Christmas Ideas: DIY Advent Calendar Tutorial
Adorable laundry? You betcha… but only if it belongs to an elf!
Christmas is such a thrilling, magical time. We love choosing a theme for the holidays and carrying it throughout our celebrations, from the wrapping paper to the Christmas treats, the tree and the Christmas decorations.
We are using the Elf Laundry Dessert Skirtz collection as our inspiration this year. Keep a lookout for those darling elf hats and socks this month, here in The Dressing Room! We’ll have DIY projects, sweet treat ideas, holiday party plans and more.
Within hours of the last bite of Thanksgiving turkey, like magic, Christmas lights are twinkling everywhere. (OK, maybe some show up before that, but we want to give Thanksgiving its due time in the limelight.) The hustle and bustle of Christmas is officially here. We have an Advent calendar project to get you and your family in the spirit, and count down the days to Christmas. The supplies are inexpensive and the project is easy enough to include the kids. We are offering a free download for darling cards to insert into your Advent calendar as the “treats”. With Halloween on our heels, and Christmas treats in our near future, we opt to leave the candy out of our Advent calendar. We insert the cards instead, with fun surprises written on them that create holiday memories and include the whole family. Don’t worry, we’ll give you some ideas!
For the DIY advent calendar, you will need…
50 pieces of felt, or about 1 ½ yards of fleece fabric in at least two colors. We chose dark red and citrus green as our Christmas colors, to coordinate sweetly with our Elf Laundry theme.
Hot glue
Scissors
Downloadable Elf Laundry cards (1-12), (13-24)
Ribbon or twine- about 10 yards
Embellishments- pieces cut from the felt are perfect, but you can choose buttons, ric rac, ribbon… or anything your heart desires. Make this your own!
Downloadable Elf Laundry templates
Here’s how to make your own Advent calendar…
Print the templates on cardstock. Cut along the lines on the cardstock to create a traceable template.
Place your fleece or felt on a flat surface with two layers stacked together and trace the templates onto the fabric using a marker. Flipping the template over to trace some of the socks will give more interest by creating pieces of “laundry” facing in different directions. Once you have them traced, cut just inside the lines. You will need to cut 25 double layered shapes… meaning you will really have 50 individual pieces when you are finished.
Using hot glue, attach the front piece to the back piece just along the edges, leaving the top open. You are creating a pocket with each. For the socks, we placed a small drop of glue on the toe portion of the sock to attach it to the leg portion of the sock because we used a very soft and flexible fleece. This helps it to hold its shape better. If you are using a stiffer felt, this may not be necessary.
Now for the really fun part! Use your embellishments, or cut pieces of felt to decorate each piece of “laundry”.
Unroll a long length of ribbon. We used a wide grosgrain ribbon in black. With the ribbon on your work surface, begin attaching the laundry. Be sure the open edges are facing upward and attach them to the ribbon using the hot glue.
Print the downloadable cards and cut them out. A hole punched in the top of each with a ribbon makes a sweet finishing touch, if you like. Tuck each card into a sock or hat. There are 24 cards… the 25th day is for you to add a special surprise. Candy canes? Gift cards? Cash? Make it special.
Here are some ideas for the cards, but feel free to put your own ideas on them…
1. Hot cocoa break
2. Make a Christmas ornament
3. Take silly family pictures (great for including in the Christmas cards)
4. Watch a Christmas movie
5. Make snow angels with Mom
6. Decorate Christmas cookies
7. Make homemade marshmallows
8. Read a Christmas book and have peppermint tea
9. Make popcorn and cranberry garlands
10. Make paper cone Christmas trees
12. Deliver presents to a family in need
14. Write a letter to Santa
15. Donate a bag of groceries to the food bank
16. Decorate Christmas cookies
17. Take cake pops to the neighbors
18. Stay in your PJ’s all day
19. Go for a drive to see Christmas light displays
20. Visit Santa
21. Take an eggnog break
22. Go ice skating
23. Make Jingle bell cupcakes to celebrate Jesus’ birthday
24. Read The Night Before Christmas
25. Celebrate! Add your own surprise here, like a gift card or candy canes.
We hung our sweet DIY Advent calendar from the banister. Have fun with this fun Christmas project and it’ll be a memory in itself and you’ll use the Advent calendar for years to come.