cheer: advent calendar diy
I am so excited about today!! It's the 1st of December, the 1st day of the 12 Days of Cheer , it's group date night day with a bunch of friends, and on top of that, it's SATURDAY, folks! Drew and I slept in a little this morning for the first time in a while. This morning, I've been working on getting all our Christmas decorations finalized and finishing a painting I've been working on. - Excited to show you that another time! :) Later today, I'm heading over to Savannah's to help her finish decorating for tonight's holiday dinner party with 12 of our friends.
I love this time of year. I especially love family traditions. Growing up, my mom had this beautiful handmade Advent calendar. She made it out of a few different fabrics sewn together to look like a Christmas tree. She then framed it, added decorative nails, and small ornaments. Every December, my siblings and I would take turns putting up ornaments on the calendar. (And sometimes fighting over who got to put up the "cooler" ornaments... I know....all I have to say is, we were young)
That Advent calendar has so many memories for me. Special memories of family and our special traditions that we did together. Because of that, I decided to make an Advent calendar similar to my mom's. I modified it a bit with the color//pattern of my fabric and I made my own frame so that it fits our home and my style.
Be sure to check out Savannah's blog to see her Advent calendar. Happy first day of Advent and happy first day of Christmas Cheer! You can follow along on our Facebook page where we will be posting each post from my blog and Savannah's blog and adding additional pictures. You can also follow along on Twitter and instagram with our hashtag #12DaysofCheer.
I love this time of year. I especially love family traditions. Growing up, my mom had this beautiful handmade Advent calendar. She made it out of a few different fabrics sewn together to look like a Christmas tree. She then framed it, added decorative nails, and small ornaments. Every December, my siblings and I would take turns putting up ornaments on the calendar. (And sometimes fighting over who got to put up the "cooler" ornaments... I know....all I have to say is, we were young)
That Advent calendar has so many memories for me. Special memories of family and our special traditions that we did together. Because of that, I decided to make an Advent calendar similar to my mom's. I modified it a bit with the color//pattern of my fabric and I made my own frame so that it fits our home and my style.
SUPPLIES
- 1 yard of fabric for the background
- 1/2 yard of fabric for the tree
- Sewing thread that matches (I used a dark hunter green)
- 50 decorative nails
- A piece of plywood cut to the size of your choice (mine is 20" x 24")
- 1 yard of batting
- Staple gun and staples
- Optional: wood to make your own frame, screws, screwdriver, stain
INSTRUCTIONS
- Measure your plywood
- Cut out your tree
- According to your measurements, cut out background fabric and batting the same width and length as your plywood plus 3 - 4 inches extra on each side. This is so you can wrap the fabric and batting around the plywood later and staple it to the back.
- Sew your tree onto the background fabric using a "Z" stitch.
- Put your fabric on top of your batting and wrap both around the plywood, stapling them to the back.
- Add decorative nails to the tree to hang your ornaments on.
- (optional) - - Frame it.
Be sure to check out Savannah's blog to see her Advent calendar. Happy first day of Advent and happy first day of Christmas Cheer! You can follow along on our Facebook page where we will be posting each post from my blog and Savannah's blog and adding additional pictures. You can also follow along on Twitter and instagram with our hashtag #12DaysofCheer.