Star Wars Advent Calendar

My grandson has just turned five years old and is obsessed with everything Star Wars. For Christmas this year, I made him the perfect gift using the GSL Advent Calendar Shadowbox.

 It comes with the large base piece, four exterior pieces, interlocking interior pieces and lots of spacers. 

After assembling it with tacky glue I painted the exterior and drawer slots with black acrylic paint.

 

The GSL Set of Pre-Cut Drawers are easy to assemble using a bit of glue. I used craft clips to hold them in place while the glue dried.

The Tiny Number Plates - Silver, which are available at Alpha Stamps, are the perfect size for this project.

To fill the large space in the center of the shadowbox, I cut black chipboard to size and added some black and white images that were edged with tiny dot dresden border.

 This is for a five year old so of course there had to be glow in the dark stars added!

The last thing to add were some Star Wars figures. These were glued in place with E6000. Not to worry, he's also getting some other Star Wars figures to play with this year. 

The only thing left to do is fill the drawers. I am hopeful he will enjoy this as a keepsake for many years to come. Thanks for stopping by!

Gypsy Soul Items Used

Advent Calendar Shadowbox

Set of Pre-Cut Drawers for Advent Shadowbox

Tiny Number Plates – Silver

Other Items Used

Acrylic paint

Tacky glue

E6000 glue

Printed images

Tiny dot dresden border

Glow in the dark stars

Star Wars figures

Christmas Countdown Shadow Box

Hello!! It's Jennalee here today. How is it already December? I have been in full Christmas Crafting mode here. This project is inspired by the beautiful advent calendar made by Paula Cheney. As I was thinking of making my own version I thought that the Mini House Room would be the perfect piece for a Christmas scene and calendar.

Start by assembling and gluing together your Mini House Room. 

Cut Background paper to size and decorate as desired. Cut coordinating paper to size for all remaining surfaces of the Mini House Room. I ran all my pieces thru my Xyron for quick application. I covered all of the exposed edges with design tape. 

I used the numbers from Tim Holtz's Christmas Alpha Tiles. I colored them with Gold Alcohol Ink. I did need two packs of the Alpha Tiles to have enough numbers. I used a nail to poke a hole thru the House and used mini brads to hang my numbers on. 

Then came the fun part!! Making a mini scene within the box. For the snow I used Grit Paste and Distress Rock Candy. I added snow to the peak of the roof and the floor of the house. The tree is a mini bottle brush tree. I removed it's original base and added it onto a bingo marker.

I am so excited to start counting down to Santa's arrival!! I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial. And I hope you are finding time to sneak in some Christmas crafting. Happy Creating ~ Jennalee 

GSLCuts items used:

Mini house room box

Advent Calendar with Alicia Barry

So Thanksgiving is over and I hope everyone had a wonderful day. Now it is all about Christmas. This is a big deal in our house. I love to decorate. I have created this Advent Calendar Shadowbox to fit in with my tree decor. My tree is aqua with gold and silver. Not so traditional.

The Advent calendar kit will give you the structure of the shadow box, including a template for the boxes. You can also purchase the Pre-cut Drawers separately. This will save you a lot of time. You simply fold along the score lines, glue the tabs and you're done.

I chose to cover mine with paper. It was as simple as cutting strips and wrapping around. For the notch in the front, I covered two of the sides, starting at the back, then traced the inside of the notch and cut with scissors before adhering the last two sides. I found it important to glue those two sides first, as it allowed me to place the notch perfectly. Of course, you could just paint the boxes too. Whatever you use, keep it simple and adhere closely, as the spots for the boxes to slide into are tight.

For this project, I chose to assemble and adhere my shadow box into place before painting. I knew I would be covering most of the surfaces with paper, and that the insides wont be seen at all, so the only surface I really needed to worry about are the forward facing edges. A quick spray with metallic paint mists was sufficient, and far quicker than painting. Don't worry about the overspray, it will be covered.

I then slotted my boxes into place and lined the inside of the shadow box with decorative paper. 

At this point, I also added metallic numbers to the front of the boxes using foam dots. By raising them, they act as little handles.

Next I took some Art Deco Borders and Corners and covered with white gesso and fine glitter. I wanted them to look snowy. I adhered these in place as shown, making sure that the boxes could still slide out easily.

I decorated the inside corner of the shadow box with a lamp post image from the Christmas Shape Set, layering a wreath and bow over the top. These also had glitter added. I used a little texture paste with more glitter to resemble snow. The base of the shadow box has some batting glued in place. A tiny drop of dimensional paint resembles the flame.

I then added some small pinecones and foliage along with a small Christmas ornament. (I recommend using a hot glue gun at this point). This all has texture paste and glitter over the top.

In the top corner, I have hung some more snow covered Christmas balls.

And on the very top of the box, I have created another cluster to mirror the one on the bottom.

Now to find some tiny treats to fill all those boxes ready for the start of December.

Supplies used:

Advent Calendar Shadowbox

Pre-Cut Drawers for Advent Calendar Shadowbox

Art Deco Borders and Corners

Christmas Shape Set

My Mind's Eye papers

Embroidery thread

Lindy's Stamp Gang paint mists

Ranger distress ink

Silks paint

Francheville fine glitter

Ranger dimensional paint

Foilage

Advent Shadow Box by Gloria

Hello, it is Gloria with you and I have a huge project to share. And by huge, I mean a time-consuming project! Depending on how "fancy" you get, this project could take a while, so you will want to get your Advent Calendar Shadowbox on order TODAY! (Check availability at the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Store).

I have always had some sort of advent calendar set up during the holidays, even after my kids got "too old" for one. The calendar I have been using is getting a bit tired and worn, so, I figured, time to make a new one! This shadow box version of an advent calendar is approximately 11 1/2" x 11 1/2" x 1 1/2" with an 8" x 8" center opening.

There are 25 small boxes (roughly 1 1/2" square). You can purchase the pre-cut chipboard boxes or you can use a template to make them yourself. If you have an electronic cutting system, there is also a cut file for cutting the little boxes! You can decorate the 8" x 8" opening to your heart's content.

I even decorated the back of the shadow box. It would be fun to add a large photo to the back of the box to display as well.

1. To begin, unpack your shadow box and wipe the pieces with a damp cloth to remove the soot created during the cutting process.

2. Spray the pieces with black glimmer mist. Once the mist has dried, you may wish to seal the pieces with a clear sealant. Assemble the shadow box. (You will have three small pieces "left over" to use for creating box #25. I chose to skip that step.) After I assembled my box, I wrapped the outer edges with washi tape for extra stabilization.

3. Assemble the small treat boxes. Use strong tape or glue to assemble

4. If using glue, allow the glue to dry before going to the next step. You may also wish to rub the edges of each box with ink.

5. To cover each box, trim a strip of paper to 1 3/8" x 5" (cut 25). Trim two squares to 1 7/16" x 1 7/16" (cut 50). Use a 1/2" circle punch to cut a notch into the top of one square (do this for 25). Use the box as a guide for the notch placement.

6. Wrap the 5" long strip around the box, securing at the front. Glue one of the squares to the bottom of the box.

7. Add the notched square to the front of the box. You may add paper to the inside of your boxes, if desired. Since my project is decorative only, I skipped that step.

8. Place a box into each opening of the advent calendar. Trim a piece of decorative paper to 8" x 8" and attach to the center of the shadowbox. Trim a second piece of decorative paper to 8" x 8" and cut on the diagonal. Attach to the lower right corner of the center opening (shown in Step 14 below). Trim four paper strips to 1 3/8" x 8" and attach to the inside edges of the shadowbox.

9. Cut four pieces of decorative paper to 1 7/16" x 11 3/8" and attach them to the outside edges of the box.

10.Use a craft knife to separate the Faux Metal Number Plates 1-25 from the background. Attach two micro brads to each number.

11. Use foam adhesive or glue dots to attach a number embellishment to each box, 1-24. Arrange the numbered boxes in your advent calendar as desired.

12. Select the numbers element from the package of Mixed Media Fragments 1. Cover the surface of the chipboard with embossing ink. Sprinkle with gold glitter embossing powder and heat.

13. Select one of the Postage Frames and paint it with white paint. Once the paint is dry, cover the surface with glitter glue. Stamp the image onto cream paper and attach to the back of the postage frame.

14. Glue the gold numbers to the upper left of the center window. Fussy cut a Christmas image from decorative paper and attach to the lower right corner with foam tape. Add the postage frame as shown. Assemble the last box (#25) and glue to the center window, at an angle as shown.

15. Add holiday decor and embellishments to the #25 box as desired.

16. Decorate the top of the box with more holiday decor and ribbons.

Happy Christmas! Thanks for looking!

~ Gloria:Scraps of Life

Supplies Used:

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts:
Advent Calendar Shadowbox
Advent Calendar Boxes (25)
Faux Metal Number Plates 1-25 (similar)
Mixed Media Fragments 1
Postage Frames

Partner products:
Graphic 45 papers: St. Nicholas, A Christmas Carol, Twas the Night Before Christmas, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Christmas Emporium
Graphic 45 stamps: St. Nicholas 3

Other: black spray mist, ink (black, white, brown), glitter glue, ribbon, micro brads, washi tape, adhesive and glue