categorically Crafting; Holiday Glam Link Party; Farm Girl Friday; From the Farm Blog Hop

18 comments:

  1. What a cute idea! Your advent calendar looks great, and what a great idea to use the K-cups!! Love it!

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  2. Absolutely beautiful! I just know she is going to love it! Thank you for letting me know you made one and posting it! Wonderful!

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  3. How clever! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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  4. Too cute! I always feel bad throwing so many K-cups away....but I lovelovelove my Keurig! (I've tried the refillable cup, and the coffee is never as good). If Christmas wasn't coming so fast, I might try to make one of these with my kids, but def. pinning for next year!

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    1. Hi Kim. I barely made it in time. My daughter loves it. And it was a great way to use up all those cups. Another person suggested using up the apple sauce cuts she had been saving. The K-cups fit surprisingly well in the shirt box. But use relatively thin paper. I used a layered shiny paper and my daughter cannot punch a hole in it with her finger. I have to poke each cup with scissors for her to tear it open. Thanks for commenting and stopping by!

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  5. What NEAT idea! I've never seen anything like this before! I'd love for you to link this up at our Holiday link party happening now: http://www.urbanejane.com/2013/12/holiday-glam-link-party.html
    I'm now thinking this would be the perfect handmade gift for a couple of people I know! ;)
    thank you for the inspiration!!

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  6. Good morning! I found you at the "Someday Crafts" link party! Would love it if you stopped by and participated in our MARY KAY giveaway!

    http://www.ourminifamily.com/2013/12/giveaway-100-mary-kay-products.html

    Have a great weekend,
    ~Cathy~

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  7. I am saving this idea for my adult friends next year - I am going to figure out a way to be able to remove and use the K-cup (or in my case Nespresso pods) instead using empty ones! A cup of coffee everyday is much more appealing treat to me ;-) Thank you for the inspiration!

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    Replies
    1. Julie, that is an excellent idea! I might have to try that too! Thanks for stopping by.

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  8. It's Deonna from the Child at Heart blog! Thank you so much for linking up at the Merriest Blog Hop! I can't wait to see all of your holiday ideas this month! I bet your daughter get's so excited each day. This is perfect for kids!

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  9. Very clever! I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
    Kathy

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  10. Tham khảo một số dự án bđs này xem:
    Căn hộ Sunshine Avenue: https://homedy.com/can-ho-sunshine-avenue-pj46319477
    Khu đô thị Saigon Peninsula :https://homedy.com/khu-do-thi-saigon-peninsula-pj85688635

    ReplyDelete

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