December 1st

** Welcome to my little Christmas blog! Here you'll find something Christmassy every single day until the big celebration on 25th of December! Some of the things I have created myself and some have been made by you, my dearest readers!
Thank you and the Happiest Holidays!**

DECEMBER 1st

Christmas-calendar is something I just cannot miss - I need to have one every year! This year I wanted to create something pretty by using materials that could be found in home. By surfing the net for inspiration I saw these beautiful Wood&Wool Stool trees by Ingrid Jansen, found my way to her etsy-shop and flickr-pictures, and just fell in love with these beautiful designs:


Thank you Ingrid for letting me share these!

A tree calendar! I started to look for something I could use for mine and remembered that I have saved some empty matchboxes... That's it! I am going to make my tree-calendar from these little (and some bigger) boxes. At home you can use any boxes you have available as long as they can be opened after they've been clued together.

You'll need:

25 empty boxes
scissors
glue
tape
(double-sided tape is great for decoration)
pretty papers or paint for decoration
pen or stickers to mark 1-25
(optional: some metal brads for handles)
little gifts inside (can be anything you like!)


Start with designing your tree, and make sure, that the boxes can be opened after they've been glued together. I spent some time before I ended up a design with 22 smaller boxes and three bigger ones. In my tree the little boxes can be opened by pushing them from the back (and bigger ones open both sides).

I glued the rows of little boxes together and used some tape too to secure the rows. I left the bigger ones untouched yet as I'll need to decorate them from more than one side before putting three together for good.

And now the funniest part: decoration! I used for mine clippings from magazines and a Christmas-paper set I got when I purchased a craft magazine years back, but you can paint, use fabric, old Christmas cards - anything you love! My tree has a green-red theme and there are some pretty snowmen and baubles too.


I used double-sided tape to secure the decorative papers in the boxes. I placed the tape on the box front and the paper into it, and just cut the extras off. I chose some plain and some more merrier papers and just mixed them happily. I also decorated the parts that will be shown when the tree is put together. You can see those by putting the rows of boxes together
and having a look of it from different angles.

To put the tree finally together I used both clue and double-sided tape
to stick the layers firmly. And as my tree came out quite colorful, I ended up writing the numbers with a black marker only - you can go for more decorative options!


And the finished tree? I love it! It stands in my bedroom next to my Maileg piggies and snowmen and it will be the first thing I see every morning! And the little gifts? Today's gone already - I opted for my favorite: chocolate!

What will be in yours?

Happy 1st December!

Yours,
Mia