Box Advent Calendar Tutorial

If you're dying to get your hands on one of those box advent calendars by Karen Foster Designs but they're sold out everywhere you look here is a tutorial for you! Create this fun advent calendar in a day's work. (Or many days spread out.) If you do actually obtain one then lucky you skip ahead to the decorating!

I found these ugly little boxes at The Dollar Tree. I bought 12 of them for a total of 24 days.

First step I carefully lined up the boxes and glued them with Crystal Effects for a strong bond. Right now I am just gluing the vertical lines but I have them stacked together so I am sure they will fit for the next step. If you use Crystal Effects a few hours drying time is required. I just did this step before I went to bed. Also you may notice that I weighted the boxes with various items just for added pressure.

Gluing the horizontal lines now. Again another wait time. I just did it before I went shopping.

Now that everything is securely glued I painted the facing parts of the box. I also painted the edges of the drawers too. See the picture below.

After the paint is dry spray a clear varnish to help seal in the color.

While all of the drawers are out you can now cover the outside edges of the box. I used some of my leftover kraft wrapping paper but you will get less bubbles if you just cut card stock to size. Apply ModPodge to the outside of the box and then apply cut paper to the dimensions of the sides you are covering.

If you use a thin paper like I did the lid of the modpodge works really well to smooth out the bubbles.
This is my finished product. I found various Christmas themed brads. Made Poinsettias with paper punches and dimensional stickers. The one stamped image is from the Winter Post set in the current Mini catalog. Fill your drawers with candy or small ornaments to hang on a little tree. I was thinking a fun idea would be to fill the drawers with accessories or scrapbooking leftovers that you could challenge yourself to use every day leading up to Christmas... maybe.

Supplies:
mini 2 drawer boxes
Stamps: Winter Post
Card Stock: Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Kraft wrapping paper
Paint: Moroccan Red by Delta