It's The Final Countdown...

Hello friends....

Hope you're all having a great week and thank you for all the visits and lovely comments you've been leaving me, you always make my day with your lovely kind words!

Today, it's time for me to share another project that I made for Tim Holtz's idea-ology Facebook Live ~ my Christmas Advent Box and thought this would be the perfect time to post this project so that you can start working on it and get it made and ready for the big countdown.

So, let's get started and here's how I created this box ~ inside, outside and back and front!

1. To create the base for this box, I used the second largest and the smallest size Vignette Box in the set of 4. To cover the larger box with the aperture uppermost, cut panels of patterned paper from the Christmas 2019 Paper Stash and adhere them with Matte Collage Medium, one pattern onto the outside of the box and a second, co-ordinating pattern to the inside of the box.

2. Use a sanding tool to smooth the edges before applying a coat of Matte Collage Medium over the top to seal the papers.

3. Run the Walnut Stain Distress Crayon along the edges of the covered box and blend out the colour using a damp fingertip.

4. Now for the small box, flip this over and use the solid side of the box as the front. Cover using the same design of paper that you used on the outside of the larger box, I used the dark green and white pattern, and once again sand the edges to create a seamless finish and apply some Walnut Stain Crayon.

5. Attach the smaller box on top of the larger box, placing it in the centre.

6. Cover the edges of the largest size Vignette Panel with some Christmas Design Tape, I used the Black and White Polka Dot and then cover the top of the panel with another patterned paper from the Christmas Stash, leaving a border around the outside to show the tape.

7. At the top of the larger box I wanted to create a ledge that slightly overhangs the top edge of the box and for this I used one of the Scallop Etcetera Trims and painted the trim, back and front, with Ground Espresso Distress paint. Allow for the paint to dry and then dry brush the surface with some Antiqued Bronze, followed by Black Soot Distress Paint. Once the trim is dry, I then attached it across top of the larger box, allowing to overhang, creating the ledge.

8. I now have all my boxes ready to stack and using Matte Collage Medium, I attached the largest to the Vignette Panel base, followed by the smaller box on top.

9. Now for the embellishments to create the scene and I used a Salvaged Snowman, two woodland trees, one mini woodland tree, bauble (snowballs) findings and some wood slices but started with the icicles, which hang down from the top of the box. To create the icy feel to the surface, I applied Picket Fence Paint to the back of the icicle and then once it was dry, flipped it over and smeared the surface with Collage Medium before sprinkling with Rock Candy Dry Distress Glitter. Attach the icicle along the top edge of the large box, placing it just underneath the ledge.

10. Each of the trees are spritzed with Peeled Paint Distress Spray Stain, then set to one side to dry throughly. This is important before moving onto the next stage as you don't want any colour transfer from the stain.

11. Once you're happy that the trees are completely dry, I then used my finger to apply Collage Medium to the tips before sprinkling some Mica Flakes over the trees. Tap away the excess flakes and return to the pot.

12. Whilst the trees are drying, I painted the little Salvaged Snowman ~ Tumbled Glass for his gloves, Black Soot for his hat, buttons and eyes, Spiced Marmalade for nose, Walnut Stain for the broom and Candied Apple for the scarf and hat band. Once the paintwork was dry, I then smeared some collage medium over the surface and sprinkled some Rock Candy Dry Glitter over the top.

13. Attach the snowman and mica covered trees to create the scene, I placed the smallest tree into a Thimble painted with Candied Apple Distress Paint. I then added some wood slices to the arrangement, adding a frosting of Grit Paste and Rock Candy Distress Glitter.

14. To complete the scene and add some frosty magic, I used Grit Paste, applying it with a palette knife directly onto covered boxes and the base panel. Whilst the paste is still wet, sprinkle with the Rock Candy Glitter and also place some of the Bauble Findings in amongst the arrangement.

15. For the finishing touch to the scene, I added some die cut foliage ~ cut from Classic Kraft Card using the Holiday Greens die set and then an Ephemera piece, "Shine Brite Ornaments", which I stuck along the top edge of the largest box.

16. We're almost there and we've now decorated the boxes, created the scene and all that's left is to create the tags for the countdown and complete the top section of the box.

17. To begin I started by adding a second Ephemera piece, "Compliments of the Season" and mount it onto a piece of chipboard, painted with Ground Espresso Distress Paint. Mount the panel onto the top of the smaller box, placing it so it is slightly higher than the top edge.

18. Using a couple of screw eyes, screw these into the wood ~ these will be where you hang your tags from and to create these small tags I used one of the dies from the Gift Tags Thinlits Die set and cut 12 tags from Mixed Media Heavystock Card. Ink each of the tags with a combination of Antique Linen and Walnut Stain on the edges.

19. Using the Merchant Stamp Set and used Barn Door Archival Ink, I stamped the numbers 0, 1 and 2 onto three tags and on the remaining tags, I stamped 1-9 and then another 0.

20. Attach the correct number to start the countdown to the front of the box.

21. For the remaining tags, I attached them to a Loop Pin, which I then hung on the back of the large box, just attaching the loop pin onto a Hitch Fastener.

22. Finally it's all about those little details and finishing touches and to start with, I added some more festive foliage to the top of the box, complete with Autumn Red Nuvo Crystal Drops and finished by placing a snowy bauble finding in the centre.

23. Placed some onto either side of the large box.

24. ...and finished by adding some presents into the back of the smaller box. These are made from covering cubes of wood with some of the papers and then tying them up with some twine before stacking them in the recess of the small box.

...and that's how you create a Winter Wonderland Advent Box, ready to display and countdown the days until Christmas! I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and loved how this box came together with all the various techniques I've used to add texture, details and a festive feel to your projects and I can't wait to see your boxes and how you interpret the ideas!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and see you again really soon!

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project

Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Gift Tags, Mini Holiday Greens

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous: Merchant, Scallop Etcetera Trims

Distress Paints: Picket Fence, Antiqued Bronze, Candied Apple, Black Soot, Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso, Tumbled Glass

Distress Crayons: Walnut Stain

Distress Inks: Antique Linen, Walnut Stain

Distress Spray Stains: Peeled Paint

Idea-ology: Icicles, Thimbles, Vignette Hardware, Jump Rings, Baubles, Christmas Design Tape, Vignette Boxes, Vignette Panels, Hardware Heads, Salvaged Santa and Snowman, Hitch Fastener, Loop Pin, Christmas Ephemera, Wood Slices, Small Woodland, Mini Woodland, Ring Fasteners

Mediums: Mica Flakes, Rock Candy Dry Glitter, Matte Collage Medium, Gesso, Tonic Autumn Red Nuvo Crystal Drops, Barn Door Archival Ink

Surfaces: Christmas 8” x 8” Paper Stash

Tools: Collage Brush, Heat Gun, Glass Mat, Ranger Brushes, Water Brush, Alcohol Ink Applicator Tool

Hemptique Twine

always believe....

Hello friends...

I don't know about you but has Christmas suddenly crept up on us at an alarming rate? Where did November go? Eek, time is flying but amongst all the preparations for the big day, I thought I would share a project today, that I've made using some of the wonderful new Holiday idea-ology from Tim Holtz.

Every year I love to create advent pieces, and this year was no exception but I wanted to make something slightly different and decided to make an advent box instead. The idea of this box is that I'm going to fill it with chocolates and each chocolate will have a number attached to count down the days until Christmas and what will be left at the very bottom of the box is a key for Santa, so that he can let himself in through the front door ~ just in case he's too tired to come down the chimney!

But of course no box is complete without decoration and it's time to introduce you to this darling little girl called Clarice, who is patiently waiting for Santa to arrive and in this post I'm going to take you through what I did to bring this little scene to life together with some of the techniques I've used....

To begin with I took three Vignette Boxes ~ the largest, the next size down and then the smallest together with the largest Vignette Panel and a Vignette Frame that will fit the middle sized box. 

Each box was then covered in my favourite papers from the stash ~ oh how I love that festive foliage design, so much so I've actually chosen a similar design as wrapping paper for my presents and I started with the largest box, cutting panels of the festive foliage design to size and then adhering them onto the sides of the box with Matte Collage Medium. For the Vignette Panel, I chose the star design paper from the stash and again adhered this with Collage Medium.

I continued to cover the medium sized and smaller sized box with the papers, adhering it the sides, to the inside and to the fronts and backs of the boxes. Also, once these boxes are layered on top of one another, the smallest box at the top actually acts as a handle so that you can lift the entire top section off to reveal the box underneath...

...which I covered with some striped paper from an older Tim Holtz Christmas paper stash. This will eventually be where my chocolates are stored.

On this particular project I really liked the wooden edges to show on the box, so I chose not to cover these or apply design tape and kept it really natural looking.

So once everything was covered and the medium was dry, I then applied some Crackle Paste around the edges of the larger box and the smaller box. I allowed the paste to dry and work it's magic before using the Gathered Twigs Distress Crayon to just add some ageing, giving it the look of it being an old box.

Finally, I added a Vignette frame which I painted white and placed this onto the front of the medium sized box before adding a little gliding wax to accentuate the beading.

Right, all the boxes are now covered and before I build them up on top of one another, I would recommend that you decorate the inside of the medium sized box and the smaller box now, as it's so much easier to do at this stage, before they are in place. This is actually going to represent an open fireplace, so I placed some Spanish Moss along the bottom and added some pinecones into the mix. Along the top of the box, I attached some of the Christmas Fringe to create a garland and place two little bells hanging down in the middle. You can just see the decorations inside the box in the photo below...

On the small box, I added Quote Chips to the front ~ '25' and 'always believe' and then placed two mirrored stars either side of the chips. Finally, I added hex fasteners to each corner, cutting off the legs at the back of the brads and then attaching them with collage medium.

I can now build up my boxes starting with the largest placed horizontal at the bottom with the lid over the top, the medium sized box next with the aperture at the front and the small on top with the solid side facing forwards. On the top of the small box I attached a small Vignette Finial again painted white with a touch of gilding wax. I also added a decorative Curio Knob to the largest box.

Now for the fun part of decorating and you can choose exactly how you want to decorate your box, that's the fun part but I'll take you through how I decorated mine...

...starting with the little table that I made using a Vignette Finial base piece, again painted white with a touch of gliding wax. I then added a Wood Slice as the top and attached it with Collage Medium. On the table, I've added a little bottle of milk for Santa which is a Tiny Corked Vial, painted white and then had a Christmas Snippets Ephemera piece attached, complete with date. I added twine around the neck and added a Clippings Sticker 'for santa'! I also added some tiny keys and a Christmas card, made from a Snippets Ephemera piece just folded in half.

The Christmas tree is a Woodlands tree, which is coloured using Peeled Paint Distress Spray Stain. Just spritz the tree with the stain and allow to thoroughly dry. I then placed the tree into a Thimble painted with Festive Berries Distress Paint.

The baubles are all coloured with alcohol inks ~ Turquoise, Red Pepper, Botanical and Sunshine Yellow. I place my baubles into a sealed container, add a few drops of the inks and then swish them around to ensure they're fully coated. Tip them out onto a piece of kitchen towel and then attach them one by one to the tree using Collage Medium.

On the left hand side, I used another of the Thimbles to act as a container for the remaining coloured baubles.

The presents are actually dice that I've wrapped in some of the Tim Holtz papers and tied with twine and added a Clippings Sticker for Clarice.

I attached all the elements onto the box, using Collage Medium as my 'go-to' adhesive and I also arranged a piece of dyed cheesecloth in the centre. Finally, the star of my show, Clarice ~ the little girl ready and waiting for Santa to arrive and for this I used a Paper Doll, coloured using Distress Marker Pens. I then cut a strip of Mummy Cloth and dyed it with Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain. Once the cloth was dry, I wrapped it around Clarice's neck to keep her warm as she heads out for one final shopping trip, to get some cookies for Santa. I attached Clarice to my box and added the finishing touch of a star at the top of the tree.

All that's left now is to fill the box with 24 chocolates, each with an individual number....

...and add the key ~ I used one of Tim's Word Keys and tied a piece of green ribbon around it.

So, I really hope you've enjoyed this project and enjoyed how I bought Clarice's Christmas Story to life ~ I just love making these little scenes and this was such a fun one to create!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and a huge thank you to Tim, Mario and Paula for letting me play with all the wonderful new idea-ology products, I appreciate you all so very much!

See you all again soon...lots of love, Emma xx

Recipe for project:

Distress Spray Stain: Antique Linen, Peeled Paint

Distress Marker Pens
Distress Paint: Picket Fence, Festive Berries

Idea-ology: Christmas Quote Chips, Hex Fasteners, Christmas Clippings, Large Woodland Trees, Thimbles, Christmas Snippets Ephemera, Vignette Finials, Tiny Corked Vials, Christmas Word Key, Baubles, Wood Slice, Key Adornments, Christmas Fringe, Christmas Paper Dolls, Vignette Frames, Curio Knobs

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Crackle Paste
Alcohol Ink: Red Pepper, Sunshine Yellow, Botanical, Turquoise

Surfaces: Christmas Paper Stash, Vignette Boxes, Vignette Panels
Vintage Gold Alchemy Wax

Tim Holtz Media Glass Mat

Tim Holtz Guillotine

Heat Gun
Mummy cloth from my own stash

It's The Final Countdown...

Hi everyone!!

Hope you've all had a fab day and you're getting ready to settle down for a lovely evening. Well, it's now nearly two weeks and this flu and respiratory infection has really taken a shine to me...it doesn't want to go!! Whoever gave me this flu, doesn't know what they unleashed on my schedule!! lol!

The good thing is I did manage to get lots done at the beginning of this month, before the dreaded lurgy struck and that meant that most of my DT commitments were fulfilled...plus, I actually managed to find time in the first week of November, to work on something a little special that I wanted to do for me and here it is... As always, I really hope you like it!!!

Now, you all know that I LOVE working with Kaisercraft products and I've been wanting to make one of these for a couple of years now but never have. This year though, I was determined and I made a list, went shopping at Merly Impressions for all my goodies and ta~dah...this was the result!!

I constructed the box and then painted it with Kaisercolour Paints. Once it was dry, I used papers from the Turtle Dove collection and then, added various other bits and pieces to complete the box. There are the Woodland Trees and wreath from Tim Holtz, sprayed with Distress Ink and then encrusted in Rock Candy Dry Glitter. A Curio Knob from the Idea-ology range. There are wooden flourishes from Kaisercraft and I even managed to sneak in some of my fave Snowflake Rosettes, made using the Sizzix Alterations Strip die from Lord Tim. If you look really closely, I even added, a little red nose for Rudolph...

The final piece de resistance that I added is my beautiful bejewelled peacock... I just thought it was the perfect finishing touch.

The Advent Box has now been filled with all it's little pressies...(chocolate) and is being put in pride of place for the start of the countdown to that all important day!!

So, that's if from me for today and I can't wait to hear what you think of this creation...*fingers crossed* you love it!! See you all soon and thank you so much for all your continued support and for popping by to look at what I've made...

Bye for now...love Emma xxx

KAISERCRAFT AND TIM HOLTZ PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE TO BUY FROM:

MERLY IMPRESSIONS