Tutorial Link at bottom of post.
Here you go! I have written up a tutorial for my advent calendar. It is a little different than you normally see and was inspired by ones from my childhood. My mom made me and my brother something very similar to these.
I made simple long thin quilts basically, but easier than a quilt. ;) I then added felt stars and ties for each day of advent to tie a little gift, candy, or activity.
For the base I used a simple white fabric with black pluses so the stars really shine. The backing is a fun green and white triangle nod to Christmas. For the stars I used wool felt from Benzie Designs in a variety of colors. They have the best felt and bonus if I have time for a little drive they are relatively local to me. Benzie has this amazing product called glitter felt that you iron to any wool felt and it makes it sparkle without the mess. I used it on a couple of my stars for some sparkle. I used a Hearth and Hand ribbon I found in my stash. The ribbon is wide and has a beautiful woven detail that adds a nice bit of interest, don’t underestimate the ribbon. Lastly I grabbed a white cotton yarn from my stash. You could go as subtle or extravagant as you choose with your colors and supplies.
I wrote a list of my advent activities in case you aren’t sure what to do beyond gifts and candy. We do all these anyway so having it be a part of the advent calendar adds a little fun for the kids and cuts down on sweets.
- Get Christmas Tree
- Decorate Christmas Tree (sometimes these first two can be one, this year did not work out like that for us)
- Cozy Pajamas – I do this several times throughout advent since I can’t seem to resist a cute pair of matching Christmas Jammies.
- Decorate Gingerbread Houses
- Make a Christmas craft
- Watch a New Christmas Movie
- Have Hot Cocoa (I usually make this special since we have hot cocoa frequently in the winter, this year its fun cups with a cookie slot)
- Go to Grandparents (we are lucky enough to live close enough to do an overnight at my parents)
- Drive around and see Christmas Lights
- Wrap Christmas Gifts
- Watch Elf (our favorite)
- Donate new toys to an organization (I let them pick out a toy and we go do a drop off at a toys for tots or something similar)
- Volunteer (our favorite is Feed My Starving Children)
- Shopping trip with parent to buy gifts for family member
Other than all that I fill in with a couple little gifts, and then a special candy on the rest of the days. It’s a fun month for the kids and my favorite season!!!
My old advent calendar made by my mom hanging with the ones made for my kids. If your on Instagram you can see a bit more about these in my story highlights.
A little peek of the glitter Felt. The black on the left and the silver on the right are both the glitter felt from Benzie. It is so magical when used in any application and this is totally not sponsored. ;) Oh and bonus it does not shed glitter all over, the glitter stays put.
Okay and here is what you have been waiting for. Download the WOOLLYPETALS ADVENT CALENDAR TUTORIAL PDF here.
I would love to see what you make from this Tutorial so feel free to comment on this post and drop a link, tag me @woollypetals on social media, hashtag on social media with the hashtags in the pattern, email me, DM me on Instagram, flag me down in my car…. you get the picture. I would LOVE to see what you make.
Thanks SO much for stopping by!