I’ve been a little quiet on the blog front this week as I’ve been spending quite some time putting together this tutorial and printable template. It’s by far and away the most advantageous template I’ve created so far! It allows you to customise, print and create your own advent calendar!

Structurally it’s just as strong as most store bought calendars; but it allows you to customise it to your hearts content and to fill it with whatever little presents you desire. I cobbled the image on the front of mine together using some vector art (the image is not part of the template).

All you need to create this project are:

• A set of my templates
• 3 sheets of 220 gsm (or as close as possible) card stock of your choice
• Double sided tape or a strong quick drying adhesive glue
• A cutting mat
• A ruler
• An x-acto knife or scalpel
• Some time and patience!

You can edit the PDF files by importing them into your choice of software (Photoshop, Illustrator etc), or you can print them out and decorate them by hand. They’d look fabulous decorated in watercolours, pencil, acrylic, decoupage  scrapbooking… the sky and your imagination are the only limits!

It’s as simple as printing out the templates on A3 card stock (I used 220gsm card I purchased from the stationery department of Manor) or have your local copy store do it for you. Follow the tutorial below to end up with a completely personalised advent calendar for yourself or for a loved one.

I’m trying something new with this project. Normally I put the templates up for free. But this time I’ve put this template up for you to buy on Gumroad. I’m asking that you pay what you feel the template is worth. The minimum Gumroad allows me to set is $1, of which I get 70 cents (which buys me 10% of a coffee at Starbucks in Switzerland or 0.3666666666666667% of my annual hosting fees).

If you feel the template is worth $1 to you, pay $1. If you think it’s worth $5, pay $5. I’m hoping this will make it fair for everyone.

This project has taken me a lot of time and effort to put together and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m not asking for much, the monies from this template will allow me to continue to fund next to nicx and to keep giving templates and tutorials away for free, without having to resort to advertising.

My aim is to always have at least 80% of next to nicx’s content on the site for free.

How it works: Upon providing your payment details and email address, you will instantly get access to a zip file containing the three A3 PDF files and they will also be emailed to you.

To purchase and download only the templates click here (155 kb)

To purchase and download the templates and a PDF version of the tutorial below, click here (17.8 MB)

Thank you for supporting next to nicx! I really hope you have as much fun putting together this advent calendar as I have had creating it.

The templates and all associated photographs and materials are copyright to © next to nicx and to Nicola Pravato. Please use the templates for personal use only.