Authentique Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar

Hi Craft Warehouse fans, Michelle here to share a unique take on a Christmas tradition. I love Christmas, I love the lights and the trees and how my home looks all decorated for Christmas. This year I get to add this fun new Christmas countdown to my wall.

To start you need to pick up one of these awesome frames. These frames are so fun and could be used for so many different projects. The frame I used has three openings, one with a glass insert. On this particular frame the glass can be placed in the center opening of the top opening as I have done here. I used a pair of pliers to remove the tacks that were in the center opening to hold the glass. I didn’t need them so I just removed them, they pull out easily and you can’t even tell they were there. Next I removed the glass and added my vinyl sentiment.

To add the vinyl, start by using a credit card or gift card to burnish the vinyl while it is still between the sheet and the tape. To do this, just rub the card over the vinyl. Then peel back the tape and place it where you want it to be on the frame. Then use the card to burnish the vinyl to the frame.

Once you burnish the vinyl to the glass, peel back slowly and you have a beautiful new vinyl sentiment on your glass, ready for your frame. I used some patterned paper from this awesome Authentique paper pad, Three Christmases in One, an exclusive to Craft Warehouse. This pad of paper is amazing! So I chose a not too busy pattern and added some other patterns around the top. This way I didn’t distract from the sentiment and it’s got a cute festive background to go with the countdown boxes below.

I made the boxes using two different punch boards from We R Memory Keepers. First I used the candy box punch board which creates the boxes with the tied ends. And the box punch board which allows you to easily create a variety sizes of boxes. These boards make it so easy to make these boxes, choose your size, punch, and score all on the same tool. And these are the perfect sizes for little Advent calendar goodies. Be sure to fill the inside of the boxes before you seal them.

I used 12 different patterns from the Three Christmases in One paper pad and made 6 candy boxes in different sizes and 6 square / rectangle boxes in different sizes. When my boxes were ready I added rows of jute ribbon across the back of the frame to hang the boxes on. Then I hung them with these lovely gold glitter clothespins from American Crafts. The candy boxes are simple to hang from one end. To hang the regular boxes I attached ribbon hangers from the top to attach the close pin to.

To attach the ribbon to the boxes, whether for hanging or just to dress up the boxes, I used red line adhesive. This stuff will hold anything so It’s great for something like ribbon that needs a good hold. Or you could use a strong quick dry wet adhesive.

When all my boxes were where I wanted them I added numbers to the boxes with an assortment of stickers from American Crafts and Darice. I think this gives it a fun look and helps bring out the paper.

I hope you enjoy this 12 days of Christmas countdown as much as I enjoyed making it. It is a fun twist on a traditional countdown and the possibilities are endless. Plus with using a sentiment that is about family and not some seasonal you can reuse this frame for some many things.