Silhouette Advent Calendar + SRM Stickers

hello friends! prepare yourself for some delicious eye candy today as i share with you my most recent project......the Silhouette Advent Calendar!

(psssssst....stick with me all the way through the end of the post and you'll find out how to get your very own calendar at a GREAT discount using a promo code Silhouette gave me, just for YOU! :)

not long ago, SRM Stickers asked if i would be interested in helping them with a promotion through Silhouette. it didn't take me long to make my decision! so Silhouette sent me their Advent Calendar that comes along with a card to download 48 different shapes (some compartments use the same drawer shape).

i had full creative freedom to display the calendar however i wished, focusing on the beauty and versatility of SRM Stickers of course!

being the indecisive person that i am, i couldn't decide between whether i wanted to use only drawers or only uniquely shaped boxes, sooooooo......i used a mix of BOTH! and i have to say, i LOVE it even more that way.

my favorite being this star shaped box, right in the middle! so, as you look at the detail images, let me tell you a bit about my experience making this calendar.

the first thing i did was download all the boxes to my Silhouette software. the Advent Calendar comes with a download card (think: credit card). you just open your Silhouette software, go to My Account and Redeem Giftcard. you then scratch off the back of the download card and enter the card number and the shapes will start downloading into your library. SO easy.

not only do you get the shapes, but you can also cut the shapes for the backdrop of each compartment so there isn't any awkward measuring and trimming with the paper trimmer. it seriously couldn't be any easier.

next, i decided upon my color scheme and started picking and choosing cardstock to fit that theme. i prefer mix of traditional and non-traditional colors for Christmas, so i started with several sheets of red (none of them really the same exact color) and mixed in some lime, butter yellow, turquoise and bubblegum. the packaging on this calendar says it takes 25 to 50 sheets of paper and i thought to myself, no way!

no joke, it really does! but, for what you see here, it took about 30 sheets of cardstock to cut the boxes and drawers-----but they can be 8 1/2 x 11 sheets to save you a bit of money.

to cut all the boxes, i didn't start at number 1 and cut in numerical order. instead, i cut one color at a time and made sure that each color was visually balanced. you can look at the first image at the top of this post to see what i mean. the turquiose stands out the most and you can see the balance easiest.

this is definitely not an instant gratification project like making a card or a layout, but more of a weekend-long project. in total it took me about 16 hours.......not granted, i have two young children constantly wanting to help and me to explain what i'm doing and how it works. they also like to give a hefty dose of their own design theory, LOL. but still....it's a weekend project for sure. the bulk of the time is cutting the boxes, but as the Silhouette was cutting, i was browsing Pinterest, folding a piece or two of laundry. ya know, multi-tasking.

the funnest part though? DECORATING all those little boxes, oh my! looooooved that part. that part alone took about 5 hours and i worked on it straight through. but it was so fun it didn't seem like that long at all.

the decorating part was also made SO much easier with the use of my SRM Stickers - especially those numbers! oh, how i'm smitten with those number stickers!

here's a list of the SRM Sticker sheets i used with links:
52028 - Quick Cards Believe
54006 - We've Got Your Sticker Plus Christmas
51009 - Sticker Sentiments Winter
51001 - Sticker Sentiments Happy Holidays
53006 - We've Got Your Sticker Christmas
48086 - Calendar Numbers Small
48093 - We've Got Your Number Small
48094 - We've Got Your Number Large
48088 - Calendar Months Large - Snappy
52013 - Quick Cards Merry

i already had a basket of Christmas themed/colored items sitting aside to make a December Daily (a la Ali Edwards) that i never got around to last year, so i just grabbed from that basket.

it ended up being a good amount of Cosmo Cricket's Jolly by Golly, Little Yellow Bicycle's Christmas Delight, The Twinery Twine and a few Karen Foster Design stickers.

other than the boxes, i only cut one other shape using my Silhouette, and it's the little lime colored mistletoe leaves you see on boxes 13 and 18 (see image above).

here's the BEST part!

Silhouette is allowing me to offer my readers a PROMOTIONAL code for you to purchase your own Silhouette Advent Calendar at $29.99.........that's a full $10 discount!

you can get that discount by shopping in the Silhouette store, by following this link: Silhouette Advent Calendar. you'll enter the promo code at checkout.

Promo code is: SRM

this promotion will run from November 1 through November 11th ONLY! i have a strong feeling this will be the most popular alterable item this holiday season, so don't delay!

now, if you'll excuse me, i have to get busy planning what treats i'll be putting into each of these adorable little boxes. :)