Create a beautiful and modern DIY advent calendar with craft paints, stickers, and wood frame. Day five of A Very Global Christmas series.

We are wrapping up the first week of A Very Global Christmas series featuring advent calendars.  If you want to check out previous posts from this series, you can find them all at A Very Global Christmas page.  Make sure to hop on over to Casa Watkins Living to see her mini Christmas tree advent calendar if you haven’t yet!

Modern DIY Colorful Advent Calendar

Whew!  This one took a little longer than I expected but I sure had fun making a custom advent calendar for my kids.  Allow yourself an afternoon for this project!

Here’s what you need for a colorful advent calendar:

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1. an advent calendar frame (like this advent tree shape , square advent calendar, or a house shape advent)
2. craft paint and brushes (FolkArt brand use seashell pink, deep ocean blue, crocodile, and true burgundy)
3. white spray paint
4. number stickers
5. fillings (optional)

I snagged this advent calendar for 50% off at Hobby Lobby!

How to create a modern and colorful advent calendar:

• First, paint the frame white with spray paint.  You will probably need at least two coats. Let dry.
• Paint the individual drawer fronts with different colors to customize your look!  I mix colors together and added white to some to lighten them.  Add a bit of gold craft paint to each knob.

• Use a stencil, stamps, or stickers to number each drawer.  I had some black numbers on hand so I painted them gold first and then used an exacto knife to remove them from the sheet.  Clear nail polish worked great to seal them on the wood.

• For more interest, leave a few numbers off so you can embellish the drawer corner with a holiday picture.  Try easy shapes like a snowman, Christmas tree, Bethlehem star, and holly.

I plan on add a bible verse printed on a slip of paper in each drawer telling the Christmas story along with chocolates.  To make it even more fun,  I added a little forest of bottle brush trees for the kids to decorate with mini colorful pom poms and copper bells.  I might be trying to justify decorating the big tree mostly by myself. lol 

In spite of the time it took (probably 3-4 hours),  it turned out so cute!  And it has just the colors I wanted.  To simplify the process, use colors straight from the bottle and don’t paint and then cut out stickers unless you’re trying to be resourceful like me.  That was the most time consuming!

It helps complete our Christmas vignette on our buffet with a printable winter snow globe scene and tinsel tree. 

And since it’s Friday, that wraps My Home Style: Christmas Tree edition blog hop featuring 25 different bloggers with 25 different tree styles!  If you want some inspiration and light reading this weekend, I encourage you to check them all out.  I was blown away by the creativeness, photography, and special traditions of these bloggers.

If you haven’t been yet, I’m dying to see Casa Watkins Living’s DIY for today!  Join me?

If you enjoyed this colorful advent calendar, check out a DIY Christmas calendar for kids!

• The Best Curtains For Green Walls Guide With Beautiful Photos
• How to Decorate a Paper Lantern with Brilliant Floral Accents
• DIY Plate Magnets: Personalize Your Fridge with Easy Homemade Decor
• A Step-by-Step Guide for Creating An Aesthetic Bookshelf in Different Styles
• How to Choose the Perfect Curtain Size: Your Ultimate Guide + Free Printable Curtain Size Chart!

Head over to the Winter holidays, DIYs, and decor page for more articles and resources!