Two years ago, I shared a few Christmas craft projects. I was on maternity leave at the time and somehow found time to indulge my crafty side so I thought I would re-post some of my ideas in case you're looking to make something special for your home.
So, I'm starting with an advent calendar. There's many beautiful ones you can buy ready made in the shops and for a good price too (anywhere from Asda to Next to John Lewis have their own versions on sale), but personally, the advent calendar I bought from Hobbycraft and decorated myself is pretty special.
This year, Hobbycraft has not one but five different blank wooden advent calendar designs to choose from, and they are all amazing - so much so, I want to make another one!
There's a house, which is a bit more square than the model I picked up, which has doors that open (mine has drawers), a tree, a Santa truck, a pile of presents and a reindeer sleigh, all of which are just £15 which I think is a fantastic price. I'd be quick if I were you, as they're bound to sell out as we get closer to December.
And of course, they sell all the paint and accessories you need to decorate these in any way you wish.
As we are a family of three, we've been staring some new traditions and at the centre of this is our advent calendar. We decided we wanted an advent calendar we can use every year and our idea was to not only have a chocolate treat waiting inside but also a seasonal task. From watching Elf to baking gingerbread, singing carols and reading 'Twas The Night Before Christmas.
Here's the one I made and how I made it...
Materials
Wooden house
Acryllic paints - red, two shades of green, silver (I like traditional colours but you could choose any colour scheme you like)
Sheet of white felt
Wooden number embellishments
Time
3 hours painting (three coats plus drying time)
1/2 hour painting door handles
1/2 hour fixing the snow
1/2 hour adding finishing touches
Method
1. Choose the main colour for your house and paint all over.
2. Choose what colours you'd like for the drawers and paint these. I chose two shades of green to add contrast and decided to just paint the fronts as these will be the only visible parts.
3. Once the first coat of paint is dry, paint the house and the drawers again.
4. Check if a third coat of paint is needed.
5. Take your sheet of felt and measure against the two sides of the roof of the house. Don't forget the chimney as well! Cut out the felt to fit, allowing enough to fold over the sides to create an overhang of 'snow'. Cut the edges in a waved line then fix with superglue to the top of the house, folding over the edges and pressing firmly until fixed in place. For the side with the chimney, I measured how far down it was and cut a line in the centre of the felt accordingly. I then gently eased the felt over the top of the chimney, before pressing down onto the glue on the roof.
6. Paint the handles of all the drawers in silver paint. Make sure it's fully mixed so the colour is nice and strong. Two coats should be enough.
7. Slot your finished drawers back into the slots in the house - I alternated the two colours.
8. Decide whether you want the numbers to go in sequential order or jumbled up. Place your wooden numbers on the fronts of the doors and make sure you're happy before gluing with superglue. The numbers I've used come with three different designs underneath so I had to make sure that I didn't put two sequential numbers next to each other AND there were no stars, trees or hearts directly in line with another.
9. Write your Christmas tasks on small pieces of paper, fold and pop into the drawers in a random order.
10. Fill each drawer with a sweet for each member of the family and voila, you're advent calendar is ready!
So, what do you think? Will you have a go at making your own advent calendar? What festive tasks would you put in the drawers?
Keep an eye out for some more Christmas craft project ideas!.
I think we might try making our own after seeing this....This is gorgeous and not to tricky to make x
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