Do you have favorite Christmas things or decorations from your childhood? My favorite is hands-down an advent calendar that my mother made. It was a red and green plaid wall hanging with a big, green, felt Christmas tree and rows of pockets along the bottom. Each pocket contained a different felt ornament, and every day leading up to Christmas, my siblings and I would take turns adding one of the ornaments to the tree. On Christmas Eve, we would pull out the last ornament – a little manger holding the baby Jesus – and add it to our fully decorated tree.
When I decided to make a new advent calendar for our family, I knew I wanted to do a modern version of the tree advent I had loved as a child.
For my version of the tree advent, I decided to use wood instead of felt. I planning on incorporating more wood into my Christmas decorations this year, and it just seemed like the way to go.
DIY Modern Advent Calendar
I started with a piece of plywood I had cut to 2’x3′ at the home improvement store. I gave the plywood a quick coat of leftover stain from the kids’ dresser project and then taped off a triangle in the top two feet of the board.
I gave my triangle a couple coats of white paint, and when I pulled off the tape, I had my tree! Yes! (This is when things started getting exciting, folks.)
To make it a functional, ornament-holding tree, I laid out 24 cup hooks to get the spacing right and then screwed them in place. Easy Peasy.
The pockets were a bit more work, but not too bad. I started by printing numbers onto linen fabric using freezer paper. Did you know you can do that? It’s true and really kind of cool – BUT (warning!) – I have heard of people getting jams and serious printer issues, so try it at your printer’s risk! 😉
I started by cutting my freezer paper to 8.5″x14″ (legal paper size). I ironed the waxy side of my freezer paper onto the fabric and then trimmed the fabric to the size of the paper. After that, you can run the paper through the printer as you would normal paper. Remove the fabric from the freezer paper, and it’s all ready to go!
I printed two rows of numbers on each piece of paper, and ended up with six strips of fabric 4.25″x12″. I cut six more strips of plain fabric in the same size to create my pockets. When the pocket rows were all sewn together I adhered them to my board using hot glue.
Then it was ornament time! My favorite part about the advent calendar I grew up with was how each ornament was unique. Each of my siblings and I had our favorites, and I really wanted to create unique ornaments for my advent as well.
I bought a bunch of little wooden shapes at the craft store that I transformed into a ornaments using paint and glitter. Some of the shapes came pre-painted, but I tried to look at the shape itself and think about how I could turn those shapes into Christmas ornaments.
For example, that treasure box up there became my baby Jesus in the manger.
Shapes like birds and butterflies became sparkly, Christmas-y birds and butterflies. And flowers were the perfect shape for snowflakes.
The ornaments have been placed snugly in their pockets and now we are all ready to start counting down the days to Christmas! (Well… you know… in a few weeks. Ha!)
Comments + Project Love
amy says
This is a wonderful project to start off the Holiday series! I love the pockets and the simple shape of the tree. I so want to make an advent calendar for my kids to be able to have those special memories. You've inspired me to start thinking on ideas for one, thanks!
FishesMakeWishes says
great project! I'm thinking of making one this year too, but I haven't decided how it's going to be yet. Lots of inspiration to be found online and yours is definitely on my watch list :-)<br />aleka
Amy @ Homey Oh My! says
Alexis! This is amazing!! I never grew up with an advent calendar but would love to make it a tradition. <br />Very creative with the baby Jesus haha!
Kendra Pahukoa says
love this alexis! i love that you made them all unique as well. how fun!
Alexis Middleton says
Thank you so much, Kendra!
Marni @ Haberdashery Fun says
Love this tree!! Great idea about the ornaments. I always wonder what to put inside the pocket..
Harri Wren says
Wow !! This gorgeous. what an amazing idea to decorate a tree with advent. I must do my own take on this idea for decorating a tree
Amy Lee Scott says
I have always wanted an advent calender like the cute felt one I grew up with. But I also love a more modern look so I decided to make two this year (one modern and one felt/vintagey). I may just have to add a third to my list 🙂
Jelli B. says
How fun! This is so much more creative than the advent calendar I DIYd last year. In fact, I'd completely forgotten about making one this year. Thanks for the reminder and a clever new take on advent calendars!
Toni Barsi says
Amazing job Alexis! We never had an advent calender growing up (I didn't even know what one was until I got married!), but it's a tradition I'd really like to start with our kids. Thanks for the reminder. Your's is gorgeous!
Micha @ Cookin' Mimi says
Lovely. It's simple and elegant.
Desiree @ The 36th AVENUE says
Also featuring this calendar… Love it!
anu says
Love your calendar! The modern tree is great.
Bethany says
So cute!
megan {homemade ginger} says
This is maybe the cutest advent calendar I've seen yet! I featured you today 🙂
Tauni says
Definitely my favorite advent calendar of the season. Gorgeous. Thanks for sharing at Show & Tell on SNAP!
Britni Vigil says
This is beautiful, I absolutely love it. Thanks for sharing on the weekend re-Treat link party! <br /><br />Britni @ Play. Party. Pin.
Mindi Carwin says
I love it Alexis! Pinning for sure, thanks for sharing!
Britni Vigil says
Hi! Just wanted to let you know that your post is featured on the weekend re-Treat link party this week. Thanks for linking up and hope to see you again tonight at 7PM EST. <br /><br />http://www.playpartypin.com/2013/11/weekend-re-treat-link-party-43-features.html