Wooden Advent House No. 2

I must be a glutton for punishment, because yesterday morning while listening to the omnibus edition of The Archers I finally finished a second Advent House, as an early Christmas present for my sister-in-law who has been so unbelievably golden to me over the last eighteen months. I wanted to make her something special, that perhaps will become an heirloom her children will fight over!!!!!!

I now have one last Tesco house left …. and that will be for Tom’s and Laura’s next year, and Lucy will be given my original one.  Anyway I digress …. I decided to use HobbyCraft Christmas 12 x 12 canvas sheets on this house, thinking it would be different to use a textured “paper” and it would save me all the varnishing!!

I kept to my basic design, using the same Hobbycraft Advent numbers as I used on the one for Jacob, but I had to source a lot of new stuff, like new snowmen (Craft For Christmas from eBay), some sparkly gift wrap (from Bulters) which should prove far more economical for other Christmas projects too, for the snow as I had absolutely no A4 white glitter card left………..

….. plus some silver corner and small dot peel offs and some green and gold trim from the market (£1.50 a yard) …… oh and two of the snowflakes I got from the charity shop earlier in the week glued together with a flat back gem in the centre, at the top of the roof.

I think I fiddle farted with this house far more than I did with the other three I have made …. every time I thought that is it, I found somewhere else to embellish ……

……. it just seemed to go on and on and on!!!  But if you can’t over embellish at Christmas, well when can you?

I also need to apologise ….. life is rather busy at the moment, but I have enough posts in the bag to keep to an every other day type schedule,  but I don’t think I will be able to produce the amount of “new” ideas that I have done in the past ….. however, the old ideas are still there if you go to “labels” on the right side of the blog and click on anything that begins with Christmas or sounds remotely like!!!

I will endeavour to do something with all the bits that I have shown you in my recent heads up …… I am slowly building up the blog to it’s former self  ….. and am loving crafting again ….. the buzz is definitely back ….. it’s just that  my social life is too !!!!!!

Cath Kidston Keepsake House - Part 2

Progress has been a bit slow because now that all the drawers have been covered and several coats of clear varnish applied it is only the twiddly fiddly things that are left to be done, but, due to the fussy nature of the paper, I have decided, after some trial and error, to adopt a very less is more approach, so I am thinking very carefully about what else to use to embellishment it any further.

So far I’ve used half a width of some self adhesive, lace effect, border tape from Paper Cellar round the top part of the house, with real narrow cream lace over it to add layers and to hid the joins. I’ve also put the lace round the chimney, and across top and bottom edges of the roof. I have left it at that for the moment as I am on the look out for some red buttons to add, one large one for the centre (again to hid the joins) and some smaller matching ones to go at measured distances across the lace, but I need to get the colours/design/style just right to fit in with the theme. At the moment I am carrying a sample of the paper in my purse wherever I go, something with birds on would be perfect.

I’ve made the drawer pulls using small green wooden beads from a Poundshop necklace with a square clear flat backed gems glued over the holes.

All that’s left to do is put a square of the left over paper in the bottom of each drawer to finish them off ……

…… find the right buttons and think about how to embellish the star shaped drawer at the top (if I decide it really needs something) and the bottom panel on the right hand side. …….. thinks ……

Cath Kidston Keepsake House – Part One

Last year I finally made an Advent Calendar using a wooden house bought from Tesco in the run up to Christmas 2009, they were priced at the silly price of £5 each and trying to track one down was the constant buzz in the forums. 

I set my sister a mission to look for mine and she was nothing but tenacious in her quest, in the end it paid off as she sent an assistant in one branch to look round the back, “just in case”, and when he came back she stockpiled and bought all that he had!  I am glad she did because I later heard that they would  no longer be available as the company that made them had gone bust. So after I gave a couple away I still have a couple to do up.

I’d spray painted one in cream very early on in the year, but hadn’t done anything more with it, then at the weekend I found a sheet of Cath Kidston double sided gift wrap I bought about two years ago and had forgotten all about as it was rolled up under a pile of other rolled up papers and it got me thinking. The paper was really thick and substantial (unlike a lot of gift wrap)  and I wondered if I could make a little keepsake house for bits and pieces.

Making templates for the various parts of the house first so that no paper was wasted, I tentively papered the first side, thinking that if it went wrinkly I would abandon the project  but it went on beautifully and  I was away….

And this is as far as I have got …. I’ve run out of Ronseal quick drying varnish until I can get to the shops next weekend,  which is probably good thing  as I now need to think about how far I am going to go to embellish it …… I think less is more ….. but it does need something else, any ideas?

Finally Finished - My Tesco Advent Calendar House

I’ve never done anything big like this before ….and I am so chuffed, once I had sorted out which papers to use it all sort of came together.

I reckon in all I have spent about 30 hours on it.

As you know I am very much a less is more crafter, but on this, it was more, more, more and then some more!

I ought to run a competition to guess how many clear gems I’ve used.

I hope, when I snuff it, this is what my children fight and testify my will over!!!

I can’t believe it, but I even lined the bottom of the drawers!
 
All I need to do now is find a tiny little “something” to put in each drawer!

I think this has got to be my favourite make ever!

Tesco Advent House Update 5

I hope that the next time I show you what I have done to my Advent House it will be finished and that all I’ll have to think about is where to put it during Advent and what to put in it.

You know my motto is "Less is More" ...... well, that's gone right out of the window ...... but I am only going to give you a sneak peak .....

The roof is now longer flat and lacking ……it's embellished with hundreds of flat backed gems!!!!!  I just need to add a bit of PVA to the ends of the braid to stop it from fraying.

And I found the perfect snowmen in Hobbycrafts (£1.99 for 6)

I’ve also found the right glittery numbers too, but they caused me more work than I first intended.

Initially I stuck them straight on to the drawers, but from a distance they were barely distinguishable. So I made a small background panel for each number, aghhhh, more fiddle fart! Sorry, about the wet glue, I am just too eager to get the photos taken.

I love my drawer knobs, but I have found that I cannot add any more small gems, as I had planned, to the drawer front as it doesn’t look right. I’ve used gold stars which mirror the stars held by the snowmen.

So almost there, except that I have decided I need to put something on the sides of the house now…..  so more Blitzen paper, snow and snowmen …… then I’m done …. I think!

Tesco Advent House Update 4

I thought I would have two updates today and just hope you aren’t too tired of reading about my house. 

Before I finally glued the roof panel in place I decided it still needed something, so after a bit of rummaging in my drawers (oooooower), I found treasures that had been long forgotten but which seemed to be waiting for this project. I am pretty plain and simple in my crafting, a less is more girl, but I am really going for broke on this one – if you can’t be over the top at Christmas, when can you? I am just worried now that I won’t find the “perfect” snowmen to finish it off!

When I started the roof I added a peel off border to each tile, but it looked very flat and decidedly lacking …… so bring on the rik rac braid!!!

The ribbon and braid are HobbyCrafts own make, bought in a recent sale and the Paper Cellar self adhesive paper lace border which was 89p from a Dunelm Mill sale. I need to Modge Podge the top of the house, then I can go mad with all the embellishments I have been dying to use.

Tesco Advent House Update 3

Work is progressing well, be it in a very fiddly sort of way …

I realised that the top part of the house looked very stark and bare and decided to continue the snowy theme there too.

But being a triangle shape with a drawer in the middle I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so I made a template first, this was such new territory for me!

And I sort of scribbled on the template outlining what I thought I would do …..

I then used the template to cut out the “Blitzen” paper, I don’t know how it fit but it did, perfectly, first time!

More fiddle farting followed to add the snow………

And it worked too!!! Now it just needs gluing in place and three layers of Modge Podge applied to the papered area.  Modge Podge dries incredibly quickly, so it shouldn’t take too long.

Tesco Advent House Update 2

Things are progressing well after a very slow start.

All the drawers are covered (with  Basic Grey, Jack Frost, Blitzen) and after three coats of Modge Podge Sparkle they are really twinkly in a subtle rather than bling type way.

The knobs are on too, but imagine my dismay when I found that I was one short, aghhhhhhh, they are so fiddly to do, but spraying another knob (a Poundshop wooden bead) is my next job. As you can see I have glued them on alternatively, top right, bottom left, just for a bit of variety.

I’ve also started on the bottom right hand panel, adding snow using white glitter paper, I think I am going to put a snowman in this space …… if I can find a really cute enough one.

I’ve also started on the roof but I am not too sure ……… it looks flat and something is missing…….