Messages that inspire, make you laugh and bring you joy are at the heart of this personalised Advent calendar. In this quick guide you will learn how to make my Advent calendar with quotes and compliments.
Can an advent calendar with words create more moments of happiness than one with chocolate? I say yes, because that’s exactly the idea behind my DIY project in the run-up to Christmas. I made this advent calendar with quotes and compliments for someone close to me – I chose the compliments and sayings as appropriately as possible. Of course, you can easily replace the personal messages.
I took a lot of time to create templates for the cards and numbers – and I’m making all the templates available to you. I put the cards with the sayings into matching envelopes – and with that, the Advent calendar is actually already finished. If you’re in a hurry, you can also buy small envelopes, advent calendar numbers and a box to store them in.
Are you looking for an Advent calendar with a particularly sophisticated look? Instead of envelopes, you can spend more time making an origami Advent calendar or a Snowflake toilet roll Advent calendar. These are my two favourite homemade advent calendars here at Greatime.
Easy Tutorial for an Advent Calendar with Quotes and Compliments
The Advent calendar consists of 24 envelopes, in which little cards with a compliment or a saying are hidden. You can find all the materials I used to make the calendar on the material list. There you can also find my templates for printing.
Material List
- Red kraft paper
- Craft paper with gold prongs
- Red and white ribbon
- Template of the 24 advent calendar numbers to print on Vintage paper
- Template for the small cards (German Template) on white paper (120 mg)
- Navy blue clay cardboard
- Black fineliner
- 24 compliments and sayings
- Golden contour stickers with Christmas motifs
- Box – z.B. gift box with window and a cellufan bag
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Hot glue gun
- Alternative: 24 square envelopes / wooden Advent calendar numbers
1. How to Make an Advent Calendar With Quotes and Compliments
Print out the 24 templates for the cards and write your chosen compliments and sayings on them. On Adventure Friendship you can find my Best Of with 24 sayings for advent calendars. They are a mix of humorous and inspirational sayings.
Tip for individual compliments: What makes the / the recipient? What is simply typical and what character trait do you like enormously? What do you admire them for?
Now write the compliments and sayings on the cards with a black fineliner.
Then cut out the cards and leave a white border of about 5 mm around the black printed frame. Glue the white cards onto the dark blue paper and onto two sheets (DIN A4) of gold patterned wrapping paper glued back to back. Leave a margin of about 0.5 cm and cut out the cards.
Stick a small outline sticker over each text (e.g. star, Christmas tree, Christmas tree ball etc.).
2. Fold Square Envelopes from Wrapping Paper
Cut 8 squares from the red wrapping paper and 16 squares from the gold patterned wrapping paper.
Place a small card in the centre and fold the right and left corners of the square inwards so they overlap.
Now fold the top and bottom corners inwards so that they overlap.
Cut out the four triangles along the folds.
Now fold the right and left corners to the middle, fold the bottom corner up and cut off about 1 cm of the top.
Glue the envelope pocket together.
The envelope doesn’t need to be glued shut – put the tip inside the envelope to keep it shut and reuse it.
3. Design the Envelopes and Wrap Them in a Gift Box
Cut out the advent calendar numbersPrint out the template with the 24 numbers on vintage paper and cut them out in a circle. Cut eight pieces of red and white ribbon and stick them as a border on the bottom third of the red envelopes from the Advent calendar with compliments and sayings. Stick the numbers 3,6,9,12,15,18,21 and 24 on top and trim the ends of the ribbon.
Place the remaining numbers on the other gold patterned envelopes.
Finally, all you have to do is put a card in each envelope, stack them and put them in a nice box. I folded a paper gift box with a window (the kind you use for biscuits), put the envelopes in a cellophane bag and put them inside.
Here you can find instructions for folding a rectangular gift box.
The advent calendar with quotes and compliments is ready!
On Greatime there are many more ideas for Advent and Christmas. As you browse, you’re sure to discover a few ideas for leisure activities for two, friends and family that you must do around the year.
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