If you follow my stories over on Instagram, then you may have seen a few weeks ago that I got my hands on a highly coveted Glow Forge. If you aren’t familiar with Glow Forge, it is an at home laser cutter that you can use to cut acrylic, plywood, wood veneer, leather, and more! My friends at Glow Forge sent me one to try out for a few months and I am hooked! Not only do I plan to make tons of stuff to sell with it (just wait until you see the earrings I made!), but it’s perfect for crafting with. I can cut out and etch any shape and pattern I can dream up. Including the shapes I needed for this DIY Modern Tree Advent Calendar. And honestly it is so user friendly.

In exchange for the machine, I was given a referral link to use that gets you a deep discount (up to $500 off!) if you choose to buy one. So I’ll just drop this link right here in case you want to check them out. They are quite an investment, but I am about 99% sure I will buy this one once my trial period is up. Because I just love it that much!

The Project

But enough about how much I love the machine, and on to the craft that I made with my Glow Forge. It goes perfectly with the 80’s Christmas theme I have going on this year!

Is that not the cutest?! The ornaments are all hanging on a little brass finishing nail and can be removed to hang up each day or removed counting down. Or just leave them all up and flip each one over each day to reveal an advent activity like baking cookies, reading a Christmas themed book, or donating a new toy to a family in need.

Now I am sure you are wondering how you are going to make this if you don’t have a Glow Forge and the price tag of them is a little steep just to buy for a craft. But if you love crafting and making things all the time, or want to make things to sell, I highly recommend one. But because of this hurdle, I thought it would perfect if I do the cutting for you and ship you all the cut pieces that you can then paint and assemble into your own DIY modern tree advent calendar. Fun right?!

So here is the link to get your own Glow Forge if you choose or here is the link to buy an advent kit from me!

Once you have your kit or have cut your own tree and ornaments from this cut file (part 1, part 1, part 3), follow the instructions below to paint and assemble your tree.

Materials for a DIY Modern Tree Advent Calendar:

-MDF Tree Kit or Laser cut advent tree
-Acrylic craft paint in the colors of your choice ( I used DecoArt Americana in red alert, citron green, sea breeze, dragon fruit, poodle skirt, coral blush, primary yellow, and white)
-Paint brush
-Number stickers (optional as you can also just hand letter the numbers on)
–Black paint pen and ruler for the graph lines
–Brass finishing nails
–Wood glue

Begin by removing the masking from the wood rounds and tree. Then paint the ornaments with your choice of colors and paint the tree white (or green if you prefer).

Once the paint is dry, add your number stickers or use a gold paint pen to write the numbers onto your ornaments. Then add a note on the back with an advent activity (optional).

Next, if you are going for the same graphic grid look on your tree, use the black paint pen and the ruler to draw grid lines 12″ apart on each of the tree triangles. Once dry, use the wood glue to glue the triangles together overlapping them about 4″ starting with the largest triangle on the bottom and working up to the smallest on the top.

The final step is to figure out the placement of your ornaments and add finishing nails to the tree so that you can hang the ornaments on them as you count down to Christmas.

The Results

 

Not only do I love that I was able to make this from scratch with my Glow Forge, but I love that you can still make this even if you don’t have one. And you can completely customize it just the way you want with the colors and patterns that fit your home’s holiday decorations!