advent house

I have a thing for houses, paper and... advent calendars. So if I could live in a paper house with a million advent calendars (all handmade, of course), I would be a very happy creative person.

Before we left post in Beijing, I found this little 'house' made from wood, with teensy little drawers. It was painted pink and white with barnyard animals all over, but all I could see was a red and white advent calendar.

It's taken me two years to get around to painting it, and I'm yet to do paint touch-ups and seal it with clear enamel, but I love how this little house advent has turned out. It will be stored away in the new year for the kids to take full joy from for Christmas 2011.

First I removed all the drawers and painted the house shell cherry red. I then went over the drawers with white paint and made the little handles into red jaffas with that cherry paint.

Using rub-ons and clear stickers, I then added numbers and black silhouettes, then added a few more in white to the roof. Quick, super easy and so effective.

This is just about my first craft project all year, after a manic twelve months of book creating - so it was a joy to spend some time on this little house. I love it and can't wait to use it next year.