Tonic Decorative Star Box Christmas Advent Calendar

Hello Peeps!  I've been wanting to do this Christmas Advent Calendar project from the moment I got my Tonic Studios Star Box Die.  Then, serendipity, on a trip to Ikea to pick up some materials for future blog post, I saw these new SNÖMYS Decoration stands, absolutely perfect  from which to hang my Advent Stars.

Project Recipe:
Tools: Tonic Studios Decorative Star Die Set, Grand Calibur, Silhouette Cameo
Paper and Card: K and Co, DCWV, Stardream
Embellishments: Double satin ribbon rope, glitter

I used 4 different styles of patterned paper to make my stars (so 6 boxes of each pattern), but all backed in the same colour of aqua stardream cardstock. 

I cut my numbers from the same aqua stardream cardstock on my Cameo Silhouette.  I also used the trace facility on the Cameo to cut our the central mat, which fits the embossed centre of the star box perfectly.



Once I had assembled all 24 star boxes, I carefully measured out lengths of ribbon rope in 3 different lengths to achieve the cascading shape.  I had some double satin ribbon rope in stash and used this, as I thought it would be sturdier.  However, in retrospect, I think a lighter ribbon would have hung better.

This is not a quick project, as you need to die-cut 48 star shapes and then assemble 24 boxes, but if you have some of Santa's Little Helpers, it would be a fun project to do together.  However, with the sweet little door in the back of each box, I will be able to put it away and use it year-after-year.  Here are my tips for this project:

1. All-in-all, this took about a day in total to complete, so plan the amount of time it will take if you want to have this ready for 1^st December.
2. I used 4 different styles of patterned card to make my stars (so 6 boxes of each pattern), but all backed in the same colour of aqua stardream cardstock. You should be able to cut 9 star shapes from a sheet of 12" card.  You will need 24 patterned fronts and 24 plain backs.
3. Do include the little door on the back die cuts, it very much helps when you are assembling your star boxes, especially for the final tabs on each box, as well as being the way to pop a tasty treat into each day's star.  Use low tack tape to tape the door die to the star die so that it is in the same place on each box.
4. Use Glue to stick the boxes, double-sided tape or tape runners will not give a long-lasting result, I use Tonic Studios Craft Tacky Glue.
5. I worked on making two boxes contemporaneously, this allows a little drying time for the glue between each stage which gives a better result. So, I'd score both boxes, stick the first two tabs on box 1, then move onto doing the same on box 2, then move back to box 1 for the next step and so on.

Finally, don't forget, I have a full star box step-by-step picture tutorial here (with downloadable PDF instructions) so please take a look if it's the first time you've used your Star Die Set. 
Apologies for the poor photography, the light here is terrible and I had to use flash, which gives such a harsh result. 

Hope you all have a great weekend and are starting on your Christmas projects too!

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