Thursday, October 15, 2015

Christmas Countdown Calendar Tutorial

Hello everyone!! I am happy to share another project made with Tim Holtz new holiday products today. It's a Christmas Countdown Calendar and it is easy to make. 

Layers of ink - Christmas Countdown Calendar Tutorial by Anna-Karin
When I saw the Number Tokens, I knew I wanted to use them on a countdown project and I got the idea of making them all visible, instead of using one on each tag. My son is very much looking forward to Christmas and he is going to like removing a tag every day. One of the fun things with this calendar is that the tags will double up as journaling tags in my December Daily journal. I will share the actual journal in a little while. I used the 6 x 8 burlap panel as my base.

Let's start.

Start by colouring manila cardstock to use for the tags. Or, if you have tags, you can simply do the same thing on each tag. I smeared Cracked Pistachio, Antique Linen and Brushed Pewter Distress Stains on my craft sheet, misted with a little water and pressed the paper into the stain. Repeat on the other side.

When the paper is dry, die cut tags with the Tag & Bookplate die. I made 26 tags, because I like my December Daily journal to last until the 26th.

Stamp them on both sides with the wonderful ledger stamp from the School Desk set. I think I have used this stamp in all my December Daily albums.

Stamp each tag with a number using Potting Soil ink and the Tall Text set.

And now to my favourite part, sitting down surrounded by stamps and ink and just stamping away. Stamp the tags on both sides with different Christmas stamps. I was going for a green look so I used four shades of green Distress Ink.

 Ink the edges with Ground Espresso, my new favourite brown.

Paint the Holiday Letterpress letters with shades of green. It was a great idea to bring out a set of three holiday words in Letterpress letters, since you keep running out of certain letters if you use the general set.

Paint a wreath, snowflake and three tokens with Antique Linen. Wipe most off the paint from the tokens.

Add some green and red paint. I used a paint brush on the wreath. When the paint is almost dry, wipe some of it off.

Cut papers from the Yuletide Paper Stash, tear, sand and ink. I added some green ink to the background paper, so that it would coordinate nicely with the tags and Letterpress word. Glue to the panel with matte multi-medium.

Arrange the Christmas Numbers, and glue with matte multi-medium. This works great as a glue and also doesn't show if some glue seeps out.

Sand the Letterpress letters slightly and glue them to the panel. Add an Occasions Small Talk sticker.

I placed the wreath over the number '24', since that is the mainly family celebration day of Christmas in Sweden, and also when Santa comes.

To hang the tags, I used a hook that I found, which was just the right length. Since the burlap panels have a sturdy wood base, it was easy to screw the hook into the panel. I inked the hook with Pitch Black alcohol ink.

To hang the panel, screw two screw eyes into the top. Cut a piece of Boxwood Twine Garland and make a twist through each eye.

Screw a screw eye to the side of the panel and hang a Swivel Clasp from it. I forgot to hang the snowflake adornment before taking the photos, but it is there now. There is also a Heart Charm.

 Hang the other two tokens along the chain from jump rings.

Here you can see the stack of tags. I didn't add any reinforcer rings to the tags, which I normally do, to prevent the stack of becoming too thick.

 Here you can see the panel without the tags.

Just to give you a a look at some of the tags. Most of the sentiments were stamped with Potting Soil, the rest of the stamping was done with the four Distress Inks.


After stamping all the images and sentiment, I stamped a snowflake background stamp using Cracked Pistachio, over most of the tags, for extra texture.

 More tags. I love the new Scribbly Christmas set. The hat comes from Crazy Things.

Santa of course had to feature on the 24th. Since the tags are two sides, there is plenty of space for journaling on each tag.

Thank you so much for looking!

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:




45 comments:

  1. This is a cool project! I really love the reusable nature of it, but also the way you can use the tags for your December Daily project as well.

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  2. This is wonderful! Love the tags. TFS Anna-Karin!

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  3. Such a fabulous project - wow! Man what a stamp collection you have!!!

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  4. What an amazing countdown calendar Anna-Karin!!! I love all of the elements that you've used to create this piece! Thank you so much for the wonderful holiday inspiration!!! xx

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  5. I was so excited looking at this my heart was racing ... what a wonderful idea !!! The tags are GORGEOUS... I so love the colors. Aren't those tokens the coolest ? I bought some with the idea of a countdown til' Christmas but the Creative Fairy hadn't arrived yet ... I wanted something unique! I do love your use of the new product :) <3

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    1. Thank you so much Rea'! The tokens are so cool!

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  6. Wow what a beautiful project !!!! Love it!
    Best regards Berdien

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  7. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this. What an amazing project.

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  8. Love this idea. Great use of tim holtz products.

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  9. This is crazy good! I really need to make one!

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  10. Very-very inspiring idea!!! I love your tags!!! I love the whole panel!!!

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  11. Amazing project! Your family is sure to enjoy the holidays now! Thank you for sharing your talent with us!

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  12. Great project and I love the tags!

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  13. Really really great project. I love it! But then again, I love all of your work. And how great is it that you even give us a tutorial. Very well written as usual! I'm such a fan!!!!!

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    1. Thank you so much for your sweet comment Rosetta!

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  14. Fabulous project, love the idea of the tags.

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  15. This is a great idea! I can't wait to see what the daily journal looks like.

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  16. What a great idea! So festive and fun. The colors are just perfect. It will be fun to make a new set of tags each year. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Yes, I am looking forward to making a new set of tags each year. Thank you Sharon!

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  17. What a super cool project..LOVE it. thanks for sharing.

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  18. Beautiful Anna! Love the whole thing. TFS

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  19. What a beautiful project! I love it.

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  20. I LOVE this!! Such a brilliant idea and such a clever way to display my TH supplies (instead of hording them - HA!).......SERIOUSLY can't wait to make one of these and the BEST PART is I can use it year after year. Thanks so much for sharing Anna-Karin

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  21. Love, love, love this!!! Your project is amazing!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!!

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  22. Anna-Karin, this is SO wonderful! I just love it! We are big fans of Advent calendars in my house. 😉

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  23. Such an inspired creation, Anna-Karin - I adore the tags to count the days and the wonderful metal bits - a glorious advent calendar.
    Alison xx

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  24. That is so great! Very inspiring! Thanks so much for sharing your artistic talent! Thanks

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  25. Anna-Karin, this is wonderful! What a fantastic project. I always struggle with December Daily because sometimes I forget to write things down for a particular day, but with your tag method it would be so easy. And so very beautiful too! Thank you so much for sharing your fabulous idea.

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    1. Thank you so much Jean! I too sometimes forget to write things down some days, and thought this method would help me remember.

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  26. Dear Anna-Karin....Your DECEMBER CALENDAR IS JUST FABULOUS!!!! It makes me want to get ALL of my Christmas stuff out and begin right away. I LoVe, luv, LOVE it!!!!
    Thank you for sharing! (My favorite part is ALL of it but especially the TAGS)!!!!!!!

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    1. Thank you so much Mylissa! I am so glad you like my calendar.

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  27. WOW! Awesome countdown Christmas calendar!

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  28. Oh my goodness!!!!! I love this. Hands down a masterpiece. xo

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  29. I'm totally in awe of this incredible project!

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  30. I love this project and thing I need to make something like this. :D

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  31. You do such beautiful work. Every project you do amazes me. Love the colors.

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  32. What a great project! How nice to create an annual ritual.

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  33. Fantastic! Love those tags with all the stamping.

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  34. You did such a great job and I especially love the tags.

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  35. SO wonderful!!! How much fun this will be to make AND use!!!! What delightful Holiday inspiration!!!! Thank you for sharing your talents!

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!