Thursday 22 November 2012

Alterable Advent Calendars


Here are a couple of Alterable Advent Calendars ready to be given on the 1st December. These are great as the boxes are quite large (6cm x 6cm square boxes) and can fit more than just a chocolate inside. The kit comes as an assembled frame containing the 23 square boxes and one double rectangular box.



I decided I had to use up some of my paper stash and I found last year’s DCWV and Marianne Design Specialty Paper Pads. I painted one Calendar with 2 coats of Fired Brick Distress Stain and cut out one of the number pages from the DCWV stack, stuck them on the boxes and then used 2 holly die cuts from the Sizzix Tim Holtz Lamp Post Die. Inked the holly with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink Pad and the berries with worn lipstick distress ink pad, these were then covered with Glossy Accents and stuck to the calendar. 



   
The second calendar was painted with the Viva Décor Gold paint. I chose one of the pages from the Marianne Design pad this had lots of small vintage Christmas pictures on that I cut out and glued onto some of the calendar boxes. Using the Sizzix Tim Holtz Word Play Die I cut out the numbers from Kraft Paper and inked them with Tim Holtz Black Soot Distress ink. 


I also cut out the Sizzix Tim Holtz Lamp Post – this was slightly too long for the calendar box so trimmed near the top of the post where the join would be covered with the holly & berries. I stained with Black Soot distress stain and then used Glossy Accents. Glue the numbers and lamp post onto the calendar.


11 comments:

  1. What a fabulous project. Must bear this in mind for next year. ALl the little ones in my family live a few hundred miles away so I doubt I could get it done and off to them in time for them to start opening the little boxes. But brilliant. Christine

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    1. Thanks Christine. If you just decorate the outside and not bother with the outside and inside of each box then it's quite quick to do. Although it's more fun to do the whole thing, the kiddies will really only be interested in what's in the box :-)

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  2. Have looked at these kits before. Must try and give them ago as you have decorated them beautifully. Love the gold creation. Carolxx

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    1. Thank you. They are fun to do and of course not just limited to one Christmas as nothing is destroyed like a commercial calendar so they could be used year after year, just change what's in the boxes as the kids grow up.

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  3. LOVE your calendars! What fabulously different ways to decorate them! They look so inviting! The possibilities must be endless!

    Can't wait for 1st December to see what's in the first drawer! Hopes it's chocolate!

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    1. Glad you like them. We'd love to see what you'd do with them, I expect it'd be pretty spectacular :-)

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  4. Fantastic projects - great inspiration ;)

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