Monday 27 August 2018

Drawer Advent Calendar 2018

Yes, Christmas crafting has already started at The Towers with my first Advent Drawers of 2018 already under my belt. Not sure where this one is heading yet, but as I am planning to make a couple more I am considering looking at Etsy to perhaps sell them.
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The drawers came from The Works a couple of years ago, they cost £15 (but are currently out of stock online), so this wasn’t a cheap project.  However, I think if I decide to get any a couple more sets for this year  I will wait until I get a 30% off code before I order them.
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I used various Christmas papers from my collection but made sure all the designs were roughly in proportion to the embellishments I added.
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The laser cut Advent numbers cost £2.75 per set (with free P & P)  came from e-bay which I found I could colour and/or glitter according to each drawer design. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3mm-MDF-Advent-Numbers-Arial-Bold/272435612759?hash=item3f6e6d8c57:g:cAkAAOSw3XlbWXRQ
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To embellish the drawer fronts I just rifled through all my boxes of bits, trying to cover as many themes as I could …….
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…… including blank and painted wooden shapes, resin and plastic embellishments ……
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……. which I would then mat and layer or framed ……….
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….. and then embellished some more with flat back gems, pearls, stars, buttons, glitter, googly eyes and Ranger Glossy Accents etc.
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I reckon each drawer front took me at least 30 minutes to put together before putting to one side to dry …….
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……. before going back again  to embellish some more, sometimes several times over the days until I was 100% happy with no viable space left unfilled.
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The small frames I think came from The Works a couple of years ago, but haven’t seen them in stock for a while.  I only have a few left now and really I wish I could get some more as the proportions are just perfect to use either as a frame for the numbers or the embellishments, but so far my search for something of a similar size has proved pretty unsuccessful.
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However thinking toward my next calendar I did find some that are a little larger  on e-bay which I can mix and match with the remaining few, which will certainly change and dictate a new style of drawer front design, but then that is never a  bad thing as I get easily bored doing something over and over again to a formula.
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The last drawer front turned out to be the plainest, but after all the anticipation of the other drawers I thought I would let the day speak for itself.
So ……. give me a couple of weeks and then hopefully the next calendar should be ready for your perusal.