Thursday, November 22, 2012

Felt Pocket Christmas Advent Calendar - Tutorial

This is a sponsored post for 3M via Digital Parents Collective. This project and all opinions are my own.

This Christmas is the first one where my eldest daughter is really aware that it is coming. There has been a lot of excitment and discussion about Christmas around here lately (and it's still only November! Eek!) She is almost four and the thing she is most excited about is the decorating, so I've been really mindful to include her in my Christmas craft projects this season. She helped me with many of the steps for this project!


This advent calendar is simple and fun, and the best part is you can use it year after year! This is also a great Christmas project for older children to make.

You need:
- 2 packs of 3M Command Clear Decorating Clips
- wool blend felt (I bought 30cm off the roll at my local fabric store and had left over)
- embroidery floss & needle
- Number Stickers (I used Kaisercraft Advent Calendar Stickers from my local craft store)
- Hole punch and scissors


Use your scissors and cut your felt pieces. You need 24 squares measuring 6 x 6cm for the front of the felt pockets, and 24 rectangles measuring 8 x 6cm. My Christmas Day pocket was larger, with the pieces measuring 9 x 9cm and 11 x 9cm.

Once you have your pieces cut, use 3 strands of embroidery floss and do a simple running stitch around the sides and bottom of the felt to create the pockets. Once they are finished use the hole punch and punch a hole in the middle of the top of the pocket for easy hanging.


Use your numbered stickers and decorate each pouch to create the advent pockets. (This is a great step to include your little ones in the project!)

Choose your location for your advent calendar. I had two options - the windows in the back room or the sliding door between our kitchen and dining room. I chose the sliding door for the white background, and also in case I want to put chocolates in the pockets - they would melt if I chose the window! The Command Clear Hooks can be used on a huge range of surfaces including glass, plaster, wood and laminex - and they are just the surfaces I've tried!

I chose a random pattern and started with my Christmas Day pocket in the middle and placed the other pockets radiating out from that middle pocket, in no particular order. The hooks are easy to position and reposition if you need to - I repositioned a couple of hooks about four times to get the pockets where I wanted them.

   
All done! The clear hooks are great because they don't distract from the project and they coordinate with any choice of colour. They come off cleanly so if you'd like to use your felt pocket advent calendar in another location next year there are no left over marks or nail holes. Perfect if you live in a rental property! 

You can pop chocolates or sweets in the pockets but I plan to put little messages with a Christmas related activity to do each day with the girls - for example "Write and post a Christmas card to Nan Nan & Papa" or "Wrap Dad's Christmas present".


Command Clear Hooks are perfect for all your Christmas decorating and projects, and are available in a range of sizes for different weights including mini, small and medium hooks and utensil and decorating clips. They are priced at $6.99 (RRP) and can be purchased at leading supermarkets and retail outlets. You can have a look at this great Christmas decorating idea using 3M hooks

Giveaway! *now closed*
I've got five 3M Command Clear Hook packs containing the whole range (mini, small, medium hooks, utensil and decorating clips valued at $36.35). All you have to do to win a pack is leave a comment telling me about a sentimental Christmas decoration that you love or remember from your childhood. (Mine is a reindeer I made from pegs when I was 6. I still have it and hang it on the tree every year!)  

I will choose my five favourite comments and winners will be notified by email. The competition closes on Thursday 29th November 8pm AEDST. Open to Australian readers only.

Linking up with these lovely ladies: 


Aussie Giveaway Linky
Hosted by Three Lil Princesses

34 comments:

  1. Great idea to put messages about activities to do in the advent calendar pockets, Ros. It looks great!!! I love a red, wooden man that we used tp hand on our Christmas tree. There was a string attached and when you pulled on the string, his legs and arms would move. It used to fascinate me!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great idea - very clever!
    My favorite Christmas decoration was definitely gold tinsel. I used to drape it around my shoulders and prance around the house like Elizabeth Taylor.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love 3m! We recently discovered their little pull downs spot things for hanging pictures in the walls- they're great!

    I love ornaments... so many great memories wrapped up in them! My mom has one from when she was a lite girl and it's my absolute favorite of all time. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Such a cool idea Ros! A really good project for young ones to do with the help of Mummy & for older ones to do on their own!
    Using 3M hooks is a fantastic idea too!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have some tinsel that was used on my family's Christmas tree in the 1950s. This particular decoration has been used every year since it was new. It is not like today's tinsel. Perhaps it is a streamer really. It is a ribbed heavy foil about two metres long, about two centimetres wide. When my son was to have his first Christmas my mother sent me a parcel of Christmas treasures and this was in it. I value the care which was demonstrated by my parents in keeping this small decoration. Memories of a loving home run from my hair to my toes each year when I place it on the tree. Eventually I will pass it on to my son.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cute! I really need to do an Advent Calendar. My favourite decorations were these stars my Mum has that she would put on the tree when we were kids. When I think about them now they look a bit satanic (5 pointed star in a circle) but I love them!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a great project for someone with little children ! Great idea.
    Have the best day !
    Me
    #FYBF visitor

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have seen so many advent ideas, but I reckon the kids would love this. I really need to visit spotlight I think.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gorgeous idea - I love the idea of an activity advent calendar (as opposed to the chocolate kind!). This is a sewing project that I think even I could manage!
    My favourite sentimental Christmas decorations are the three wise men handed from the Grandmother to me. They're cardboard and felt with guilded cardboard crowns.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That I'd so gorgeous! Cutest advent calendar I have seen!

    ReplyDelete
  11. your advent is wonderful. when my husband and i got married, he found out that i loved precious moments, but didnt have any of my own yet. we got married in september. for thanksgiving he bought me a precious moments tree topper Timothy an angel. and then for christmas he gave me a precious moments manger set. its not the money that speaks to me, but that my husband listens to little things i say and dont say, and then acts on them. it is now 28 yrs later and timothy and the manger set still grace our front room. and my husban still listens intently.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Very very cute! My most sentimental Christmas decoration is the year we couldn't afford a Christmas tree and my eldest (at the age of 4) decorated one drawn onto a large piece of cardboard with crepe paper and bits of coloured wrapping paper and tinsel. We hung it on the wall and put the presents "underneath"! It meant soooooo much on the day!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think my most sentimental christmas decoration would be my new metal stick look christmas tree (sits on a table). Hubby like to decorate the Christmas tree and have it look more professional however i love to display the childrens handmade items, the two just don't go together (egg cartons and professional just don't seem to work lol) so now i display all the childrens handmade pieces on my little metal tree which sits on the dining table for the entire month of December. The children add to it each year and when we have Christmas gatherings we add candy canes and crackers to it as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh thank you for the wonderful advent idea, i have green felt to cut into a Christmas tree shape and some other felt colours to make decorations so the little ones can decorate the tree as often as they like over the Christmas period. I can see red pockets working on our wall above their felt tree, although i think i'll hang some string above ours so they look a little like bunting giving it a complete decorated feel :)

      Delete
  14. My grandma had these cute vintage ornaments. I miss those. I'm always looking for them but never find them. You know the ones that are Santas, and reindeers that are fuzzy.

    ReplyDelete
  15. As far as I remember we had at my parents house the star to put on the top of the tree. It was a golden and sparkly star but with the years, some places on the star had no more sparkle and you could see the plastic. Every year my mother and I said we will change it and we never did.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This is by far the cutest Advent Calendar I've seen! And easy to make too! Thanks for sharing.
    Please don't forget to include the FYBF button at the end of the post! Thanksies :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. The advent calendar is so cute! Seriously, what a great DIY project and so much more fun then most of the store bought ones!

    ReplyDelete
  18. When my kids were born my friend made them each a Christmas ball with their names on it. Years later they still put them up on the tree. They are falling apart, but they still go up. (Around the back) just to keep the peace!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I love the clay reindeer that my son made when he was little, it's so cute, I will keepmit forever. It is quite fragile, so I dont pack it away after Christmas, it stays up in the "good cabinet" all year, just to come out for Christmas...



    Kim m
    galwayst@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  20. My sentimental ornament that I love is an angel my eldest daughter made in kindergarten. It has a cardboard coned body, foam ball face, googly eyes, and tinsel for hair, and a pipe cleaner halo! She is beautiful and too big to put on the tree, but we put her at the bottom of the tree each year.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I made a felt stuffed christmas pink bunny for our christmas tree when I was about 8yrs old, every year my mum lovingly pulls out this awkward looking bunny for the tree, even though it now looks dreadful & we get to admire/laugh at it all christmas long :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. I still have the paper lanterns my sons made when they were at kinda(they are 38, 35 & 34 now), they are still rapt when they see them on the tree. I have put my grand childrens'(we have 4) names on Christmas baubles and their eyes light up when they see them hanging from the tree.

    ReplyDelete
  23. A nativity set made with paddle pops and paper cut outs, it was made the year my step dad came to live with us and I have kept it ever since ... it reminds me of our family unit staying together forever. It comes out every christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  24. If I don't find my advent calendar today i might try this thanks Ros.

    My sentimental decoration is a ceramic bauble my husband gave me for Christmas the year our daughter was stillborn - so we could acknowledge her presence in our family.

    ReplyDelete
  25. We had some homemade decorations which were a type of pastry cooked and painted. I loved them but sadly when we emigrated to Australia we werent allowed to bring them with us. I have tried to recreate them but sadly Mum is no longer with us and I dont have the recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Your advent calendar is the stuff of childhood memories! Thanks.
    I just recently discovered these hangers, and am delighted. Thanks for a chance to win.
    We no longer have them, but i loved the bright bubble lights. Once they got hot, the liquid inside would begin to circulate air bubbles. Sort of tiny precursors of the '60's lava lamps!
    My current favorite Christmas decoration is a brass candle stick and a pillar candle that is lit each Christmas Eve. The Tree's lights are on, other lights are dimmed. While the candle is lit, those no longer with us are remembered... It is a quiet, peaceful time of recollection.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Large delicate baubles for the tree..one gold, one silver..carefully packed away by my mum each year! Their beautiful picture and glitter kept me enchanced as a child! No touching just looked..honest!

    ReplyDelete
  28. We have some 'kindy' made little frames with the childrens photos , name and years . We also have done their handprints a couple of years in a row.
    We love our handmade decorations - this year we are making a new angel for our tree :D

    ReplyDelete
  29. I remember my Nanna knitting little stockings for the Christmas tree, each one just big enough for a packet of lifesavers.

    mogy1808@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  30. A little crystal reindeer ornament my aunt bought back from Scandanavia many, many years ago. It has one broken antler (we won't mention who was responsible will we...Dad?) which has been glued back on countless times, but still it graces Mum and Dad's tree every year.
    larabelle68@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  31. Ours the wishing tree ones where we have donated a gift the kids have coloured them in and put them on the xmas tree.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Such a pretty Advent Calendar. I found you at Mellywood's Mansion!
    Karen

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for your comments - I adore hearing from you! I love to reply personally via email so if your email isn't visible in your profile feel free to leave it in your message so I can get in touch!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...