24 days of Christmas Archives

Paper Advent Village Calendar

Brittany

November 17, 2021

These adorable little boxes are the perfect Christmas advent craft! The good news is, you don’t even have to think about meticulously cutting out each window with an x-acto knife–you can use a Cricut maker. Trust me, it’s so much easier that it’s worth every penny of the investment to buy your own Cricut maker. So, let’s get to it! Here’s how you make your own quaint little advent calendar village.

Prepping the Cricut maker

First, plug in and turn on your Cricut maker.
Insert the scoring tool into its designated slot.
Using the Cricut design space, upload your template (found here).
Next, add score lines (this pdf shows you where to add the score lines).
Apply your choice of card stock paper to the sticky mat.
Now you’re ready to let the Cricut maker do it’s magic! Press start and let it cut. Note: we recommend setting your machine to a heavy weight card stock or glitter card stock to make sure it cuts all the way through.

Prepping for assembly

Once the Cricut maker has finished, gently pull the paper off, being careful not to rip it as you go. You can take a scraping tool to remove the excess paper scraps from the sticky mat.
Now, fold along the score lines made by the Cricut maker to make your advent house three-dimensional. Don’t forget to fold the little side tabs! This makes glueing your house much easier.

You are now ready to assemble your paper advent house!

Assembling the advent calendar house

Plug in the hot glue gun and let it heat up. You can do this ahead of time if you’d like–that way it will be ready to go when you get to this step!
Glue as indicated in the step photos. Press down to secure. Note: it helps to work quickly here so the glue doesn’t dry before you attach it.
Once the house is all glued together, use your hole punch to punch a hole in the center top of your house.
Now, cut a length of ribbon and feed it through the hole. Tie a bow and you’re done!

This bite-sized paper advent village calendar is such a fun decoration that looks festive and beautiful while saving you some space at the same time. Stuff them with a few seasonal goodies, if you want, and gift them after the advent is complete.

More inspiration

If you loved this tutorial, check out our other advent calendar and Christmas village variations: printable advent village calendar, DIY Christm as bulb advent calendar, DIY accordion Christmas village.

My Scandinavian Christmas: Day 1

Brittany

December 1, 2012

Happy December 1st! If you’re anything like me you’re thinking, “Wha? December? When did THAT happen?!” *sigh*. Wouldn’t it be so lovely to celebrate each and every day and really soak it in? Dream world! Well, Christmas time is seriously magical and this year the magic will be crowded not only with celebrations and projects but moving across the Atlantic in less than two weeks. Prior to finding out that we were moving, I was planning on doing the 24 days of Christmas crafts like I did last year, but that just was not possible this year.

SO, I enlisted the help of some of my favorite Scandinavian bloggers. I thought it would be exciting to have various holiday craft ideas from fellow bloggers in different parts of the world. (You can also check out different Christmas traditions from around the world here)!

Scandinavians have such a beautiful tradition of family and crafts and amazing food during this time of the year. I’m going to be so bold as to say that they celebrate it the best: no-nonsense, real, focus on people, non-tacky, warm. Guys, there are some really wonderful projects coming your way to show the simple and beautiful nature of the Scandinavians.

My Scandinavian Christmas: tree decoration

First up! Maiju from My 2nd Life based in Ostrobothnia, Finland. She has a most lovely blog with beautiful pictures of her life and creative projects. Here’s what she says:

Here’s an idea that I’m doing this year. I sprayed some branches white and decorated them by using simple decorations that don’t cost much. What I like about this idea the most is that it doesn’t take much room in the house, so you can have this little “x-mas tree” almost anywhere. Just pick the decorations and style as you like best –I chose this kind of playful mix with bright colors.

Thank you Maiju for participating in My Scandinavian Christmas. Go check out her lovely blog, My 2nd Life. And be sure to try out Maiju’s take on a Christmas tree decoration! All you need are some branches, spray paint (if desired), washi tape, and ornaments! Now you’ve got a stylish Christmas tree that won’t take up too much room in your house.

And don’t forget that the first Danish Design Giveaway ends tonight and the winner will be announced tomorrow along with our 2nd day of Christmas!

Edit: The Danish Design Giveaway is now closed. You can check out more of the Scandinavian Christmas crafts here.