A little robot advent (updated)
A friend of mine dropped into conversation that she thought that I sketch I'd done years ago would look rather cute as an advent calendar. So I spent a little time this week playing with it to see if I could get it to work. Et voilà!! Here is the result!
Update: For a brief time in 2012, this was a free download; with an option to donate to keep the site running. From 2013 it was available via a paid Gumroad download and is now available for purchase here.
But on to the fun stuff!
For this project you'll need:
12 sheets of 220 gsm cream card
A printer (I used an inkjet as it seems to take the card a lot better)
Double sided tape or quick drying glue
A ruler
An x-acto knife or scalpel
Some ribbon or bakers twine if you intend to hang them up
Little presents
Each of these little guys ends up 6cm tall and 4.5cm wide. The head is 4.5 cm wide x 2.8 cm tall x 2.8 cm deep (the perfect size for a little present or chocolate!)
To start, print the PDF file below onto 12 sheets of A4 220 gsm card in your choice of colour (I used a lovely cream colour, though he looked quite nice on stark white too!).
Then cut out each body and head using an x-acto knife and ruler. Score along the dotted lines. I don't have a photo of this part as I used my cutter/ plotter for this project.
Fold along the two dotted and scored lines on the body of the robot. This makes his base.
Next, fold along all the dotted and scored lines on the head piece.
Carefully place the 'neck' tab into the two slots on the base of the head as shown.
At this point, he looks a bit like this!
Place double-sided tape or glue onto the 4 box side support tabs as shown.
I found this E-Z Runner in the photo section of my local Manor and it's my new favourite thing! It cut's down the time of applying double-sided tape substantially and is lovely and accurate. If you can get your hands on one I thoroughly recommend it.
At this point, you fill his cute little head with sweet ideas!
Fold down the two large side pieces and fold up the two little support brackets.
Then fold in the small back panel and bring the top of his head over into place. Sliding the locking tab into the cut on the back panel. The two little support brackets slide into place where his antenna is.
And he's finished! Straighten up his antenna and create his 23 little friends and you're ready to thread them all onto a ribbon or to hook them onto a tree or wreath.
Or just to leave them as a cute robot army.
These files are available for purchase in my store. They now include both PDF and SVG files so you can use them on your home digital cutters (Cricut/ Silhouette etc)
Thank you for supporting next to nicx! I really hope you have as much fun putting together this advent calendar as I have had creating it.
The templates and all associated photographs and materials are copyright to © next to nicx and to Nicola Pravato. These templates are authorised for personal use only.