DIY Vintage Chic Advent Calendar

Learn how to make a gorgeous DIY Vintage Chic Advent Calendar, using everyday supplies that you already have around! You’ll have to take a few visits to the kitchen to make this advent calendar happen, but you will have something beautiful to display in your home and enjoy with your family throughout the holidays!

Hello, creative friends! Is it a little bit late for an advent calendar? :) I have this gorgeous project that I shared a few weeks back on the Graphics Fairy and really wanted to share it here too! It’s one of my favorite projects, I’m over the moon with how this one turned out. I know I say that a lot about my projects, but I’m pouring a little bit of my soul into each and every single one of them, so I guess it is somehow logical to love them to pieces! I’m only hoping they will have the same effect on you! :)

I’m on a coffee creative mood lately (is that even a thing?), so I’ve been using this magical liquid like crazy to give my projects a distressed, worn look. It might be a little bit unconventional to use coffee this way, but I love the vintage vibe it can bring to paper, without being too overwhelming.   

I also love the organic, quite natural feel coffee imprints to paper, not to mention the uniqueness it can bring. The final effects that you can achieve can be quite special!

As always, I’m sharing the free printable so you can easily create this project on your own. This time I included these absolutely stunning vintage frames with cardinal numbers, which are the main attraction of this advent calendar. The lovely cardinal numbers are actually ‘extracted’ by me from an old vintage clock face image, it’s amazing what one can do with Photoshop these days! :)  I’ve also included a few inserts as free printables – these can be embellished as you want and will also act as templates for creating the no-glue folded envelopes for our advent.  And yes, my friends, we will be folding! :)

DIY Vintage Chic Advent Calendar

I will show you how to:
– distress the labels with coffee
– make the DIY no-glue folded envelopes using an item from your kitchen
– cut the vintage labels and the inserts
– attach the vintage labels to the envelopes

Here are the super simple, but absolutely beautiful no-glue folded envelopes that I created for this project, have you guessed already what is the item from the kitchen that I used to make them? :) I actually shared another version of this technique using kraft paper, you can take a look here if you want > How to make a no-glue folded envelope. The kraft paper version would also work for this advent calendar project, it could imprint even more of a vintage vibe!

And here are the vintage labels after staining them with coffee, I can totally see these used to decorate other items from our home. I’m thinking vintage crates, boxes, flower pots or vases, even kitchen jars. Or maybe use them to finally organize your creative space, all in a chic way? :)

cardstock paper | laserjet printer |
scissors |coffee (I’m using Nescafe Dolce Gusto) | brush
parchment paper | decorative scissors (optional)
craft mat (for protecting the surface)
Mozart font (optional, for writing the inserts)

I could say that the versatility of my projects is one of the things I usually try to keep in mind while creating them, you can definitely use all the elements from this project as separate elements too! And maybe adaptability would be worth mentioning too, these vintage coffee-stained labels would look great in any other decorative scenario, no matter if you are a lover of all things Shabby Chic, vintage or farmhouse. 

This was actually my first DIY Vintage Chic Advent Calendar and because of the flat shape of the no-glue folded envelopes, it could probably be used as a more activity-oriented advent, rather than an object-oriented one. But that’s a good thing, this way we could spend more time with our families while waiting for Christmas. Of course, you can always improvise and hide the larger objects or the sweets (chocolate is ALWAYS a great idea) around your home, then write on the inserts the instructions for finding them. It could be like a treasure hunting map, how fun would that be?! :)

You could include seasonal decorative items while styling this super chic advent calendar, I love adding Christmas tree branches or greenery, pine cones, Christmas tree ornaments or other small seasonal objects that I have around.  I also love adding cinnamon sticks and I believe anise stars would also look great, even dried apple slices! This way you will also have the fragrance factor covered and your home will be perfectly scented for the holidays! :)

Write the inserts by hand or use a beautiful script font to write them beforehand on your computer! This beautiful font is called Mozart and can be used here or on other projects too!

PIN FOR LATER & SHARE ♥

Give this project a try, who says you can’t start the countdown from 10, even 15, so you can enjoy this chic advent calendar starting this year? :)

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