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Christmas in July: Felt Advent Calendar

It's Christmas in July! All week on Wayward Girls' Crafts, we'll be blogging Christmas crafts. And next week, a very special week of craftiness!


Every year, our family uses a felt Advent calendar (you know, a calendar to count the days until Christmas). My mom's calendar is gorgeous, with details in gold thread and beautiful beads and sequins, including some shaped like holly leaves, snowflakes and more. When I made mine, however, I couldn't find the fancy sequins anywhere :( . It just wasn't the same, so I went for a different form of decoration in my calendar.

Materials:

  • Felt
  • Scissors
  • Glitter fabric paint
  • Tacky glue
  • Thread
  • 25 hooks and 26 eyes
  • (Possibly: sewing machine or needle)
In this set of ornaments, I'm missing my reindeer and sleigh. The second row of ornaments are symbols of Christ (and technically, the candle belongs there).
I combined elements of my husband's family's felt Advent calendar, too: they have a Nativity scene among their ornaments, and I loved that sentiment. The Nativity characters are along the bottom row (the first one is an angel, but the silver and iridescent sparkles don't show up well here).

I tried to make sure that each ornament had some bling on it somewhere with glitter fabric paint. I glued the various piece of felt together with tacky glue. Here's a closeup of one of the pieces:


The background is a Christmas tree on red felt, with rows of pockets at the bottom for the ornaments. I couldn't find mine (I hope it's somewhere with the reindeer and sleigh!), but here's the idea:

Each day of December, you add another ornament to the tree using the hooks and eyes. We kept the last ornament, for Christmas Day, (we used the star; my husband's family used the baby Jesus) on an extra hook on the back of the calendar. We loved the calendar so much that we always fought over who got to put up the ornaments--but now that most of us don't live at home, sometimes Mom doesn't even put up the calendar until the week before Christmas!

My favorite ornaments, aside from the characters, are the snowflake and snowman. Which are your favorites? What would you put on your tree?
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18 comments:

  1. EileenJuly 25, 2011 at 11:39 AM

    Hi, these are all so cute! I think i would cover my tree in snowlakes ans candles. I like a lot of white for christmas

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  2. Kristine@thefoleyfamJuly 25, 2011 at 11:53 AM

    So cute!! Love this idea!

    Thanks so much for sharing and linking up to “Strut Your Stuff Sunday” on our blog!! We appreciate it!

    Kristine
    www.jandmseyecandy.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. SkooksJuly 25, 2011 at 12:52 PM

    This is definitely on my list this year . . . I really have been wanting to make a Jesse tree for my kids for the last few years and it just never seems to come together. I should really make a plan for this so it gets done this year! Your ornaments look great!

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  4. Heather LandryJuly 25, 2011 at 1:53 PM

    I love the idea of a Christmas in July post! Your advent calendar turned out so super cute. I love all of the little felt accents!

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  5. tartankiwiJuly 25, 2011 at 7:38 PM

    I LOVE THIS!!! Thanks for reminding me that I want to make something like this. I love the idea of an advent calendar that can be reused, where the children know what's coming and get excited about it.So much cooler than a thoughtless chocolate advent calendar!

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  6. JillJuly 25, 2011 at 7:55 PM

    Lovely idea for an advent calendar! My girls love theirs and made their own last year! You're making me feel all Christmassy now!! :)

    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  7. TracyJuly 25, 2011 at 10:16 PM

    This is such a fun project.

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  8. AnonymousJuly 27, 2011 at 9:03 AM

    Looks like so much fun. I am thinking about making one this year!

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  9. JanelleJuly 27, 2011 at 12:30 PM

    I LOVE it! It reminds me of the one we had as kids! I also hds all the fancy sequins, beads, etc, but I love your idea of glitter paint. Looks fabulous and would come together so much more quickly. I can't wait to make one for my kids!

    -Janelle
    homemadethisandthat.blogspot.com

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  10. JamiJuly 27, 2011 at 7:37 PM

    Great advent calendar tute, Jordan! So glad you stopped by and shared it at the Tuesday To Do party!
    Smiles!
    Jami
    www.blackberryvine.blogspot.com

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  11. Nicole@Thrifty DecoratingJuly 27, 2011 at 8:16 PM

    We have one of these that my grandma made! You are so motivated! :)

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  12. Beth @HungryHappeningsJuly 29, 2011 at 7:29 PM

    We always had an advent calendar and would have loved to have one like you've made.

    Beth @ Hungry Happenings

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  13. Rach H @ FamilyEverAfterJuly 30, 2011 at 10:12 AM

    This looks a lot like the one from pottery barn a few years ago. i want to make this so bad!

    I would LOVE for you to link this up at my Link Party, Once Upon a Weekend on my blog Family Ever After. The party starts on Fridays and lasts all week.

    Here’s the link if you’re interested:www.familyeverafter.blogspot.com

    Also, if you have a list of favorite link parties, I’d love to be included on Fridays. Thanks a ton! Have an awesome day!!!

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  14. AshleyJuly 30, 2011 at 12:39 PM

    o my heck sooooooooooo fun!!!! I LOVE IT:)

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  15. UnknownJuly 31, 2011 at 10:09 PM

    Great idea. I made a magnetic advent using nativity stickers. I like the felt and the symbols of Christ. Thanks for linking up with DIY under $5!

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  16. KatieAugust 2, 2011 at 3:22 PM

    I love this--genius idea! Thanks for linking up last week at Sew Woodsy last week! Hope you'll join us tomorrow and link up!

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  17. Mindie HiltonAugust 3, 2011 at 8:58 AM

    I love Christmas in July. Thanks for linking up at Bacon Time.

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  18. newbiemamaAugust 18, 2011 at 11:33 PM

    Thanks for stopping by my blog. Oh my heck, I'm SOOO a wayward crafty girl! I love the blog! One of my goals this year is to make an advent calendar. I have a sneaky suspicion that if I don't start it, oh, 3 months ago, it's not going to happen!

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