No Sew Mitten Advent Calendar

 Growing up, my sister & I always had advent calendars. Mind you, they were the kind that came in the cardboard box and you would lift the flap and find a lovely piece of cheap tasting chocolate, but oh how excited we were when every morning , we got to open the little paper window and find a tiny chocolate Santa peaking out from behind!!! Christmas just wasn't the same without our advent calendars! So I wanted to make a special one for my boys that we could use over and over again every year.

 Cole has been asking me EVERY day, "Mom, is it Christmas yet?!" so this calendar will also be handy in teaching him a little more about the days of the month.

Here's how I did it. I used felt that I got from Joanne's & Micheals, as well as some felt snowlake stickers that I also found at Micheals.

On a piece of paper I drew the shape of a mitten to the size I wanted it and cut it out. I then traced the mitten shape onto my felt using a disappearing fabric marker. You want to cut out 2 pieces for each mitten, so I just folded the felt in half and cut out 2 at a time.

Next I just cut some random shapes out of the contrasting colored felt to use as the mitten cuffs, etc. I layed them all out so I could see how they all co-ordinate together.

To add the numbers, I painted them on using Martha Stweart craft stencils and some craft paint. Make sure you mix the paint with 1 part fabric medium to 2 parts paint. (I did this step before gluing the mittens & embellishments just in case I messed up!) When painting on the stencils, you should use a stencil brush, but I just used a foam brush and dabbed it up and down. Worked just fine:)

And the final step after the paint is dry is to use your hot glue gun & glue around 3 sides of your mitten to create a pocket, then hot glue on your embelishments!

I used clothespins and jute string to hang then after I stuffed each mitten full of some goodies!! I hung the calendar up over our media center to keep them out of reach of little fingers!!

I can't wait for my kids to open their first mitten today and enjoy their count-down to Christmas!

 Do you have any special Christmas traditions in your family? I'd love to hear about them!

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Keeping the Christmas Spirit Alive 365