Felt Tree Advent Calendar
Difficulty: Average
Average User Rating:
Parental supervision is recommended
Children can actively take part in counting down the days until Christmas with this felt tree Advent calendar craft.
What you'll need:
- 24"x35" red felt
- 2 pieces of red felt (each 25 x 2")
- 18"x20" green felt
- 1 sheet of brown or tan felt
- 1 sheet of gold or bright yellow felt
- Tacky glue
- Scissors
- Grocery sack, optional
- Pen
- Ruler or yardstick
- Wax paper
- Books (for weight)
- Dimensional fabric paint (gold or green)
- 24 Jingle Bells (1/4"-1/2" size)
- Needle (very thin with small eye hole)
- Green sewing thread
- 4MM Red pearls on a string
- Dowel rod
- Decorative cording (or yarn)
- 24 Miniature ornaments
How to make it:
- Start by cutting a large tree out of the green felt. You may wish to take a piece of paper and draw a pattern first. Grocery sacks cut open make great patterns.
- Cut a star out of the gold or bright yellow felt. A paper pattern may be helpful here as well.
- Center the star in the middle of the red felt and about 4" from the top.
- Use tacky glue to anchor the star down.
- Take the green tree, and use tacky glue around the edges of HALF of the tree.
- Turn the tree, glue side down, and center right below the star. Press down.
- Turn up the unglued HALF of the tree. Glue the edges of this side of the tree. Press down.
- Cut a small rectangle (3 x 2 3/4") out of the brown felt.
- Glue the edges of the brown felt. Turn over and press down at the base of the tree.
- Apply the tacky glue using a wavy pattern. (See photo)
- Take the red pearls and press down in the glue. Cut the pearls at the end of the row.
- Repeat for as many rows as you would like to have on your advent calendar.
- Take one strip of red felt. Using a ruler, mark with a pen every 2" (leaving a little extra room on each end). You should have 12 "blocks".
- Repeat with other strip of red felt.
- Apply the tacky glue to one long edge of the felt. Apply the tacky glue to the short edges of the felt. Now apply the tacky glue at each "mark" from top to bottom of felt.
- Carefully turn the strip over and apply the long end (with the glue) at the very bottom of the red large piece of felt.
- Press down the short outside edge of the strip. Peek under the strip to find out where the next line of glue is located. Put your finger barely inside the "pocket" and press the felt down on the other side of your finger. (This gives the pocket a little gap so you can insert the ornament later.) Repeat down the length of the entire strip. Be sure to press down all along the bottom.
- Repeat last 3 steps for 2nd piece of red felt strip. Allow about 2" between the 2 rows of felt.
- Take wax paper and cover the red pearl strings. Place books on top of the wax paper.
- Using the green or gold dimensional paint, paint the numbers 1 through 24 on the "pockets". (See photo)
- Take the dowel rod and fold the top of the red felt over the dowel rod and towards the backside of the felt. Apply tacky glue to the edge and press down to make the dowel rod pocket. Let dry overnight.
- The next day, sew 24 jingle bells randomly across the tree.
- Tie a length of cording or yarn to each end of the dowel rod. Hang on the wall.
- Let your child take out a miniature ornament out of a pocket each day and hang on a jingle bell. Now the child has a visual of when Christmas will come.
Tips:
I have given the dimensions on the project I completed. The dimensions can be varied to fit the size of project that you wish to complete.
