Fields Of Heather: CWS Drop Down Santa Advent Calendar

2024 - NO LONGER FREE

Note - this is a HUGE project. It's 2 feet tall!

I made some adjustments - including changing things so it took 7 less mats.

The file can be purchased from Craft With Sarah here

https://www.craftwithsarah.com/product/santa-chimney-calendar/

I made a few changes. First - to make it cut on less mats.

39 mats for original upload, I made a few changes and mine will now cut on 32 mats

3 White [one piece I had to move and rotate to make it cut on the 3rd mat, rather than requiring a 4th mat for one piece that easily fit on the previous one]

2 black

1 dark red fireplace

1 lighter red for holly berries and stocking background [I changed them to the darker red. I lose the contrast, but can recut if needed - I think they will work in the darker color]

1 brown

1 peach santas nose [scrap will work]

1 peachish santas face [scrap will work]

1 light brown fireplace clock [could make black?]

1 Orange/yellow Numbers [I'm using vinyl]

1 Yellow fireplace and candle flames

1 pale pink fireplace details [I'm changing to white]

I lighter yellow fireplace and flames

1 dark green holly and stocking [scrap will work]

1 light green stocking [scrap will work - I changed it to the darker green. I'll lose the contrasting color, but I can recut if I think it needs that.]

1 purple fireplace backing [change to brown- one less mat, color doesn't matter]

12 red for 24 total boxes. Could use 8.5x11. OR - rotate and attach so 3 fit per a page, and use 9 sheets of 12x12 red.

9 red for structure, fireplace backing, etc. - slightly lighter than the boxes

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It took me an entire day just to cut this one out. It's a big project!

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MORE CHANGES:

I'm copying a post I made on facebook when I was making this:

On My "Desk" Today - Progress on The Craft With Sarah Dropping Santa Advent Calendar [I've moved this project to a living room table, partly because of it's size]

AND this is a good look at the living room before the 2025 remodel. :-)

1. This really is not as difficult as I may make it look.

2. It took most of a day to cut all the pieces. It's a BIG project. I think when completed it will be nearly 2 feet [21 inches or so] tall.

3. The boxes are really simple construction - so although they may be time consuming simply because there are 24 of them, I was able to assemble them rather efficiently on a tv tray while watching 1 tv show with my husband.

4. I used Dollar Tree Glitter vinyl for the numbers. One less thing to glue. 🙂 Definitely listen to Sarah's tip to lay the background white out, then place the numbers. I put mine in order, one on each block, on an old mat, making it easier for me to know what gold numbers went where.

5. The video is about an hour and a half long. I don't ever just sit down and work on one thing start to finish, so I'm not going to be able to answer how long it actually takes to make it. I skipped a lot of the video, and rewatched one part 3x, so far.

6. My biggest mistake - the one I may need to redo, but at the moment I am taking a break - was on the large back structures. That's the part of the video I watched 3x, and now that I have successfully completed one, it's SO simple, it just took my brain a bit to retain important details. For one side, I glued the side pieces on upside down. That makes it completely wonky, and I'll likely recut those pieces and try again.

This is what I mean about gluing the side pieces on upside down. The one on the left is done correctly, and forms neat boxes. The one on the right is all wonky, because I glued the sides on upside down.

7. I made my chimney all black. This was a good decision based on supplies on hand, and cost of paper [black is very inexpensive from wal-mart] but I think I'll like the look better in red. So the black may be my practice chimney, and I'm ok with that. Obviously I needed the practice. 🙂

I'd really like to make a slightly smaller version of this - I don't need my treat boxes to be quite so large. [I fill mine with locally made chocolates]. If anyone has resized this and made it smaller, I'd love to hear what sizes worked well for you!

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MORE ADVENT CALENDARS

That I have made

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In 2022 I made this one from the Craft With Sarah Event

For a couple of years now, each December I prop this in a reverse canvas sign I had hanging in my hallway. This year in the downstairs remodel, I got rid of this canvas... so this year I want to check Hobby Lobby for a blank canvas frame just for the advent calendar. to sit in. It is quite large.

As huge as this project is, it's really quite easy to assemble. It was the very first freebie in the 2022 Craft With Sarah 25 Days of Christmas, and it was only free for 24 hours. Now the file will cost you $10 - and I won't say this often about a file this expensive, but it's really worth it. It's so well designed!

I changed the colors to match my hallway, and have this sitting inside a very large reversed canvas I made a couple of years ago.

Find the file here: https://www.craftwithsarah.com/product/giant-advent-calendar/

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The 2021 Advent Calendars

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The Tree shaped version is a FREE file from Jennifer Maker.

For me, the drawers slide out a little too easily, and this is a.. sometimes chaotic household with unlevel floors. The drawers fell out a lot. It worked much better at my moms house - where the floors are all level and there are less children running around. :-)

The Triangle version I bought because it was a good size for mailing.

All the details for both are in a post here:

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2021/11/making-advent-calendars.html

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