DIY Advent Calendar

Hello there! I am so excited about today’s blog post! The holidays are right around the corner and we are kicking things off with a beautiful interactive DIY Advent Calendar tutorial! This project comes from design team member, Ulli and it is simply gorgeous! This handmade gift box advent calendar features non-traditional Christmas colors and will fit right in with any decor. In fact, this color combination with white, peachy pink and light blue reminds me of vintage Christmas decorations and I love that this look feels fresh and fun, yet classic at the same time! Read on for all the details about how to make your own interactive advent calendar for your kids!

Hi crafty friends, Ulli here with you sharing a Christmas project with the amazing Maggie Holmes Willow Lane collection. I had the idea to make a unique advent calendar for my children this year and the gold foiled papers from the Willow Lane collection were the perfect fit for this project.

My two kiddos will have this calendar together and they can open one box every day in December until the 24^th. In each box is a candy for both of them. In Germany the 6^th (Nikolaus Day) and the 24^th (Christmas Day) are the most important days and so I made the biggest boxes for those days.

This project was perfect to use the beautiful Willow Lane 12×12 paper pack, especially the gold foiled papers, and the 6×8 paper pad with gold accents. I also used the Willow Lane Patterned Papers Together, Sweet One, Violet and Frolic. First I made 24 boxes in 4 different sizes. I made them with the We R Memory Keepers 1-2-3 Punchboard. It’s so easy to make perfect little boxes in different sizes with this crafting tool!

I used the colors coral & pink, blue, gold, black and white and the wood grain paper for this project because I wanted to achieve a noble and solemnly touch. I love how the color combination turned out. The gold accents in these papers are so amazing and they were perfect for making a Christmas project out of a non-Christmas themed collection. I used a variety of pattern papers — some with polka dots, hearts and other basic patterns, some of the music sheet patterns and the super cute papers with the unicorns and swans with and without gold accents.

I filled every box with two pieces of candy and closed it. Then I decorated every box with baker’s twine, different yarn and ribbons and some embellishments like tassels, Puffy Stickers and bows from Willow Lane, Carousel and the Flourish collection. The Decorative Trim with the stars from the Willow Lane collcetion and the Decorative Trim with the leaves from the Flourish collection also were perfect to use for this project. I also used some feathers in white and blue to decorate the boxes and I love the soft look of them.

For the suspension I used a white wooden branch which I found in a home decoration shop. It was very cheap and I can also use it for other projects in the future. I used transparent nylon thread to hang the boxes up, so the thread isn’t really visible. At the end I numbered all boxes from 1 to 24 with different alphabet stickers. I used the Picnic Foil Chipboard Stickers from the Willow lane collection, the Carousel Swing Chipboard Stickers, the Bloom Mini Gold Glitter Letters and some black alphabet stickers from my stash. Mixing different colors and types of letters make a project like this more interesting and every little box more unique.

Then I decorated the calendar with little christmas ornaments and the wooden branch with some Gold Glitter Die Cut Embellishments from the wonderful Maggie Holmes Carousel collection.

This advent calendar is hanging in our stairwell now and my children cannot wait to open the front door. Fortunately, they now only have to sleep 3 times until they are allowed to open the first box!

I hope you like this project and that I could inspire you to use the gold foiled Willow Lane papers for wonderful Christmas projects. Have a wonderful start in the magical month of December. Until the next time.xx, Ulli

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Happy Tuesday!

xoxoxo

Supplies Used >> We R Memory Keepers 1-2-3 Punchboard / Maggie Holmes Willow Lane/ Willow Lane 12×12 Paper Pad/ Willow Lane Ephemera Die Cuts/ Willow Lane Thread Bows/ Willow Lane 6×8 Paper Pad/ Willow Lane Glitter Foam Thickers / Willow Lane Cardstock Stickers/ Willow Lane 12×12 Chipboard Stickers / Decorative Trim (Willow Lane & Flourish) / Tassels (Flourish, Chasing Dreams, Confetti) / Carousel Bows / Flourish Puffy Phrase and Accents Stickers / Carousel Ephemera Pack / Willow Lane Picnic Foil Chipboard Stickers / Carousel Swing Chipboard Stickers / Bloom Happy glitter letter Stickers / Carousel Ribbon, Yarn and Trim