DIY Advent Calendar

Friends! It’s DECEMBER! Which means that the countdown to the most gloriousandmagicalholidayoftheyear has officially begun! To celebrate and tick the days off ’till Santa comes, I’ve made my own DIY Advent Calendar which is based upon Persia Lou’s version in a smaller scale! I was so enamored I just had to make my own version 🙂

DIY Advent Calendar Materials

– Sheet of plywood (mine was 1×2)

– Wood stain

– Acrylic paint

– Paintbrush

– Painter’s tape

– Drill and bit

– Cup hooks

– Fabric

– Hot glue gun

– Mini ornaments

Step 1

I started by staining my wood with some leftover Rust-Oleum in Early American. Gave it a couple of good swipes of stain on a rag and let her dry!

Step 2

I eyeballed a basic triangle tree shape and laid it out in painters tape and put a layer of white acrylic paint on. After painting, I realized it was a little off center, but that just adds to the charm, right?

Step 3

I laid out where I wanted my cup hooks to go and then drilled holes. This step took me over 2 weeks. My current drill can only hold a charge for about 1 hole a day, so it was taking me a long time! Luckily, Karisa from Petite Modern Life saved the day and let me borrow her drill. After that it only took about 5 minutes! Phew!

Step 4

I handmade my pockets for the ornaments by taking a piece of canvas, and folding it over and securing with a bit of hot glue. I measured out 6 days per row and put hot glue in between the canvas layers, to form individual pockets. I then traced numbers onto the pockets with a black fine tip sharpie and glued them on to the board with more hot glue.

Step 5

Add your ornaments and you’re done! Begin the countdown till Christmas day with your very own DIY Advent Calendar! I also added a garland of snowflakes and pinecones to the top of my Advent calendar for some extra wintery flair. I love how it turned out!

And because I can’t resist, I just had to put ALL the ornaments on to see how it looked. 😀 I love the colors and types of ornaments that I ended up with (from Hobby Lobby and Michaels) – they just remind me of Christmas when I was a little girl. Oh the nostalgia!

I’m so excited to count down to Christmas with this fun Advent Calendar. I think my favorite ornaments are the tiny wreath and the Christmas packages! Hubby likes it too, even though he insist that we also get chocolate Advent calendars, too. I guess I can give in on that one 😉

What are you looking forward to most this Christmas and holiday season??