Countdown to Christmas Calendar

Hi friends! How was your Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and soon to be cyber Monday?

There’s a lot going on in these weeks leading up to Christmas, that’s for sure. Speaking of weeks leading up to Christmas, I wanted to share this spectacular Countdown to Christmas Calendar, also known as an Advent Calendar.

Advent Calendars are a must-do DIY craft for the holiday season. They come in all different shapes, sizes, formats, etc. But the best part about creating your own is that it can be customized to fit your family traditions. Here’s a DIY advent calendar that was created using our new line, Farmhouse Christmas. It boasts that festive farmhouse style with a touch of vintage imagery. We’ve been loving it!

Okay, enough of my talking, now to the fun stuff!

Use a 12 x 12 red stretched canvas for the base of calendar. I chose a canvas because I wasn’t sure where I wanted to display the calendar. A canvas gives flexibility. For example you can hang the calendar, set it against the mantle, place it on a book stand, etc.

Place two evenly sized pockets at the bottom half of the canvas. To create the pockets, use a burlap pocket and fold the top back about 1/2.” Cut the same pennant shape from the black on ivory zigzag paper so that it peaks out from behind the burlap pocket. Cut designs from the red and white mini dot and Farmhouse Christmas file folders. Sew the zigzag, burlap and paper additions together with a ziazag stitch (we used red thread for that additional pop). If you don’t have a sewing machine, we recommend using Beacon’s 3-in-1 glue.

Count out 25 tags from the tall kraft tags. Trim some of the tags to that they can all be seen once layered (you can see in the photo how the tags that are on the hooks are layered so that you can see the bottom of each tag). The hooks from 7Gypsies are a perfect way to hold the little tags in place. Of course, decorate those tags using various papers and textures. The items used for the tags above are black burlap, Farmhouse Christmas Stripe, Farmhouse Christmas on Ivory, Farmhouse Christmas Tags, Red and ivory ribbon stripe and red and ivory mini dot.

We printed out 25 little advent activities and glued those onto the tags as well!

Now you’re probably wondering how this advent calendar works. Well this is the fun part. The hooks are used to hold the tags that have not been used yet. The tags in the left pocket are the tags that are up next (think the batter that is “on deck” in a baseball game). Then once the activity is complete, move the tag from the bottom left pocket to the bottom right pocket.

This is such a fun activity for the holidays and be customized in SO MANY ways. This project is also a featured project in our Farmhouse Christmas Lookbook, which if you haven’t seen yet, you’re missing out!

Consider these other fun posts that include the Farmhouse Christmas line. Enjoy!

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