Magnetic Christmas Tree Countdown Calendar

Do you use a Christmas countdown calendar? Counting down to the big day is one of my favorite Christmas activities. We probably have way more countdown calendars than we need… but they all get attention. This year I’ve just finished making a magnetic Christmas countdown calendar for our fridge. The kids are just as excited as I am!

This post is sponsored by Silhouette America. Make sure to read all the way to the bottom for your chance to win a Silhouette Portrait! 

Silhouette America sent me a Silhouette Portrait and a few extra goodies. After checking out the all of the incredible Silhouette projects on Pinterest and playing around with it for a bit, I decided my first Silhouette project would be fairly simple. The range of what you can do with a Silhouette Portrait is pretty amazing. There are so many different types of paper and accessories the options are pretty much unlimited.

BUT if you have been here before, you know that I prefer things to be simple…. super simple. This countdown Christmas calendar is just that (thanks to the Portrait).

Magnetic Countdown Christmas Tree

For this project you’ll need Silhouette Design #4145 Christmas Tree by Nathan Jenne, Silhouette Design #17079 Present, Silhouette Design #47817 Fun Star, card stock and 1-2 sheets Adhesive Magnet Paper.

• This is a print & cut project so set the registration marks first. Make sure to set the size paper you will be printing. I used copy paper but if I were to do it again I would use card stock instead.
• Load the Christmas Tree design onto the design space. Ungroup the pieces. I wanted the tree to fill the paper as much as possible so I made the bottom section as large as I could without going outside of the margin. Place all three tree sections together to form a tree. Weld them together and place the tree truck where you want it. (Both Ungroup and Weld can be selected when you right click on the image.)

• Fill the tree with green and the trunk with brown. (Or use any color you’d like! There are tons of colors and patterns to choose from.)
• Load Present and Fun Star onto the design space. Ungroup and delete the pieces you won’t be using.
• Create one star and 5 presents. I used two different size presents.

Note: I wanted to see what the ornaments, star and presents would look like on the tree, so I stared out placing them as they would be on the tree. Then moved them around to fill the paper.

• Use the Draw an Eclipse tool to create two different size ornaments. You will need to fit 19 ornaments on the tree so keep that in mind when you start sizing.
• Duplicate each circle until you a total of 19. Place them on the tree to make sure they’ll fit.

• Arrange all of the items around the design space (inside the margin). Make sure that none of the objects are overlapping. I found it easier to place the bigger presents, the star and the bigger ornaments first.
• Fill the ornaments, presents and star with an assortment of colors and patterns.
• Use the text tool to add number 1 – 25 to each present, ornament and the star.

That’s it for the design portion. All that’s left is to print & cut. So easy!

• Print the picture as is making sure the registration marks are in place.
• Before sending the printed picture through the Portrait make sure to Group the tree into one piece. You can also select the smaller pieces and group them. This will allow you to use the Cut Edge setting in Cut Settings so that the numbers and the tree truck will not be cut separately.
• Set the Portrait up for the paper you are using and let the cutting begin.
• Reset for the Adhesive Magnet Paper and send it through the Portrait.

• Peel the adhesive off the magnetic paper and apply your printed paper.
• Place the tree on the fridge and let the kids add a new number every day! (Or work backwards and start with a full tree.)

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