My sister asked for a tutorial for my matchbox advent calendar that was published in the Somerset Holidays magazine. I made this last year and didn't take step-by-step photos but I can tell you how to make it. I wanted to do this to make our calendar, and my crafts more personal. One of my goals this year was to use more family photos in my crafts.
Materials:
25 small matchboxes - I used 1 1/2" x 2" x 1/2" Diamond brand matchboxes
craft paint - I used Delta Ceramcoat avocado & red iron oxide
family photos or other vintage photos or Christmas illustrations
LOTS of scraps of paper, tiny trims, & bingo numbers
glue, scissors, ink, hole punch, stamps
Cut rectangles of scrapbook papers, vintage wrapping papers, or music to fit inside the boxes. Choose your images. DIgitally edit if needed (crop, or change to black and white or sepia tones). Size photos to fit the boxes and print.
Collect all your paper scraps and trims. Tear some of the papers and use the patterned scissors for others. Play with these and the images until you're happy with how they look. Stamp swirls on some of the papers and photos. Ink some of the edges. Glue everything down.
Punch a small hole in the top of each. Thread a ribbon, string, chenille stem, or ornament hook through each. Print Scripture verses, cut, roll up, and put one inside each box. We displayed ours on an evergreen garland on our staircase. Beginning December 1 (or NOW) open one box each day and read the Scripture verse inside.
Punch a small hole in the top of each. Thread a ribbon, string, chenille stem, or ornament hook through each. Print Scripture verses, cut, roll up, and put one inside each box. We displayed ours on an evergreen garland on our staircase. Beginning December 1 (or NOW) open one box each day and read the Scripture verse inside.
Sorry I don't have more pictures. It's already dark and our staircase has really bad lighting. The ones in the magazine were so good & clear I saw details I didn't notice before even though I made them! I've seen several places online that have daily Advent Scripture readings but if you'd like a copy of mine let me know your email address and I'll send you the one we used.
3 comments:
So what do you do with all those matches? Build a tower?
Too cute and super creative!
we stuffed all the matches in one of the larger-match match boxes
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