Did you know that 12 x 12 grid paper has room for exactly twenty-five 2 1/8 inch squares?
Perfect for making a beautiful, custom Christmas advent calendar!
These are the materials I used: 12 x 12 grid paper in brick, 5 pieces of coordinating Christmas patterned paper, sewing machine, computer/printer (for the numbers), embellishments, ribbon, tape, two photos, and the Mosaic Moments toolbox: square inch punch, metal ruler, craft knife, Dotto adhesive, Lil Chizler, and cutting mat.
The first thing I did was cut out 5 squares (2 1/8 inches x 2 1/8 inches) from each of my 5 patterned papers. Then I placed them in the order on the grid paper and played with them until I liked the order.
Next, I laid the squares out on my table in the correct order.
Now for the fun part!
I used my sewing machine to turn each square into a cute little pocket:
So just keep sewing each little square on three sides until you have filled up the entire grid.
I used my computer to print a page of each of the numbers, 1 to 25. I paid attention to the spacing before I printed it out so that each number would have enough space around it to allow me to use the 1 inch square punch. It saves time and looks very uniform.
I used a font called "Cursif" for a vintage look to compliment the vintage-inspired Christmas paper.
I also used a black ink pad to darken the edges of the squares and give the plain white numbers a little punch.
I spotted this glittery tagboard embellishment at the crafts store and had to have it! It draws more attention to the most important day on the countdown: Christmas Day!
Now the whole point of having an advent calendar is to mark the passing days, so of course I had to make a mini Atticus and a mini Gwyneth to hop from day to day.
I used the 1 inch punch and more coordinating paper to make these sort of lollipop-shaped minis. I "laminated" them in packing tape to help them last longer. (If you have a real laminator, that would be even better!)
I taped ribbon to the back so that I can hang it up starting December first.
Let the countdown begin!
