Chica and Jo Chica and Jo

DIY tutorials, party ideas, recipes, crafts, and tips for everyday life

Chica and Jo Chica and Jo

DIY tutorials, party ideas, recipes, crafts, and tips for everyday life

Chica and Jo Chica and Jo Facebook TikTok Pinterest Instagram

Lottery Ticket Advent Calendar

by: Chica
This page may contain affiliate links and we may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking them. As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Lottery Ticket Advent Calendar
Facebook Pinterest Email
share it

Jo and I love Advent calendars, and usually try to come up with something new each year. This year we designed a fun lottery ticket advent calendar. I just love this idea, and it came out so cute!

To make this calendar, I started with 24 Christmas-themed lottery tickets (one for each day of December until Christmas). We found some with really cute characters on them, and chose the rest of the supplies to coordinate with the ticket colors. For the backdrop of the calendar, I got a big piece of light blue felt off the bolt at the fabric store. I got 2/3 of a yard, but you may need more or less, depending on the size of your tickets. I also grabbed some white felt, some red satin ribbon, and some white felt snowflakes.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

The first step was to determine how wide my felt needed to be in order to fit two tickets side by side, with a snowflake next to each one. I laid them out on the felt with a yardstick and decided that 17" would work great. I cut the felt into a long piece that was 17" wide.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

I decided to hang the calendar by a wooden dowel across the top, so I first needed to make a pocket for it. I folded over the top edge about 2 inches and then sewed it down with a row of zigzag stitches. Jo insisted I use red thread, which looked really cute and matched the ribbon I was going to add later.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

Then I used some self-adhesive felt letters to add a title to the top of the felt. The famous "Ho Ho Ho" combined with the possibility of a cash windfall equals "Ho Ho Dough"!

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

I put my two sample tickets and snowflakes back on the blue felt, and lined them up next to the letters so they were just how I wanted. Then I took two long pieces of red ribbon and laid them on top, centering them over the tickets.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

I pinned each ribbon in place to hold it for now.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

With the ribbon secure, I removed the tickets and snowflakes and folded the top edge of each ribbon under, to hide the rough edge. I used a little hot glue to secure the ribbon to itself and then to the felt.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

Then I slid two lottery tickets back up under the ribbon, scooting them up as far as they would go.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

I put another dab of hot glue under the first ribbon on the left as far up as I could without getting it on the ticket, creating a nice tight pocket to hold the ticket. I did the same thing for the other ribbon on the right.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

Then I added two more tickets and glued the ribbon down after them again. Isn't this a clever way to make sure the pockets are perfectly fitted without having to measure?

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

I continued down the ribbon, adding tickets in pairs, until all 24 of them were affixed.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

When I got to the bottom, I left a few inches of the ribbon hanging down, and then covered the ends and the bottom of the blue felt with some white felt that I cut to look like a snow drift.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

A quick run of the scissors across the bottom and the extra blue felt was trimmed off perfectly.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

With the tickets all attached, I just needed to number them, in order to make it a true countdown calendar. I grabbed my self-adhesive snowflakes and put one next to each ticket, alternating between the two snowflake sizes that came in the pack. Oh my goodness, this thing was getting so cute!

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

I used some tiny red glitter stickers to add a number to each snowflake.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

To hang the calendar, I cut a wooden dowel rod a couple inches longer than the blue felt is wide, then put a tiny eye screw in each end.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

I fed the dowel through the pocket at the top of the felt. Then I attached some of the red ribbon to each end, leaving enough slack to make a nice-looking hanger.

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

The finished calendar looks so amazing hanging on the door. I can't wait until December 1st so I can start scratching one ticket each day. I've already promised both my niece and Little Jo that they can scratch the ticket whenever they come over. I don't normally buy lottery tickets, but this sure seems like a fun way to count down to Christmas this year!

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

Lottery ticket Advent calendar

Lottery Ticket Advent Calendar
Facebook Pinterest Email
share it

6 comments so far:

  • 1
    Casey 11/24/2011 at 8:55 pm

    How FUN! Can be used for our own families, OR given as a gift (to someone difficult to buy for!). GREAT idea!

    HAPPY - AND BLESSED - THANKSGIVING WISHES TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES!

  • 2
    Chica 11/24/2011 at 8:56 pm

    You're totally right about this being a fun gift for someone who is hard to shop for, Casey. In fact, Jo's sister-in-law often buys lottery tickets for gifts, and that helped inspire us to make this calendar!

  • 3
    Kristin 12/03/2011 at 9:25 pm

    How do I attach a photo? My cousin and I made this calendar today and are SOOO excited about them. They are adorable and perfect for my "tween" son who is SO over the not so great tasting chocolate in the paper advent calenders I usually buy every year. Thanks for this idea!

  • 4
    Chica 12/04/2011 at 10:17 am

    So glad you and your son like this project, Kristin! I think you could add a photo anywhere you like using some double-sided tape. Today I scratched my fourth ticket off the calendar, and so far none of them have been winners. I'm hoping we'll get a good one soon, though!

  • 5
    Tori 11/24/2012 at 11:07 pm

    I loved this idea. I made a few changes to create a count down to a wedding with lottery tickets calendar! My kids saw it and now want their own for advent.

  • 6
    Chica 11/25/2012 at 12:35 pm

    Tori, I love the idea of counting down to a wedding with something like this. What a fun way to hopefully get some extra cash for the honeymoon!

leave a comment:

submit comment

Chica and Jo

Hi there! We are Chica and Jo, best friends who love to create whenever we can. From fun DIY projects to elaborate parties to delicious recipes, you're sure to find ideas that will inspire you. Take a look around and follow us @chicaandjo to see what we're up to today.

shop our Favorites
buy us a cup of coffee

want to support us?

buy us a cup of coffee
Please visit Chica and Jo at http://www.chicaandjo.com for more DIY projects and clever ideas!