Kaisercraft advent calendar: FINISHED!!!

So here it is! I have left the center area almost completely blank b/c I will be putting nativity stickers in the drawers. Each day the boys will open a drawer and we will look up a verse of the bible related to the account of Jesus' birth and they can put the stickers in the middle. Some days they might even find something yummy in there too. Next year I can change what is in the center (I used repositionable tape).

Final thoughts:
pros
* quality of the materials used for the kit are very good
* I still really like the overall design
* Reasonable price
* Starting with a raw product means that your advent calendar is unique.

cons
* time- hard to know how long it took me in total to do this, but probably 10-12 hours with waiting time in between for paint to dry.
* NO INSTRUCTIONS (I'm sorry, am I repeating myself?)
* heavy item- if you are paying for shipping you might be charged extra.

My supplies:
Cosmo Cricket Early Bird collection, Reeves acrylic paints, thickers for some of the numbers & alpha, kraft cardstock, Papertrey Ink stamp (Silent Night set).

If you are interested in having bible verses as part of an advent activity, the verses I am using are below. We are only doing a 14 day countdown since 24 days is way too long for a 2 & 4 year old!

Thanks for taking the advent calendar journey with me :)

1) Micah 5:2 Bethlehem

2) Isaiah 9:6 Virgin with child

3) Luke 1:26-28 Gabriel

4) Luke 1:29-31 Mary troubled

5) Luke 1:32-33 Eternal kingdom

6) Matthew 1:18 Mary pregnant

7) Matthew 1:20- 21 Name Jesus

8) Luke 2:7 Manger

9) Luke 2:8-9 Shepherds

10) Luke 2:10- 12 Angels speak

11) Luke 2:13-14 Angels praise

12) Luke 2:15-16 Shepherds find Jesus

13) Matthew 2:1-2 Wise men see star

14) Matthew 2:10-11 Wise men give gifts

Kaisercraft advent calendar: part 3

We are in the home stretch now! It took me longer than I expected to paint, assemble and cover all the drawers (an estimate would be 6 hours) and even painting the shell was time consuming because of all the small corners. I am pretty happy with the result though, this is just a sneak peek :)

I used Cosmo Cricket Early Bird collection for the paper. It isn't a Christmas themed collection, but I really like the greens and red they used and the splashes of non- traditional blue and yellow.

So now it is time to tackle the final touches of numbers, the central blank area, any other embellishments and finally the contents and come back with some final photos!

And I should also note that Kaisercraft DOES give you an extra drawer to make mistakes on- you get 25, but only need 24- THANKS Kaiser! :)

Kaisercraft advent calendar part 2

So I have assembled the outer shell. But before I decorate it, I decided to tackle the drawers. I wanted to know how they would need to be constructed, because that would influence how I was going to decorate them.

The drawers come cut and pre-scored in separate packets with 5 drawers in each. They are made from thick chipboard. They are essentially a cross shape, with a semi-circle in the top of the front panel, so you can pull out the drawer.



Which brings me to issue number 1: how to adhere the drawer sides together. Glue? Tape? Again, I was on my own due to the lack of instructions. I decided on double sided tape, because it was quicker, less messy and more trustworthy as an adhesive.

Hello issue number 2: a drawer with tape all over the outside is going to be one seriously ugly drawer. Painting isn't going to work over tape, so that leaves me with covering it with paper. So I used strips of double sided tape to hold the drawer in shape and adhere the paper.

So we arrive at issue number 3: what about the inside? Leave it nude? cover it with paper too? Paint? I decided to go with paint- paper seemed that way too much effort for 25 drawers. I am happy to report that the chipboard takes acrylic paint very well, and because it is thick there is no warping. But I recommend good quality acrylic paint for this. Watery paint isn't going to give you good coverage and might cause buckling. So the paint has to go on before the paper unless you have meticulous painting skills. (And you don't get a spare couple of drawers just in case.) NB I also painted the exposed edges of the drawer and the score lines on the bottom of the drawer that would be hard to cover with paper.




So for the drawer summary:
PROS

• Good quality thick chipboard pre-scored

CONS

• The ongoing problem of no instructions
• Adhering the drawers together without using tape would be difficult, so it means ugly tape showing unless you are prepared to cover the outside of the drawers with paper.
• A couple of spare drawers to make mistakes on (seeing as we have to learn on the go due to the lack of instructions) would have been a nice thought.
  

My method was to fold along the score lines, then reflatten the drawer and paint the inside, then fold up the sides and use double sided tape to secure them together while the paint is still wet. Then paint the bottom of the drawer and when the paint is dry cover the sides of the drawer with a strip of paper. I used a circle punch to cut out the notch in the paper for the front of the drawer.

I'll be back when I've got the drawers made and the shell painted!

Kaisercraft advent calendar: part 1

When I saw this new advent calendar from Kaisercraft, I was sold! I loved the the sturdy base, the drawers and the blank middle area for decoration.

Silly me forgot to take a photo of the package BEFORE I opened it and started the first stage of construction. Doh! But basically it comes flat packed, wrapped in plastic. There is the large base piece, and 6 other 'wood' pieces that need to be cut apart to form walls that slot into the base and form the shell for the drawers to be inserted into. The package also includes 25 flat packed chipboard drawers that require assembly, and a sheet of plain chipboard numbers.

So far I have managed to assemble the shell only, and that took me about 30 minutes with my husband helping. Thoughts so far...

PROS

• I really like the design with the drawers on the outside and the center area left blank for decoration.
• The shell is sturdy, not just chipboard.
• Reasonable cost- I bought mine at a LSS for less than $30.
• The inclusion of the numbers sheet. Of course you might choose to use a faster method (like stickers) but it is nice that they include it.
  

CONS

• Weight and size may be a problem for those who don't have an option of picking this up at their LSS. You'll be paying a heavy item surchage for this one I'd imagine.
• No instructions! At all! I know it isn't a combustion engine, but I think some sort of explanation of the different pieces isn't too much to ask for.
• Assembly time required. Working alone it would take 45-60 mins to get all the individual pieces of the shell assembled, and there are still all the drawers to do before you even get to the decorating part.

My other tip is to make sure you really cut or file off all the connecting tabs from the drawer walls. Even part of a millimeter left behind can cause the outside wall to bow out a little and then the outside corners of the calendar don't meet up as precisely as they should.

For anyone interested, the depth of the drawer (inside measurement) is 48mm.

I'll be back with some assembled drawers and more thoughts (hopefully) soon.
Have you had any experience with this Kaisercraft advent calendar? Got any thoughts or tips to share? Just leave me a comment, I really appreciate it.