Handmade Advent Calendar

Create a unique handmade advent calendar using a wooden frame, mini boxes, decorative scrapbook paper and stickers!

December 1st is just a few days away, marking the first day of Advent Calendars! Our family loves this tradition and looks forward to it every year. I wanted to share with you one more handmade Advent Calendar I created using tiny boxes and paper. This calendar was so much fun to create.

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When I found the paper stack “Celebrate Christmas” by Echo Park Paper Co., I knew it would be perfect for this type of Advent Calendar. The stack even came with a sheet of paper divided into 2″ squares with numbers 1-24 on it. These mini boxes worked perfectly and fit into a wooden sign I had purchased on sale from Joann Fabrics months ago! So needless to say, this calendar just fell into place and I’m so happy it did because I love it!

Creating the winter wonderland on top of the calendar out of paper was my favorite part. The paper stack came with such sweet Christmas stickers I wanted to use them somewhere on the calendar.

Below you can see how my Advent Calendar started out – as a sign for carrots! I often buy these kind of signs when I find them on super sale at Joann Fabrics – always with the intention of making them into something completely different.

How to Make the Advent Calendar Boxes

Supplies Needed for Handmade Advent Calendar

Numbers – either from Scrapbook paper like mine, stickers, printed numbers or numbers cut from vinyl with a cutting machine
Tiny boxes! I used these small 2″ Mini Ring Boxes I found on Amazon. I bought the 50 pack which made two calendars
” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Scor-tape or another strong adhesive
Paper cutter
Scissors
Ribbon or Washi Tape

*Some of the pictures below are from an Advent Calendar I made right before this one so the colors of the boxes are slightly different. I also used ribbon initially but switched to little Washi-tape pull tabs for this one to match the paper I was using.

Step One: Assemble all of the tiny boxes you plan to use. Depending on your frame you may use 24 or 25 boxes. This one fit 24 boxes.

Step Two: Tape the boxes to the wooded frame and to themselves using very strong double-sided tape.

Step Three:(This step can be done before or after Step Two.) To make the boxes easy to open, you can add a little piece of ribbon, or a Washi tape tab, to each box opening. For ribbon, put a small piece of 1/4″ Scor-Tape down and then tape a ribbon loop down on top of that using Scotch-tape. If using Washi tape you can do it the same way but fold a small piece of Washi-tape into a tab. Next cut away the corners of each box opening so the box lids could open easily. If you cut too much away, your lids won’t stay shut. The second picture below shows how much I cut away.

Step Four: Time to add the numbers to the front of the calendar! Use a paper trimmer to cut out the squares and then adhere them to the front of each box using 1/2″ Scor-Tape or another strong adhesive. If you don’t have a sheet of numbered paper, you could print your own, use stickers or use a cutting machine to cut numbers from Vinyl.

Create the top of the Advent Calendar

I covered the top half of the sign, above the tiny boxes, with snowflake paper from my paper stack. Creating the winter scene was more playing around than an actual step-by-step process. I found that folding white sheets of cardstock and layering them on top of the boxes worked the best for creating the snowy hills.

Once the snowy hills were in place, I added some stickers from the stack and then used my Cricut Explore to make trees and snowflakes in coordinating colors. Adding the stickers did make my snowy hills want to fall over, so to fix this, I added folded paper rectangles in back of the heavy stickers to support them.

You can really play around and create a fun scene on top using paper, stickers, or drawings.

I love how magical this calendar turned out. It can be hung or leaned against the wall. You can create something similar using any size wooden frame. I normally do 25 boxes for my Advent Calendars, but only 24 boxes would fit. Depending on the size of your frame, you may be able to do a different arrangement and fit 25 boxes.

Do you count down to Christmas with an Advent Calendar? There really are so many different kinds out there – both handmade and store-bought. All have their own unique charm!

Here are a few of my other fun DIY Advent Calendars!