Many years ago, my sister (-in-law), Judy, Retired2stamp, invited me to a Stampin' Up Party. I was drawn to the 6X6 recipe card swap our local group was doing and had wanted to scrapbook too. I wasn't really interested in card making because I had witnessed my brother (in-law) Ed fold up a handmade card and put it in his pocket. I almost fainted and I didn't even make the card. But after a few parties, I was hooked and now make more cards than I had ever thought I would. My most recent passions are ATCs, tags & altered art. As you look through my blog I hope you can see how I've grown in my crafting ability!

Friday, December 1, 2017

Advent Calendar

It's finally done!  I  made this for my grandson but it will stay with me until he's an adult with a family of his own.  I started the KaiserCraft advent calendar in October 2016 in class at The Craft Shack.  I love the distressed look so I decided to use paper from Tim Holtz Yuletide 8x8 paper pack.  Although it was time consuming, the best part was choosing the papers & adding all the embellishments.  I finished the drawers & had most of the inside scene finished then I hit a wall...literally.  The wall of the "living room" needed something & I couldn't decide so I put it away & kept looking & thinking.  Then I found it!!

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ASSEMBLING:
Unfortunately I didn't take photos as I assembled the frame & boxes.  The frame is MDF &  painted white before assembling.  You need to be careful not to paint the tabs.  It fits together so tight I didn't have to glue it together & paint on the tabs would have made the fit impossible.  Also it's easier to put the paper in the center before assembling the frame.   I used glossy accents to glue the drawers together, holding with a rubber band until dry then painted them white inside & out.  There are several good YouTube videos available on how to assemble them & I would suggest watching a couple if you're going to put one of these together.

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FRAME:
Strips of paper from Tim Holt Idea-olgy Yuletide 8x8 paper were adhered around the sides of the frame with Matte Mod Podge.  I got paint on the back so I covered it with a red paper from my stash & added things from Tim's Festive Ephemera Pack, Yuletide paper pack. & a piece stamped with Doodle Greetings #2.  After all the paper was on I went over it with frayed burlap distress ink the gave it another coat of Mod Podge to make sure the paper was sealed.












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DRAWERS:
After cutting strips of various papers from Tim's Yuletide, they were wrapped around the drawer & creased so I'd know where to bone fold for a crisp edge.  I held the paper in place & with a pencil drew a line where the half circle was to be cut with a circle punch.  This is where the drawer will be pulled out.
The paper was adhered to the drawers with Mod Podge.  Once it was dry, frayed burlap distress ink was applied to the edges of the paper & the bottom of the drawers with a mini ink blending tool.  I then went over the entire drawer again the the mod podge to seal it.

Below are the drawers before adding the embellishments.  If you notice originally there was another paper in the middle but decided I wanted to go another direction so I changed it to a paper that has a small dot for the appearance of "wallpaper".

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DRAWER EMBELLISHMENTS:
Now the fun part!  I started by numbering the drawers with  KaiserCraft Metallic Gold Number Stickers distressed with mushroom alcohol ink & adhered using glossy accents.  In the beginning I was going to have the drawers in sequential order so I made sure I mixed the papers up.  But in the end I mixed the numbers up so you'd have to search for them.  That took a little time to figure out where to put them so the papers were different!  Drawer #25 doesn't have a slot so I make a lid & added a ribbon to make it look like a gift then attached it with glossy accents.  I listed the embellishments I used at the bottom of the page & most were put on with a crop-a-dile-hole-punch or glossy accent.  I wish I could have used all Tim Holtz embellishments but I just didn't have enough but did have some other cute things in my stash.  Some were painted or inked if they were shinny.  I even added a little gold foil with a glue stick to a few.

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CENTER:
I started with the tin ceiling made from mirrored sheets, embossed with Tim's Damask EF & inked with black soot ink.  I can't get a good photo of the "hardwood" floor & I'm not sure if the paper is Tim's or something I had in my stash.

The "wainscoting" paper is from Tim's Yuletide with Tim's Yuletide Design Tape used as a border. The Christmas tree is the large tree from Woodlands Trees and Wreath Set sprayed with Peeled Paint Stain. While that was drying, I colored pearls with Adirondack alcohol inks - mushroom, aqua, cranberry, purple twilight, sunshine yellow in small cups. By applying mushroom ink first it tones down the bright colors & gives them a vintage look (learned that from Tim). Gold cord was wrapped around the tree then the dyed pearls were added with glossy accents. The toys & gifts under the tree were from my Department 56 village days. The night scene behind the white CS Memory Box Madison Window is inked with Chipped Sapphire then Santa & his reindeer from SU Holiday Home & the trees tops from Tim's Reindeer Flight were stamped in black Archival Ink.


The SU Festive Fireplace was stamped, embossed with white & inked with Fired Brick then die cut & folded to make it 3D.  The mantel & stockings were from the same set, embossed & colored with several of Tim's markers.  The clock was placed on the wall then the swag from Tim's Mini Holiday Greens in his Kraft Core paper was sanded & added above the mantel.  I also added a few tiny red jewels I had in my stash.  The salvaged doll was painted with black soot (shoes), antique linen (skin), fired brick (nightgown) & vintage photo (hair).  She is standing with her "blanket" which is a piece of crinkle ribbon dyed with tumbled glass.  She' was placed in front of the fireplace amazed Santa had been there! 

The pictures on the wall were vintage images, resized to fit into 3 of the Melissa Frances Resin Frames.  I inked with frayed burlap then added lossy accent over the photos so it looked like glass.

All this was done last winter but as I said it needed something....then I found the Tim Holtz Holly, Beaded, Snowflake Garland Strip Die!  A holly swag was cut from Tim's Kraft Core paper in green & red then sanded...just what it needed!!  I also used a couple of the extra bows on the swag & window.

I probably missed something but if you've read this far it probably doesn't really matter because your head is spinning!

Thanks for looking at my project!


DRAWER EMBELLISHMENTS:
Tim Holt Idea-ology - Christmas typed tokensmirrored starsmini fasteners bradsyuletide fastenersstar fastenersantique nickel arrowhex fastenersnailheadslong fastenersjingle bradsice skatespine conesring fastenersfrozen snowflakes alpha parts, snowflakes; Ranger - vintage shiny gold transfer foil sheetsmini collage glue stick; KaiserCraft - Metallic Gold Number Sticker Sheetwooden flourish joy pack; Stampin' Up - Christmas trinkets, mini jingle bells, enamel dots ; Memory Makers - birthday charms; Eyelet Outlet - stocking brads, red Christmas hat brads; Unknown - button brads, lock keys on ring, candy cane charm, mittens, snowflake, jewels, clock charm, swirly clip.

2 comments:

  1. Your advent calendar is very fun. I love the scene that you set inside.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love it!! Great job!

    ReplyDelete