Celebrating Advent with a DIY Advent Calendar

Friday, December 6, 2013

[A few days late, but Happy Advent, y'all!]

Last Christmas season, I made up my mind that I was going to make a Pottery Barn-esque Advent Calendar, much like this:

And I spent roughly the first 10 days of Advent trying to find the perfect ornaments to complete the look. So it morphed into more of a 12 days of Christmas calendar.

Anyway - the point is that I finally found the right ornaments and this year, I actually got to start on the actual first day of Advent putting the ornaments on my designated little Advent tree!

Here's the finished product:
My knock-off Advent calendar

and the little tree the ornaments go on!


It's really easy to make, and inexpensive if you're careful not to let the ornaments add up!
You'll need:

  • a small/medium cork board (mine is about 2 feet tall)
  • burlap
  • staple gun
  • seamstress pins with pearls on the end
  • blank gift tags (found in the paper or card making section at Michaels)
  • 24 small ornaments, each different
  • Small tree (or you can hang the ornaments on your regular tree!)
Staple the burlap around the cork board (BONUS: you can use the burlap-covered cork board year round for pictures, notes, etc!). Write numbers 1-24 on the blank gift tags. Carefully lay out the tags so that they will be evenly spaced on the board. Attach them loosely with the pins through the holes in the tags. Hang a small ornament on each pin. Proudly display your Advent calendar and remember to put an ornament on the tree each day! 



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