Christmas Advent book by Liling Payne

Hello everyone, I made some advent calendars last year for my family using my Cricut Explore and this year decided to research a different style that could be made without a cutting machine that most paper crafters could make with the tools and materials that they already had or are readily available online.  I liked the Book Style advent calendars that were on Pinterest and You Tube for which there are many different tutorials if you search for "book advent calendars”.

This version is taken from Envelope punch board projects to make the advent boxes as I wanted a box that could be made from one sheet of 6 x 6 paper pads, but again if you search on YouTube, you will easily find different ways of making boxes from templates you cut or even origami.

I ordered my materials from Themadscrapper.co.uk as follows:

Kaisercraft Wonderland – Frost (P2597) x 2 sheets for the front and back cover

Kaisercraft Wonderland – Snow scene (P2600) x 6 sheets, 2 for inside covers and 4 to make 12 boxes

Kaisercraft Wonderland – Snowfall (P2598) x 4 sheets to make 12 boxes

Kaisercraft Wonderland – Chilled (P2599) x 2 sheets for spine and embellishments

Kaisercraft Wonderland – Cardstock Stickers x 1 sheet  for embellishments

Kaisercraft Wonderland – Advent number sheet (PS538) x 1 for the box numbers

Tools used:

W R Memory keepers Envelope making board from my own stash

Paper Trimmer

Tim Holtz Idea-ology ruler (from Themadscrapper.co.uk)

You will also need:

Glue (I used Collal for the boxes as it gave me some time to position the boxes before it stuck fast)

PVA glue to put the boxes together

Double sided adhesive

Medium weight chipboard (Mine was 8.5” x 11” and the exact size of my advent book cover, you can use grey board or even cereal boxes but it will be a softer cover.

I also used white paper to cover my chipboard and act as a base for the patterned paper.

I decided to foil the edges of the advent number squares to match the foiled numbers,  so I just used Foil I had in my stash and a glue stick.  I put the glue on the edges as if I were inking them, and then burnished the foil to stick to the glue stick.

I also used a glitter pen to colour the edges of the number squares and to colour one of the trees on the front cover as I felt it needed to “pop” a little. 

So here’s how to make it…

First of all make your cover with the Chipboard pieces.

Front and back cover 8.5” x 11”

Spine 3.5” x 11”

I attached the spine to the covers with white Duct tape to allow for extra strength and had a 0.25” gap between the spine and covers.

I then covered the front of the cover with white paper

See photo:

This the front cover, I used white duct tape on the joins with a 0.25” space then used double sided adhesive on the covers so that I could get a good seal on the covering paper.  You can see the Duct tape through the paper, but that doesn’t matter as you will be covering it with patterned paper.

Now choose which patterned paper you wish to use and cut mats to the following sizes:

8.25” x 10.75”.  You will need 4 mats for the covers, 2 outside and 2 inside.  I used plain papers on the inside as the boxes would be covering the bulk of the paper.

For the outisde cover as my base was white I cut a mat for the spine which was 3” x 10.75”, however as the inside of the cover was still chipboard, I cut the spine mat to cover the joins and the covers so make sure you put double sided tape inside the join to catch the paper otherwise the paper will lift off when you fold the cover into a book shape.  This inside mat was 5” x 10.7”

Now prepare to cut your boxes.  I cut my chosen 12 x 12 papers into 4 squares measuring 6 x 6”.  I then used my W R Memory Keepers envelope to make the notches at 2”, score, then 4” scoring along the diagonal line of the board on all 4 sides of the square.

You will need 24 boxes for the advent boxes. You will also need to cut along the folds shown below to give you the tabs that will be glued to the sides to form the box shape.

There are several you tube videos available showing how to make boxes using the We R Memory Keepers boxes, but also other tutorials showing how to make an Advent Book Calendar using different types of templates for boxes, if you don’t have this tool or don’t want to make this style of box.

 This method makes a box that is 2.25” square and fits the book cover perfectly to give a 0.25” space between the boxes.

If you have a photo corner punch, use it to make the slots shown below.  There are many different types easily available on Amazon or other craft retailers.  This slot will be the closure for the box and will be hidden on the front by the advent numbers.

Once you have made the boxes, attach them to the book cover starting at 0.25” from the left hand corner of the inside mat and allowing 0.25” space between the rows of boxes horizontally and vertically.

I prefer to place the boxes with the numbers in a random manner, but some people like to place the boxes with the numbers running consecutively from 1 to 24.

I lay out the boxes on the covers as above to see how I want to place the numbers then I glue them down with the spacing as per the pictures below.  

Once your book is made, decorate the covers as you please.  You can personalise the front with names, add extra embellishments and use mixed media.  The sky is the limit as to how much you wish to decorate and embellish it and the look of it will change depending on what papers and colours you use.

I’ve kept this one simple as I wanted to demonstrate the easiest process and to make this from start to finish could easily be done in a day.  I have actually managed to make 6 over the course of 3 days and what I suggest you do, is get all the preparation done to make them assembly line style, e.g. one day to make all the covers, another to make all the boxes then the final day of assembly.  It would be a great project to involve children in and my granddaughter enjoyed helping me with this year’s projects.

I hope you will give this a go and have a look at the beautiful Christmas papers, embellishments and mixed media in stock at themadscrapper.co.uk.

Happy Christmas crafting☺ 

Liling Payne

November 2020