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Christmas Craft Project: Advent Calendar

Handmade Advent Calendar

I know what you’re thinking. It’s barely even Fall yet, why are you doing Christmas crafts?? Well every year I think of things I wish I had made for Christmas, but at that point it was far too late, so I thought I’d get a jump on things and get crafty on rainy days.

I’ve always wanted an advent calendar that I could reuse every year, so I used an idea I found online and added a picture frame and fancy numbers to it. It’s a super easy craft project and looks really great on the wall. I just replace a picture that’s hanging on the wall in our hallway with this and it had some fun holiday decor.

Supplies needed:

Here’s how the process went:

  1. Take your thrifted frame and spray paint the frame and backing white.
  2. While that’s drying spray paint or hand paint the clothes pegs white.
  3. Then using a red or green or whatever colour paint you prefer, paint your designs onto the front of each clothes peg as shown in my photos.
  4. When everything is dry, glue the clothes pegs onto the frame leaving space for the numbers you’ve printed out from my link in this post.
  5. Once the pegs are in place you can glue down your numbers in order or randomly like I’ve chosen to do.
  6. Finish the entire surface with a clear coat of Mod Podge glue.
  7. Let everything dry overnight and enjoy for many seasons to come!

Handmade Advent Calendar

I’ve provided free printable numbers below, they are on a standard 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper so you can easily print them at home. Cut them out and glue them to your frame. Click the link below or the image below to download.

Download free printable advent calendar numbers here

advent calendar

Handmade Advent Calendar

Since making this project and using it for several years I’ve realised it would function better if you rotated the frame horizontally or even purchased a long piece of wood instead of a frame and placed the pegs horizontally on it, that way when you hang your advent it doesn’t clutter up the frame. Have fun crafting and customizing it to suit your style.

41 thoughts on “Christmas Craft Project: Advent Calendar”

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    1. Hopefully i’ll get around to taking a photo, but right now it’s looking pretty chaotic, items we placed on it are larger than planned, so it’s over filled and cluttered, i’d suggest trying to keep things small, unless you enjoy the cluttered look 🙂

      Thanks for posting my project, glad you enjoyed it!

  2. Hey! It’s Rachael (Lance’s wife). Lance was just telling me about a cool furniture-painting job you’d completed, so I went onto your blog to take a look, and now I’m hooked! You have oodles of creativity, and your blog looks fantastic! I love this advent calendar idea, too– I might custom-make one for the girls!

    1. hi Rachael! Such a nice surprise to find a comment from you! We’ve having lots of fun finding furniture to fix up. The advent calendar was a fun little project, but we’re still hunting for some little cotton bags to hang from each peg. Last Christmas we just hand wrapped each small gift and hung it with some string,
      let me know if you make one for the girls 🙂 I’d love to see it!

  3. Wendy

    The dollar store had little organza type bags – 8 for a $1. They are the kind some people use at weddings for favors. We’re going to try those with your clothespins calendar. Thanks!

    1. thanks! hopefully this year i’ll have little bags made for the clothespins.

  4. Robin

    I’m not a creative type person, so I need people like you to share! I’m going to do this advent idea because it looks so nice and easy! I think I’m going to make little bags out of old t-shirts, and since I’m not super talented, to hang them I’m going to make a hem with a slit and glue elastic bands into the hem…what I’m visualizing seems to make sense, although I don’t think I’m articulating it too well!

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  10. I really like this! Very different! I shared this with our group on CafeMom – Holiday and Party Crafts – with a link back here for the tutorial. Thanks so much for sharing! Wonderful crafts! ~ Yolanda ~

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  21. CUTE! But, did you just paint the glass inside the frame? What are the clothes pins glued to? That might have been a dumb question. LOL!

    1. I painted the backing the came with the frame. You could also get a piece of cardboard cut to size and paint that. The clothes pins are glued to the cardboard backing. Hope that helps!

  22. Marci Olson

    I’m thinking of doing these for the Christmas cards that we receive instead of an advent calender. I also will probably use white plastic clothes pins and washi tape. Thank you for posting your excellent project. 🙂

    1. Sounds like a great project. Have fun with the washi tape! I don’t think washi tape existed when I posted this project 🙂

      1. Marci Olson

        Wow. I think you’re right on the time frame. I’m glad to see that people are still enjoying this post years later. 🙂

    2. Marci Olson

      Oh, and depending on which frame I find I’ll probably use white foam board as the back ground. I might even put wrapping paper on it to make it festive looking.

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