Ok here goes!! I'm excited to share with you my first creation-- a fun ADVENT CALENDAR.
As a child, my mom and dad always had Advent calendars for me and my two brothers. It was such fun opening the tiny numbered doors each day and getting a happy surprise. Through the years they took on many forms. Some had windows you had to punch open to get a chocolate, some had little numbered pouches pinned to a ribbon hung across my room. Whatever the design, they always brought excitement and joy during those special days leading up to Christmas. So it goes without saying that my first project had to be an Advent calendar, but how should I design it?
I fell in love with the Signs of Santa Bundle the first time I saw it in the Holiday Catalog. The cute little elves, the presents and of course Mr. and Mrs. Claus really spoke to me.
Then I had to decide on a design. That's where the amazing Envelope Punch Board came in.
Using Poppy Parade and Garden Green cardstock, I made 25 small boxes. I started with a piece of cardstock that was 6 1/2in by 6 1/2in. Slide any side to the 2in. mark, PUNCH and SCORE, then the 4 1/2in mark, PUNCH and SCORE. Rotate the paper and follow the score lines for the last three sides. Now turn your paper so that the rectangle in the center is in a portrait position. Using your Paper Snips, starting from the bottom, cut along the horizontal score lines, coming in from both sides. Stop when you get to the vertical score line. Cut a small wedge out of the flap to make assembly easier. Starting at the top of the cardstock, cut down the vertical score lines until you reach the horizontal score lines. Cut out a small wedge on both flaps. The bottom flap will be the lid of the box.
Here are pictures of the box assembled
After putting together 25 boxes, I began adhering them together, laying the box on its back so that it open at the top and flopped down to reveal the surprise. I used TOMBOW liquid adhesive and glued 7 boxes together, side to side, to create the bottom. The next row included 5 boxes and they were glued to each other first then carefully glued to the first layer. I had to be careful to keep the adhesive away from the lid so that each one opened easy when stacked. I kept on building until I got this configuration.
Below shows how each box opened.
Then it was time to decorate and that was the easy part. I adhered strips of coordinating polka dot DSP to all the box tops that were exposed. For the numbers, I copied a word document on to a piece of Whisper White card stock and punched them out with my 1in. Circle Punch. You may want to use a different font or size for your own calendar. After putting on the numbers, I cut out some elves and presents from the amazing Designer Series Paper in this bundle. I used the Santa's Signpost Framelits that coordinate with the stamp set. Using Mini-Dimensionals, I adhered them to my calendar as shown. I placed the adorable Santa on the top.
I really love how it turned out. I can't wait to fill it with goodies for my girls. They may not be home all the days in December now that they are in college but they can always catch up when they get here.
Below is the FB Live I did to show how I assembled it.
I hope you enjoyed the first week of my Countdown to Christmas series. Don't forget to check back next week to see what fun project I have for you. If you have any questions about this or any project on my blog, please don't hesitate to email me or message me. If you are interested in any of the products shown in my projects, you can go to my online store to purchase them. Just click below.
Thanks again and Keep on Stamping,
Barb Reed
The Wexford Stamper
blreed@comcast.net
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