Julie: Wooden Countdown to Christmas

Hello again.

 

Did you see Effie's 'Little Houses' post a week or so ago where she decorated one of the wooden keyholders you can find in the 'Things To Alter' section of the shop?

 

Well, in it she hinted that there'd be some more ideas of how to customise them coming soon because, while you could certainly use the blank base as a 'keyholder' - as the name suggests - as a Design Team we've all taken a more festive approach and turned them into Advent Calendars / Christmas Countdowns.

 

Here's my version in a feminine, nostalgic, vintage style:

 

To create the look:

• I painted the whole thing with a shade of cream acrylic paint.
• When that dried I covered the front using the 'Winter Bird' patterned  paper design from the Pion 'Waiting for Santa II' range ... and began to embellish.
• My main focal point is a vintage image of two well wrapped up little girls cut from the 'Fairytale of Winter' sheet in Pion's 'From Grandma's Attic' range.

As the finished calendar is a gift for my sister, this seemed like an appropriate image choice!

• Once my image was in place I wrapped the front in lace and trimmings and added buttons and other festive embellishments.

TIP:

• to cover over the front section where the 3 pegs stick out - you can just make out one of them in the bottom left here:

• just measure / mark off where the pegs are on the back of a strip of patterned paper ... them simply punch out 3 holes [I used my crop-a-dile] and slip the paper over them. No fiddly cutting necessary!
• My edging strips - including the ruler design came from the 'Christmas Poem' sheet.
• I then added my countdown numbers to card stock tags, threaded them on to twine [so they can be easily flipped over each day] and hung them from the pegs.

And finally ...

 

.... these lovely little keyholders / calendars / houses [whatever you want yours to be!] come with a sturdy hanger already attached:

 So, as soon as you've finished your festive masterpiece you can hang it up and start counting down the days!

 

The 'wooden keyholders' are available here priced £2.50.

 

There'll be more Advent inspiration from the 3DJean design Team coming soon and, if you're inspired to interpret the wooden keyholder in your own unique way you're welcome to let us know:

• you could drop back here and leave a comment directing us to your finished project
• OR swing by the 3DJean Facebook page and link us up there.

 Thanks for visiting today, I'll be back in 3 weeks with a 'Creative Paperclay' project.

 

See you soon.

 

Julie