Saturday, November 21, 2009

Shanty Christmas Advent Calendar

Hi all!  Hope you all are enjoying your Saturday!!!!  So, we mentioned a few weeks back that we were asked to guest blog on Kari's fun site, Ucreate!  We were so honored and thrilled to share our Advent Calendar with her friends over there and now we would like to share with you all ~ and of course our how to tutorial as well so you all can make some of your own!!!  We got our inspiration for our project HERE but we wanted to add our own Shanty touch and give it purpose!

Presenting the Shanty2Chic Advent Calendar!



Follow these simple steps to add your own chicness to your Christmas decor at a fraction of the price!



We started with this 2'x4' MDF board purchased at Home Depot for $5.00....




We marked off the center point and used our circular saw to cut it into two 2'x2' pieces.


Next, we spray painted each piece with one of our favorites ~ Rust-oleum American Accents Heirloom White and set them aside to dry.


While we were waiting for the boards to dry we started on another part of the project ~ can't let any time go to waste!


We purchased 6 bags of these unfinished wooden nickles at Hobby Lobby (40% off)...



gave them a quick spray with Rust-Oleum Metallic...





followed by Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain (just rub on the edges).

We'll show you what we did with these babies in a bit ~ back to the boards!


Once the paint was dry on the boards we painted chip board letters black and nailed them on to the top of the board to spell BINGO!

Now for the lines...




We used scotch tape to mark off the line and dry brushed with Lamp (Ebony) Black American Acrylic!
(Vertical Lines: mark at 4.5, 9.5, 14.5 and 19.5)
(Horizontal Lines: mark from the bottom 3.5, 7, 10.5, 14)


Lookin' Good....Now for the fun stuff!




We used our Cricut to cut out number stencils, 1-25, with the Street Signs font cartridge and dry brushed again with Americana Lamp (Ebony) Black. We started with the number 25 in the top left hand box and finished with the number 1 in the bottom right hand box.


A bit of distressing with our 3M sanding block (80-grit paper)


and a quick dry bursh over with Minwax Dark Walnut stain brought great attention to the distressed edges!




And, of course, no project is ever complete without a little Ralph love (Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze). Paint on and wipe off to create a vintage look with any piece!

Now for the small details that make a big impact!


We hammered nails at the top center of each box leaving half of each nail exposed.

Remember these babies...


We drilled a hole in the top of each nickel


and then cut 4" pieces of twine to go with each one!


We folded the twine in half, pushed it through each hole...


looped it though and tied a knot at the top!

Now for the reveal!!!

Introducing the Shanty Christmas Advent Calendars!
















We loved the Pottery Barn version but not the price tag and this one serves a purpose! Advent Calenders are such a fun way for the family to count down to Christmas and this is such a chic way to display it! Nothing better than a chic look at a shanty price!

We will be adding this to our Etsy shop ~ The Shanty Shoppe ~  so go check it out and take a look at all of our other fun shanties available for purchase!!!!


We will be linking this project up to the following parties:







Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special
 
 
The DIY Show Off
 
and here!
 






post signature

19 comments:

CLEM said...

This is a MUST have. I love it. And have been eyeing that same Pottery Barn piece.

What size are the chipboard letters?

trish said...

This is just great! What a fun way to celebrate the season.
The stencils arrived yesterday and I love them! I can hardly wait to get started on my sign! Thank you so much! I will be purchasing from you again - REAL Soon!
Have a great weekend.
:o) Trish

Funky Junk Interiors said...

I'm so in love with this project! I totally would have no need to put it away after Christmas. I'd just use it as a calendar for the rest of the year maybe. :)

Thanks so much for showing us how to make one if we choose, and linking it up to SNS #6!

Funky Junk Donna

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

This is fantastic! Thanks so much for the how-to, I'll be linking.

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

that is very cute - great job!

XOXO
Jen

Unknown said...

I so need to get some power tools and a cricut! Great job! :)

Jennifer {Studio JRU} said...

This is so neat! I would have never guess the tags were wood. What a great idea!! :)

Roeshel said...

You two have the best ideas. This is so cute and creative. Love it!

Thanks for joining in and showing off your blog.

Have a good weekend ladies!

Roeshel

Anonymous said...

Too cute by half! I learned a lot from this one blog post! I'll be back for more!

Unknown said...

LOVE IT!! Totally going to make one, thank you so much for posting the step by step instructions! My boys with have so much fun with this! Much better than the long paper chains we had last year!

Ginny said...

Will you be adding these to your etsy shop?

Destination Seaborn said...

Very nice!

Miss Mustard Seed said...

Very cute project. You girls are always so good.

Becca said...

So cute! I'm in love with Count Downs and Advents that don;t scream Christmas or are too huge! Love this! Be sure to come and link this to our "Show and Tell" on Wednesday!

Becca
Blue Cricket Design

Tracy said...

What a cute and different way to count down! I love it! Thanks for sharing! Have a wonderful day.

Amanda said...

GORGEOUS! Would you come decorate my house??? :)

Tiffany said...

WOW! I am completely in love. Thanks for sharing this!

Anonymous said...

Oh So Very Cool!! I just love it, so glad to have stumbled upon your blog. You girls are my kinda crafarters...wait, i meant artcrafters. (strike that first word, doesn't work well)

Sue said...

This is just too fun! Just saw the PB item in the catalog yesterday and loved it. I don't like paying retail unless I absolutely have to! And these types of stores really mark up their imported merchandise from their wholesale cost.
Thanks for sharing your ideas and tutorials.
:-) Sue

 
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