Christmas...Advent... calendars... day 1

Hi :)
Hope you had a great weekend. 
Christmas is less than 2 months away.. I know.. scary, eh? But even worse, if you want to make a beautiful advent calendar, you have less time than that as it needs to be ready for December 1st (so I keep reminding myself as I really want to make one this year).
So how about a bit of inspiration to get you started... 
This week, The Craft Barn blog gets all Christmassy showing off Advent calendars and Christmas cards (that will be on Saturday with Gay) and of course our usual 2013 calendars you have been seeing for a few weeks now. 
We also asked the DT to use felt on their projects which they did beautifully using our felt pack and a selection of dies.

So let's start the week with Jane who is showing you how to use two of the wooden advent calendars we sell and giving you a few tips along the way

Take one wooden wooden advent chest.

a bit of paint, paper and a few hours and you can have this..

First job is to give the whole box and drawers a quick coat of paint. It doesn't take as long as you think!!! I used white.

Next, cut a square of coloured card slightly smaller that drawer front. Do not assume that every drawer is the same size, you will have to check each time!! Cut into the square and then cut out a small circle for knob. Do not worry as the snowflake will cover any hole made slightly too big

Cut a piece of patterned paper slightly smaller than coloured card and repeat process

When happy, stick onto drawer using PVA glue

Using felt, die cut 25 snowflakes. I cut out the centre and then stuck onto front of the drawer, again using PVA glue

I used Tando numbers which were the perfect size for this. I painted them blue.

When dry, stick onto drawers with PVA

To finish, I made a bow from 3 ribbons and arranged the tails to decorate

A couple of years ago I decorated an advent calendar which has been displayed in the shop ever since and a few customers have asked how the doors can be removed for decorating.

 If you look along the top or bottom edge of the cabinet, you will see a round plug above and below the line of doors on the hinge side

Sometimes you can get hold of the little round plug and pull it out, if not I use a pokey tool or similar and push into the plug, spearing it so that it pulls out on the end of the tool!!!! This then releases the door so you can gently pull it free. There will be a plug top and bottom of each door

You will need to pull out all the plugs and keep them safe. Should any break, a wooden kebab skewer is perfect to use as a replacement!!!!

Have fun, it is a wonderful decoration to make and keep for many years!!!!

These are the photos that I posted on my blog back in 2009........crikey where have the years gone??..

Jane used:

Advent chest with 25 drawers

Advent calendar

Eco Green paints - White and Sky Blue

Bazzill cardstock

Craft Creations paper - Blue Stripes on Ice Blue

Tando Numbers

Felt - White

PVA glue

Marianne D Creatables - Snowflake 1 

Ribbon - Blue, White and Silver

 Our special offer this week

Order any advent calendar from our site, 

and get a Tando mini advent calendar number set free

It will be added to your parcel.

See you tomorrow