Christmas Countdown craft

I have always wanted to have a reusable advent calendar, but I've never found one that I love. So I  made one! It didn't cost too much to make but it was a little labor intensive. It has pockets for each day and I've put Christmas related activities in each day. I'm looking forward to this as a great way to start Holiday traditions.

Supplies:

Colored pieces of felt (I used 3 of each color; could be more or less depending on the size of the squares) -$.29 cents each

Scissors -on hand

Pre-cut felt numbers and letters (2 of each color) -$4.99 each

3/4 yard of red felt (for the background, I didn't even use half of that though) $2.50

Wooden stick -$.59 cents

White paint/Spray paint - on hand

Yarn -$2.79

Hot Glue (lots of it!) -on hand

Pins - on hand

I didn't really have a pattern or measure anything, but it looks good!

Here are some photos of the process.

First I put the number 25 on the felt and figured out what size I wanted the pockets to be.

I cut out all the squares using the initial squares that I cut and put the numbers on the pockets

Then I pinned the pockets onto the back squares and hot glued the three sides

Next I cut out the fabric for the back, again I kind of just eyeballed what size I would need.

With the extra letters from the pre-cut felt I decided to put "Christmas Countdown" on my calendar

I  cut down the stick to leave just a little extra on each side, painted it white and drilled holes on each side

Then I threaded the yarn through each side and tied it at the top

Finally finished, I hung it next to our tree!!