Make Your Own Advent Calendar, Part 3

{Only two weeks left until December 1st - how's your calendar coming along?  There's still time to get started!  Click here for Part 1 or Part 2 of this series...}

Making Your Own Advent Calendar: Part 3

All your character pieces finished?  Great!  You're ready to make your title and decide on your final spacing.

Getting Started…

Gather your materials:

• felt for title letters
• paper patterns for title letters
• velcro spots
• craft glue or hot glue gun

Make Your Title…

1. Cut out your title letters.  (I used red felt.)  Hint: Be sure to reverse your paper letter patterns when you trace them onto your felt; that way your black marker lines won't show when you turn them right side up to glue them on your background.

2. Glue your title letters onto your background, using craft glue or a hot glue gun.

Final Spacing…

1. Double-check your final spacing by laying your finished felt pieces into your manger scene, arranging them the way you want them to look.  Mark the bottom of the manger scene with a pen or scrap piece of felt.

2. Then move all the pieces one by one down to the bottom of your background, making sure they all fit.  Leave enough space near each piece to write in each day's number.

3. Reassemble your pieces into the manger scene.  Glue the bristly side of a velcro spot onto each piece, and the corresponding soft side onto the felt background, in the place where you want it to finally stick. (I used two velcro dots on the stable and the double angels.) 

{Hint: Make sure to glue the bristly side of the velcro onto your characters and the soft side onto the background, so when you roll or fold up the background to store it, it won't stick to itself.  Plus, the bristly side of the velcro on the backs of the characters sticks onto the felt itself in the storage spots, so you don't need a second set of velcro backs.}

4. Number each velcro spot for the manger scene and the character storage places with black Sharpie marker.  (Black doesn’t show up that well on my dark green background, but I tried to make the numbers big enough for my preschoolers to find, and when the manger scene is completed it’s nice if the numbers sort of blend in or are covered up anyway.)  Where the character required two velcro spots, I either wrote the same number under both spots, or put the number in between the two spots.

Part 3 complete!  Great job!  You're almost done!

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To read the next post in this series, click here… 

{For a copy of the Christmas story divided into 25 pieces, email me at carolyn@carolynbroughton.com}

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In the Comments:

How are your calendars coming along?  There’s still time to grab some felt and start cutting and gluing… 

Remember, your calendar can look any way you want it to, ornate or simple - the point is to have something Christ-centered to help your children anticipate Jesus’ birth and learn the Christmas story!  

Leave a comment with your progress… I’d love to see a photo of your calendar when it’s done!