Christmas Advent Carousel hack - pt3

CUTTING THE PLATFORMS

For me, this is where it all starts to come together. When those little houses get done and positioned on the first layer, you can almost see the whole project coming to life. So using the dimensions I previously gave you draw them out on foam core board and cut them out with a sharp X-acto knife. I wanted to make mine a lot more sturdy so I cut and glued heavy poster board on both sides of them. It helps to keep them from warping if you weight them down with large books until they dry completely. It will also warp if you paint it. You can add as many layers of paper as you want but you don't want to skip adding poster board on both sides. It will make it much stronger.

On the large circle you need to mark nine spots every 40° on the outer edge and place your houses on them evenly spaced. Then you will glue them down.  The smaller layers you can eyeball it but no so much on this one.

DECORATING THE FIRST LAYER

Also glue some red and green pony beads to the bottle brush trees. You can get a pack of six little trees in two sizes at the Dollar Tree for cheap. The whole project will take 4 packs of trees and 1 more if you want to put a tree on the top layer. The tall ones need to be positioned closer to the outer edge so the tops don't bump into the layer above. 

It's a little early for Christmas decorations to be out just yet but you can make a lot of what you need to decorate yourself if you have a supply stash like I do. I made tiny wreaths out of some green pipe cleaners I already had. I cut them in half and twist them into a circle about an inch wide. Double them up if yours are the thin ones.

I added little dots of color to them with puffy fabric paint (you could also use beads) and tied tiny bows with 1/8" red ribbon. I hot glued them on the houses.

TIP: Before you glue the trees down you might want to place the second platform on top of the houses and move your taller trees out beyond the edge closer to the front. But you don't want to glue the second layer down until you have your lights positioned for the first layer. 

I think I need about two dozen or so little presents. Yes, you can buy them but they are also fun to make. My theme is red and green so I made most of mine in red and green. I cut little cardboard squares and glued them together with regular glue, then covered with scrapbook paper. I cut strips out of paper for the ribbons and just scrunched and crumpled a square piece for each bow. Easy peasy!

It's really starting to look good now. You could have also cut little windows in the front of your houses if you want. If you change your mind on that you can still do it because your house fronts are part of the drawer. It's up to you how you want to decorate it.

You can punch holes in the backs of the top of the houses to stick the lights in or just put lights wherever you want them. The drawers on the back are cut shorter so you have room for lights. I added a center support to mine. You just cut your cardboard height to the height of your houses if you want to do that instead. I love the rustic color of the cardboard so I'm going to keep it for the supports but you could cover it if you want or don't even use a center support. It's up to you. I also cut strips of paper bag and glue them to the front of the platforms to cover up the styrofoam on the edges.

TIP: Every time you glue or finish adding pieces to a layer you want to weigh it down to try to keep the whole thing flat. Large books on top of each layer works until it dries completely. Then you can add another layer.

I think I'm going to go with fairy lights around the top of the middle supports on mine. I'm having trouble finding a 25 to 30 light set that I like. 

At this point I'm already starting to keep my eyes peeled for miniature decorations I can use to fill in the gaps around the trees. I might make a little sleigh out of wooden sticks. I'm also thinking of making some Santas and Snowmen out of beads if I can't find what I want in the store. There is so much to do and so many details to play with! 

WHEW! I'm already tired because this is a lot of work! But it's also a lot of fun if you love to craft. Nothing like DIY,

NEXT: Adding lights and a second floor in pt 4.