Today’s contributor is Terra from Mama Says Sew. All posts written by Terra for Make It and Love It can be found HERE.Â
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Hi everyone, it’s Terra from Mama Says Sew!
I took down my Christmas decorations and my walls were looking pretty bare. I wanted something fun to decorate with, and when I saw an advent calendar for Valentine’s Day from Pottery Barn, I knew I wanted to make my own Valentine’s Day advent calendar.
This is a pretty simple project to make. The most time consuming part is numbering the days. Other than that, it’s basically a rectangle with a ruffle at the bottom, and you really could leave the ruffle off if you want to.
Each day leading up to Valentine’s Day, you can leave a little surprise in the numbered pockets. Here I used chocolate, but you could leave little notes or coupons or small gifts like pencils or erasers instead.
The Valentines’ Day advent calendar has a dowel to help it lie flat. I painted mine silver for a little extra sparkle.
It hangs easily on a nail, or here I used a wreath hook to hang it on a door.
I used freezer paper stenciling to add the numbers to my Valentine’s Day advent calendar. You could also just write them on there, or, if you’re feeling ambitious, try embroidering them on instead!
When you’re done each year, it’s easy to just roll the calendar around the dowel for storage.
To make your Valentine’s Day advent calendar, you will need:
First, finish off one long end of each ruffle piece (measurements above). I hemmed (by folding under 1/4 inch, then another 1/4 inch, and sewing in place), but you could also serge or zig zag stitch the raw edge if you prefer.
Stack the ruffles on each other with the narrower ruffle on top. Run two gathering stitches (stitch length set at maximum) along the unfinished edges, stitching through both ruffles. Set aside.
Position your felt rectangles and hearts on the background piece of your advent calendar, arranging them how you want them. Make sure to leave room for any writing you want to add and for hem allowances.
Pin in place.
Sew the felt to the background, creating pockets for each day. Each rectangle will be a total of three pockets.
Note: If you want to add the numbers by embroidering them on, it would be better to do that before sewing them on to the background.
The hearts also are pockets. I used mine for the first and last days on my advent calendar.
Pin the ruffles to the bottom of the background piece and pull up gathering stitches to fit, leaving room on both short ends of the ruffle to finish the edges. Sew the ruffles to the bottom of the background piece.
Fold and press the long edges over twice. Fold and press the top edge about 1/2 inch, then fold and press another 2 inches or so. This will be the casing for the dowel.
Unfold ONLY the second fold on the casing, and edge stitch to finish each long edge. Note: You should continue your folding and stitching down the unfinished short edges of the ruffles to finish those edges also.
Refold the top edge and stitch close to the edge to form the casing for the dowel.
Using freezer paper and paint, add the numbers to the pockets. You can also add words to the background. I added “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Peel off the freezer paper and there are your numbers.
Slip the dowel into the casing and tie a length of ribbon or yarn to both ends of the dowel to form a hanger.
Enjoy your new Valentine’s Day advent calendar! Don’t forget to include a treat for yourself each day!
Be sure to check out my blog for more Valentine’s Day ideas!
-Terra
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For more Valentine’s Day fun, check out some of these sweet ideas:
Hi, I’m Ashley—the DIY-enthusiast behind this crazy blog!
