Advent Boxes

I saw this idea on Ali Edwards’ blog recently and it inspired me to make something similar for my nephew this year. He turned three this month and I thought it might be the perfect tool for my SIL to use to introduce the concept of advent to him, all the while making it fun at the same time. So, here is my take on the project:

Completed Project (L) and Close-up of some of the boxes (R)

Here’s how I did it:
1. I purchased the boxes from Michael’s – instead of going with all rectangular boxes like Ali did, I switched it up a little with a few different shapes (actually, the selection at Michael’s is kind of what forced this, more than my whim). All the boxes are pretty much the same size, except for three which are slightly larger – in those I am going to put a santa Pez dispenser, maybe a couple matchbox cars, some rolled up sheets of stickers… the rest of the boxes will probably have candies and other small treats.

2. I painted the boxes with red, green and cream (2 coats), then sealed each box with Mod Podge.

3. I didn’t have any fancy numbers like Ali did from Etsy, but I liked the look of the numbers she had with the white circle and red border, so I recreated them. I used my Creative Memories punches to make the white circle and red circle frame (ran all the paper through Xyron first), then used my Cricut (Jasmine cartridge) to diecut all the numbers. From there, I simply put all the pre-Xyron’ed pieces together and adhered them to the lids of the boxes.

4. Next, I thought, while I loved Ali’s eventual display (she put them on a wall with flat thumbtacks), I knew that wouln’t be practical for my SIL. So, I bought a piece of white foam board and a 20×30 frame. After painting the foam board and letting it dry, I used E3000 glue to adhere the boxes to the board. (Tip hot glue will not work, so don’t waste your time!)

5. Finally, I took the glass out of the frame and installed the completed board into it – all that’s left is to fill the boxes and pass this on to the recipients 🙂

So, many thanks to Ali Edwards for the inspiration! Oh, and if you are wondering what I am going to do with the glass I removed from the frame? Well, let’s just say I might have come up with something REALLY cool, except the dogs started chasing each other around the table today, knocked it over and yep…. you guessed it. No need to think something up for THAT piece of glass anymore!