Christmas Advent Tag Box

Now that Halloween is over, it's time for Christmas crafting! I love this new box from Alpha Stamps. It's the perfect size for holding Christmas cards, or in this case, numbered tags to count down the days until Christmas. It's bigger than it seems in the photos; without the feet, this box measures 8" by 4" by 4".

The metal tag on the front on the front of the box reads, "it's the most wonderful time of the year". Love that! I used some vintage looking papers with a traditional design to cover the outside of the box, so I thought it fun to use a bright polka dot for the inside and some green pom pom fringe around the top of the box. The swirl on the front is two part laser cut cardboard. I colored the back part red with a Copic marker, and then glazed it before adhering the front part, which I left in the cardboard color. Then I accented the swirl with some red crystals. Lastly, I added metal handles to the sides of the box and little feet that look like cherubs.

The box holds 25 tags in envelopes, one for each day counting up to Christmas. I kept the envelopes simple, just using a bit of washi tape or stamping on each. I coordinated each tag's colors with the tape on the envelopes, so to help put the tags in the right order in the box, I stamped the date on the bottom corners of the envelopes. I like the way it looks library-esque with the stamp on that pocket. All the images I used on these tags came from Alpha Stamps collage sheets.

A few of the tags in front of the empty box:

Here are some photos of some of the tags and envelopes, with some inspiration for how to decorate them. The tags pictured below are made with collage sheet images, scrapbook paper, and fun things like ball fringe, tiny wreath stickers, photo corners, floral picks, and washi tape. I colored several of the hole reinforcers with a Copic marker to better match the colors in the tags.

I can't get enough of those glittery red stars!

These paper clips are a great way to add some accents. The one on the left uses scrapbook paper in the tab and has a snowflake charm, while the one on the right had a wooden snowflake (covered with Stickles for a glittery effect) and some cute silver mittens. 

I also liked using these Tim Holtz clips. It's easy to just tie a bit of ribbon around the top, but you can also use them to hold a floral pick, like the holly sprig on the left.

If you use a little washi tape on some wooden clothespins, you can remove the tags and hang them on a ribbon for a fun advent calendar.

For a complete list of supplies used in the project, click here. Happy Christmas!

Boo To You!

Someone asked me to make them another Halloween spoolie. She already had two, and they were both boys, so I thought she needed a girl to round out her crew. Happy Halloween, and Boo to you!

Retro Halloween Houses

I have fallen in love, and it's with a Halloween paper pack: the Trick or Treat 12x12 Collection Kit. Weird, I know, but I just love the colors and retro patterns on this paper. I got a few paper maché houses and set about to use just about every single pattern of each side of these great papers to create the five little houses you see here.

Look at those adorable trick or treating kids! These boxes are so easy to do; I just mixed and matched to my heart's content. Every side got a different pattern.

The backs feature some of the stickers from the sticker sheet that's included with the papers.

These fun little boxes are perfect for giving Halloween treats...or tricks, if you've got 'em!

Tin of the Month Club: October

Wow, here it is the fourth quarter of the year already! Only two more tins to go. Here's the October tin. I have to admit that this is actually the first tin I did last January. I was originally going to do several Halloween tins, but then decided to do one for each month of the year. It's been a fun challenge.

For a recap of the year's tins so far, click here. 

Halloween Peg Doll with Boo Blocks

One of my favorite swaps on Craftster this time of year is the One Tiny Thing October Holiday swap. My partner mentioned she loves peg dolls, so I decided to make her a couple, along with some little Boo blocks. The only rule of the OTT swap is that your swap item has to be under 4". These blocks are 3/4" square, and the little cat is 1" tall, for reference. Depending on your monitor, you're probably seeing them actual size.

 

One thing I thought would be fun is that they can be arranged in many different ways. I hope my the recipient enjoys playing with them!

 

Halloween Tic Tac Toe

There are two things in this crafty world that I really love: Halloween, and toys. Oh, and peg dolls, so make it three. This month at Alpha Stamps, we're doing haunted houses, and after my adventure in making a box last month for my Zombie Cars, I thought it would be fun this month to try my hand at a box that holds a game of tic tac toe. 

The lid of the box is the haunted house part, which can be used as a decoration if you don't feel like playing the game. I kept the top relatively flat, but it does have some fun dimension, like the cat eye on the turret, the fuzzy felt bats, and the acrylic black cat on metal fence at the front. The fence is attached with some foam tape so it stands away from the house a bit.

Who's that looking through the window? Looks like a tiny vampire.

Here's what you'll find when the haunted lid is removed: the "Boo Crew", a set of five wrapped up zombies and five crazy vampire bats.

The bat on the far right is the one that was peeking through that window. He sits a little taller in the box so he can see out. Isn't that Boo Crew sign cute? It's a sticker that came with the set of scrapbook paper I used for this project.

The mummies were painted white and then wrapped with thin strips of cotton fabric. I used some light grey markers to help define the edges of each strip. The bats were given tiny ears made using Apoxie Sculpt. Their wings are made from the felt bat stickers. I removed the sticky part from the back of the sticker, cut off their heads (sorry!) and glued the front of the sticker onto the back of the bats so that the detail shows. 

The tic tac toe letters on the back of the haunted house were cut from scrapbook paper using a Silhouette Cameo. The cat in the pumpkin and the spooky words are stickers that came with the scrapbook paper. The bottom of the box is the game board. I used some spiderweb paper and a painted chipboard skeleton to jazz it up a bit.

Let's have a game! It looks like the vampire bats will be victorious in this round. Tricky little buggers.

The hardest part of this entire project for me was the box insert. I wanted each piece to have the same amount of space in the box, but the bats are much bigger than the mummies and demanded more room. After lots of ciphering, I came up with this layout. Once the holes were cut, I glued cardboard pieces around each opening to keep the pieces from rolling around. I thought you might like to see how the flip side of the insert looked while in progress.

I painting the lid of the box (which is attached to the back of the house) black, which looks great behind the mummies, but the black bats needed a lighter background, so I glued orange paper with stars on it behind them. They're much happier now.

Stay tuned, there will be more Halloween to come in the following posts. Meanwhile, if you need supplies for a project similar to this one, or just need some cool stuff for haunted houses, click here!

Tin of the Month Club, September

September is here and all the little kiddies are back in school. To celebrate, here's the September Tin of the Month. Not sure how happy this sweet little girl is to be back, but at least she's dressed for the occasion with her bright red hair bow! I love those tiny pencils...

Want to see the rest of the collection? Click on the tag "Tin of the Month Club".