Papercraft Addiction: Christmas in July -- Let's Go Shopping Advent Calendar!

Friday, 21 July 2023

Christmas in July -- Let's Go Shopping Advent Calendar!

I recently got my hands on the Let's Go Shopping Collection of products from Stampin' Up! Originally I planned to make an Advent Village with the building images from the Les Shoppes Designer Series Paper, but once I began playing with the stamps and dies I decided to make an Advent Calendar with them. I also used the numbers from the Days To Remember stamp set because they were small enough to fit into each little window.

It was also an excuse to use the hobby blade from the new Take Your Pick Crafter Tips. This blade made it so easy to cut around the windows and then use the small stylus from the original Take Your Pick Tool to score the left side of each window to make them open up, just like an advent calendar.

I cut up pieces of the Les Shoppes Designer Series Paper to put behind each window, creating different floors for my department store -- clothing, books, paints/crafts, ice cream and bakery.

The bottom floor was for the restaurant which has a Christmas tree and presents to be opened on Christmas day!

The dies in this set made it so easy to decorate the building with garland, street lamps, menu board and a potted plant. I used the red Pearlised Enamel Effects Basics lacquer to create berries on the garland and baubles on the tree. I coloured the building with a variety of Stampin' Blends alcohol pens with the main colours of Pecan Pie, Smoky Slate, Misty Moonlight and Pool Party. Of course I had to add some Wink of Stella to the windows to create a reflective glass-look!

I used some retired products to finish off my project -- a die cut wreath, stamped tree and sentiment from the Trees For Sale bundle as well as adhesive-backed snowflakes to make it into a wintery scene.