This whimsical advent calendar is made on a 12 x 12 metal plaque I got at the thriftstore. It takes a modern twist on an advent calendar. You may want to place numbers underneath the magnetized button mandalas, I wanted the piece to be an art piece with or without the mandalas covering the empty spots.

This image was on a Christmas greeting card that I scanned into my computer and adjusted the colors from Christmas colors to artsy colors to match my mandalas with my computer software. I printed the image on regular printer paper and after it was cut out, attached with glue stick one section at a time.

Print out the mandalas in different sizes and glue them to buttons in matching sizes, then use hot glue to attach a magnet at the back of the button.

I went to the trouble to make two versions of the tree, one with white numbers and one without. The piece looks so artsy without the numbers, so I went with that. Store the extra mandala pieces along the sides until it is their turn to fill a spot.

I filled the tiny spots with black buttons decorated with rhinestone gems that were attached with hot glue.

If you click on this image it will take you to the Etsy listing for these mandalas. (Through the years I have been frustrated that folks didn’t show me where I could purchase the EXACT thing.) Etsy has a bazillion listings for round printable mandalas!

It was fun to make a modern twist on an advent calendar!