Dry Erase Winter Advent Frame featuring Keri from Pressed Down, Shaken Together {Handmade Holidays Project No.10}

Welcome back to the continuation of the Handmade Holiday Series featuring STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam. This week we are sharing a total of twenty five inspiring projects to create for the upcoming holiday season.

I’m pleased to introduce our final guest for today,
Keri from Pressed Down, Shaken Together

What better way to build anticipation to important events and holidays than to count down the days one by one. With the use of some simple materials, many of us have laying around, Keri created this multipurpose advent frame that can be used throughout the entire winter season.

Hello there, Under the Table and Dreaming readers! I can’t believe that little ol’ me is sharing a project here at Stephanie’s unbelievably awesome blog!! Pinch me … I must be dreaming
Anyhoo … my name is Keri. I am madly in love with The Saint (the hubby) and my two boys (The Bugs)! I love all things crafty, tasty, reality tv, lists and exclamation points! I blog over at pressed down, shaken together where I share a recipe every week for my {taste this tuesday} posts and a craft project and tutorial for {create this friday} and anything else that strikes my fancy! I am also hosting the {holiday sweet swap} link party through December 31st where you can link up any of your favorite holiday/seasonal sweet treat posts! And now, on with the show …
Since I am like a kid in a candy store for all things celebratory (seriously, I will celebrate my birthday all month long if you’ll let me!), I wanted to create a project that our family could use to count down to all the fun stuff coming up in this busy winter holiday season. Behold: my
Beribboned Trees Advent Dry Erase Frame!!

To get started, you probably have the following items stashed away at home:

1 photo frame (size of your choice) – I used a frame with an inner space of 8 x 10

Ribbon scraps

Low temperature hot glue gun

Straight pins

Festive holiday and white card stock

Stamps/ink – or print the “days until” phrase using your printer

One 6″ x 4″ STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam cone

One 4″ x 3″ STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam cone

Three 1″ STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam balls

Winter Snow (from one 4 liter bag)

Let’s work with the cones, first:

I used a regular old kitchen steak knife to cut each cone in half and I didn’t have any issues at all!
Now, using a sponge/foam brush and acrylic paint, paint each halved cone with a fun, merry color and allow to dry.

I wanted a modern, funky feel so I used leaf green, tahitian blue and fuchsia.

Once your cone trees are dry, use straight pins (you can also use glue but straight pins were quick and easy!) to secure coordinating ribbons scraps!

Think ric-rac, lace, velvet ribbon, fun little pom poms and different widths and textures to give your trees character! Don’t forget to add a twiggy stem to each tree, too!

For the frame:

Select a piece of festive card stock and trim it to fit in your frame.

Trim a piece of white card stock a bit smaller. In my 8″ x 10″ frame, I trimmed my white card stock to 5″ x 7″. Stamp your “days until” phrase. (If you are using your printer, print the phrase before trimming your white card stock.)

I inked the edges of my white card stock with hot pink ink – basically, run an ink pad along the edges of your paper to add a touch of color and character – and then adhered it to the larger piece of card stock.

BEFORE you place your card stock insert in, add a small amount of Winter Snow onto the inside bottom of the glass to add a snowy landscape to your frame. (The Winter Snow should be between the glass and the cardstock.)

Place your card stock insert in the frame (on top of the Winter Snow) and secure it in place.

For the finishing touch, using your low temperature glue gun, affix the trees to the outside of the frame and add a 1″ ball of STYROFOAM (TM) Brand Foam to the top of each tree. Here are a couple close ups of my finished trees:

Believe it or not, you can use regular dry erase markers on the glass and wipe it away!! That means you can count down to all sorts of fun things as get-togethers, parties and special events draw closer. Here are a few ways to use this around your home …

Paris? I wish!! Santa … are you listening?!

I hope you were inspired to {create this}! I’d love for you to connect with pressed down, shaken together on Facebook or on Pinterest or just swing on by to say ‘hi’!
And a BIG thanks to Stephanie for the opportunity to share this project with her readers!!!

♦ For more inspiring projects and crafts ♦
Visit Pressed Down, Shaken Together
♦ You can also connect with Keri on Facebook ♦

Thanks so much Keri for sharing this adorable advent frame – I just adore the touch of snow between the glass and the festive ribbon coated trees. I’m thinking one of these for each season is in order for my little guy!
I’ll be back in the morning with another round of creative projects to inspire your Handmade Holidays ~ Enjoy.

The Handmade Holidays series is brought to you by
STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam made exclusively by The Dow Chemical Company.
More crafting ideas utilizing STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam can be found on their
blog Crafts ‘n Coffee as well as their Facebook page.
{This post is in compliance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255. Please see full disclosure below.}

Comments

Janet :

November 16, 2011 at 4:20 am

I love the addition of the winter snow, that’s so fun! Thanks for sharing your countdown idea Keri, my kids would love this.

Vivienne @ the V Spot :

November 16, 2011 at 6:44 am

I love this! Super cute!

Myric :

November 16, 2011 at 3:41 pm

The foam trees are clever and cute!

Myric
http://myricandreasen.blogspot.com/

Mark Twain :

November 8, 2012 at 11:28 am

All the things made are very good. It shows the hard work that one has put into. Here whiteboard paint is used very cleverly. Many new and creative things are made here.