I saw an advent calendar at
http://luvleescrappin.blogspot.com/2012/10/graphic-45-nutcracker-sweet-advent.html and thought it was just amazing--even more than amazing! A few days later I went to see the Nutcracker with my daughter and two youngest grankids, and my grangirl was absolutely enthralled with the Nutcracker. That's when I knew I had to do this for her. I was so excited to be able to get everything I needed (and on sale, too!) at a local scrapbook store, Memory Bound (
http://www.memory-bound.com/) . It was time consuming as the original creator said, but oh so worth it. I used felt for the curtains (if I ever make another one, it will be with a good quality felt) and I am not happy with the star on the tree that I got at WalMart (still thinking of something to do with that). And I need a rat...like for the Rat King...and want to put it by the packages but haven't found exactly what I want. The advent calendar form was a kit from Kaisercraft and you can see other examples at
http://www.kaisercraft.com.au/blog/kaisercraft-advent-calendar-3-ways/
The window frame is from page 36 of Cricut French Manor--I welded two in Design Studio and turned it sideways to have a window with panes 3 wide and 4 lengthwise. The small packages are Cricut cuts too--the very small one by the nutcracker under the tree is the pop-up box from page 59 of Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2; the box by the gingerbread man is from page 120 of Tags, Bags, Boxes and More--I used a qullling tool to curl the flower tightly so that it looks like a bow; the gable box is from TBBM2 and the last box is from age 69 of CTMH Artiste cartridge-I used DS to hide the cut out on the inside of the lid. The curtain rod took a lot of thinking and brainstorming with my sister, cousin and cousin's daughter before we could figure it out! I used one of the cuts from Storybook for the outside corners (didn't take picture of that) but as shown on the original creator's video, the paper is 12 x 12 and the box is a tad over 13 x 13 so something was needed to cover the corners.
it's gorgeous and amazing details!!!
ReplyDeletedancingarden @ Cricut MB
Oh, my goodness! This calendar is breath-taking! Such a glorious work of art! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeletei love your advent calendar. every detail is so wonderful. i am in awe of those minature boxes. did you purchase the small christmas tree or make that too? it is just awesome. thanks for the inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThe Christmas tree is from WalMart...it's 9" tall and cost $3.97. It had the gold garland and a few small balls on it. I hand cut the candy canes, chestnut clusters and pieces of candy from the Graphic 45 Nutcracker Sweet paper that is in the 8 x 8 paper pad because the were a little smaller than the ones on the 12 x 12 paper. But cuts from the 12 x 12 paper would work, too.
DeleteWOW what an awesome job you did wow this was a lot of work and you sure made a keep sake piece to be cherished for year to come. WOW!!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing project! Your advent calendar is stunning! I am sure your family will treasure it. Thanks for playing with us this week at Paper Playtime. Hope to see you again soon :)
ReplyDeletemichelle
http://mumoftwoblog.blogspot.com
I am totally blown out of the water by the detailing! Quite a project - one they will keep for years to come!
ReplyDeleteWow! This is amazing!. So so love it. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you
Thanks for sharing. A couple of things I am having trouble with...how did you glue the paper down on the frame? Did you modge podge the frame and paper? Woukd you advise gluing down the background paper before fitting the pieces in the backboard? And the biggy....how did you attach the curtain rod?
ReplyDeleteMan these are fiddly. ..I am doing three at the same time...glutton for punishment!
First of all I painted the frame of the box with a brown...afterwards I wished I'd used purple or green. I painted the boxes (after assembling them) in red, green and purple. I did use a thin coat of mod podge to glue the papers down and then a thin layer after it was dried, to protect the paper. And I did glue down the purple background paper after assembling the shelves for the boxes. When you pull out the boxes, there is brown behind the drawers which is one reason why I wished I'd used a color other than brown. The box is 13 x 13 so to cover all the edges, I cut a frame from Storybook to cover all the corners (hope that makes sense). The curtain rod was made from using wire cutters to cut a length of thick metal coathanger. The endcaps of the curtain rod are beads (had to look awhile to find the right ones) that are glued to the cut piece of coathanger with gorilla glue. The curtains are a cheap felt from Michael's and I just pleated it, then used my eyelet setter to set eyelets for the coathanger piece to slide through. I was lucky enough to have some old outlets that were perfect.
DeleteWhen you get yours done, please post a link! I need to do another one this year and would love some ideas!
Oh and I used a thin coat of mod podge over everything to give it a gloss finish and to protect the paint and papers
DeleteOh...thanks so much for the advice. I will definitely post pics.
ReplyDeleteCathy